Part of the Great Staff at the Elegance Sapphire Hotel
Being pick pocketed during my first three hours in Hanoi started off my stay. From start to finish I experienced the roughness and generosity of Hanoians and I was grateful for the experience. It also reminded me that in the big picture I am always being taken care of.
Arriving in Hanoi from five fantastic days in Hoi An eating, drinking good wine and going to the tailor I was relaxed and enjoying Vietnam. After checking into my hotel I went for a short walk to check out the Old City. One of the guys from the Halong Bay Party Boat was meeting me at my hotel that evening to make the final arrangements for my overnight trip. The idea was to be in Hanoi for one night, then go on a boat to Halong Bay. After, I would come back to Hanoi, spend a night or two and fly back to Bali. I was only going to spend two or three nights in Hanoi.
Other adventures were in store for me. Walking around the Cathedral area I had my camera and my wallet in an outside pocket of my backpack. I remember seeing it, zipping it up and then a few minutes later thinking, “I better change that around” and as I reached to put my camera away and move the wallet to the inside of my pack, I realized it was gone. It happened in five minutes. There I was in Hanoi, credit cards gone, cash gone. Luckily I still had my passport and about $10 U.S. dollars. I went through the stages of panic…disbelief…shock… stupidity and then into action mode.
What was going to be 48 Hours in Hanoi turned into about seven days. I experienced so much kindness, graciousness and generosity from all the people who worked at the hotel, the Party Boat company and anyone I talked to. The staff at the Elegance Ruby Hotel made signs in Vietnamese describing the wallet and what area I was in offering a reward and had me post them all over the Cathedral area. (As if someone was going to return it!) Quan from the Party Boat offered to let me come on the boat for two nights and pay for everything when I had my replacement card. The first thing Quan said to me was, “this is a sign of good luck in Vietnam. Now nothing bad will happen to you while you’re here.”
I had only booked one night with the Elegance Ruby Hotel. They were fully booked so they found another hotel to take me for a few days, they paid for it and when rooms were available they moved me to the Elegance Sapphire Hotel and put everything on my bill at the end. I felt like I kept getting upgraded. The manager gave me $100 in cash and told me I could have as much as I needed and he would just add it to my bill at the end. By the time I left the staff and I were sad to say goodbye.
I went on Twitter for things to do in Hanoi and that’s how I found Tu of the Street Food Tours. He tweeted that iPhones were being snatched out of people’s hands in the Old City, so I wrote back saying I had just been pick pocketed. He told me two weeks before he was in the old city talking on his phone and as he hung up someone came by and snatched it out of his hand from a motorbike. Phone gone.
I ended up taking time to write an article called 48 hours in Hanoi, and sent it to a magazine in Hanoi and the editor responded. He doesn’t need it but we’re staying in touch. I have some amazing photography that I’m proud of from my early morning walks. More creativity and feelings of generosity came out of my experience than I could have imagined. It was the level of kindness and concern I genuinely felt that made the whole experience worthwhile. There is something truly soulful about the streets of Hanoi.
IN THE WONDER... 