A less than perfect start

My first 24 hours in Hanoi haven't exactly gone according to plan. Instead of a very basic guest house nearby to a Buddhist pagoda, I am writing this from a 4* hotel lobby and have spent the first day orientating myself by taking a lot of taxis around moped-crazy streets, visiting the British Embassy & local Vietnamese police station and phoning home (a lot).

Yep, last night after a very comfortable and smooth 18 hour journey I took a "taxi" to my accommodation. Everything seemed legitimate and airport-taxi-esq, but it couldn't have been less so. A bustle and curfuffle later and I was unceremoniously kicked out of my fake cab in the middle of a busy street and made my way to a hotel to ask for help. The majority of my money and my passport (with all those shiny visas) had been stolen. It was a convincing and clever, clever scam, and by the time I realised it was arealy too late, and it was also a pretty frightening experience, one which replayed in my head many times before sleep came.

I am okay. I am not hurt and the staff at the hotel have gone out of their way to help me. A new passport will be issued within 2 weeks and the visas after that (because getting them the first time wasn't fun enough) and everything is insured. They didn't take my beautiful camera or my ipod with my million audiobooks (which makes me really happy). I have only lost some money, which is just monety, and yesterday was just a day.

Last night I was pretty shaken up, but today is better and I am determined to follow through on the rest of the trip, perhaps spending less time in Mongolia, and probably also less time in 4* hotels.

So whilst I have little "everything's amazing!!" news to report, I thought I'd tell you about my trip to a vietnamese police station. It wasn't particularly funny, but I did appreciate the absurdity, and so I'll share. The police station we had to go to was determined by the location the crime was committed. A very nice man from the hotel accompanied me through the monsoon rain (in a taxi) to be my translator. I wrote out my statement in English, which he then translated and gave to the policeman. The policeman conducted the interview through the translator and set about creating my official crime report letter, from a blank sheet of A4 he later stamped to officially verify. All those hours wasted on LPC Criminal Litigation (and youtube eastenders clips - thanks Terrence) gave me a good benchmark for comparison of procedure, but little else.

The police station itself was a building about the size of a large house, with imposing iron fencing, gates and tall flags surrounding the perimeter, and then a wood and glass front door I'm sure you could easily kick down. The door remained open and the large entrance room, which is where I was interviewed, was furnished with a large dark-wood desk, some military-style metal cupboards, some chairs, oh, and a rail attached to the wall to which two prisoners were handcuffed. I was ushered to a seat about 2ft away from this sturdy lock-up and for well over an hour sat with Uncle Ho (of Ho Chi Mihn City) staring down at me from above the clock.
There was also a side room in which sat 3-4 smoking policemen and a large TV. From time to time they wandered in and (I found out later) discussed whether I had dyed my hair (relevant) and then took a break from being detectives and sat down to have a smoke.

Back in the lap of luxury I got back to phoning insurance companies, banks, etc and with a lot of help from my parents and sister things are back on track. I am moving into my long-term accommodation tomorrow and will start at the orphanage the day after. On Saturday 6 more volunteers move into the house, which I am looking forward to, and tomorrow I am being met by someone who has already been in Hanoi a week.

This was always going to be a challenge, and the last 24 hours have been more challenging than expected. I am still committed to what I want to do during the next 4 months though, and with a few alterations and a new healthily skeptical perspective, I am optimistic about all that I am going to learn and experience.
I am still a bit wobbly, but tomorrow I meet the group of people I am going to be living and working with, and so I hope my next post will be full of joy and excitement.

With lots of love to you all, and gratitude for your support!

P.S. Apologies for the many spelling errors, the internet here is timed so I don't have time to check back through my speedy typing.

P.P.S. I did think about taking a photo of the police station to supplement my description, but it is illegal to photograph military estabilshments and I don't think deportation is the way to round off the last pretty tiring day!