My Vietnam travelogue series is fondly named WTP, Rosh. You can read the first part here.
Once I got off at the bus station, I did the most obvious thing I could think of - look for ATMs near me on the map. But once I started lugging my luggage a few steps, I realised the most obvious step would actually be to book a Grab to the Airbnb (as my Grab was paid for by card). For some reason, I didn’t have any luck with the taxis, so when a kind Grab scooter driver at the bus station asked if I wanted a ride, I negotiated and agreed.
If someone had taken a picture of us, this was how it would have looked.
An accurate picture to describe my situation that I found on the internet.
I don’t own the rights - please contact me to add rights to this picture.
Was taking a Grab scooter with 32KGs of luggage on my bingo card for Vietnam vacation? Definitely not. But technically I have dropped M off at the railway station pulling such stunts on a two wheeler during peak Bangalore traffic, so I knew this wasn’t too dangerous. As a result, when the Grab scooter driver suggested that I do this, he did not have to say too much to convince me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(There’s a reason I chose this title for this series, y’all.)
The driver dropped me off at the Airbnb, but I still don’t have any cash, remember? So I told him to take me to the nearest ATM, withdrew the cash from there and paid him. Maybe we can skip the part where he waited ten minutes to be paid for the five minute ride because I forgot my ATM pin and almost lost access to my Forex card? 𓁹‿𓁹
It was now 8AM Vietnam time.
Yes, all this had happened within 8AM on the day I landed.
I had arrived at the Airbnb tired and hungry and the host greeted me with hot water and a coffee pre-mix. This was the warmest welcome I had had since I landed. Not only did it stave off my hunger till I freshened up, but I finally felt like I was in the Coffee land.
And while I sat there sipping that coffee, the case of the missing wallet continued in my ever-anxious mind of mine.
