Holiday Delights: Volume One - The Escape Read Free Page A

hours later, the stewardesses were announcing
their arrival in Hanoi, at 6 am local time.
    *****
     
    After she checked out of customs and
strapped her backpack, Kelsey stood in line for a taxi to her
hotel. She gave the taxi driver her itinerary and he proceeded to
go down the highway as fast as he possibly could, zipping past
motorcycles and trucks loaded with goods and into the main French
District of the city of Hanoi. She went to the front desk, grabbed
her key and she flopped into her bed and forgot the rest of the
world.
    Kelsey sat up in the dark room from her bed,
confused for about 10 seconds when she realized where she was. She
pondered on her weird, yet delicious dream of the dark-haired,
blue-eyed stranger, trying to recall more details aside from being
in a tent in the middle of the desert and him wearing nothing but a
smile. As she rubbed her eyes, her thoughts were interrupted by her
hungry growling stomach, and she stumbled out of bed and out of the
hotel room.
    And so Kelsey walked out of the hotel, her
senses immediately assaulted with all sorts of sights, sounds, and
smells. Her first night in Asia, she sat by the roadside, drinking
the local beer (or “bia”) and slurping the fragrant and delicious
pho soup from the small stands manned by little old Vietnamese
ladies. The next day, she walked around the old quarter, marveling
at the French architecture, sipping the sickly-sweet Vietnamese
coffee and once in a while, a young person (or a group of them)
would come up to her and try to practice English, or would ask to
take a picture with her.
    She stayed in Hanoi a few more days, then
decided she would take the train down to Mui Ne, where she saw the
beautiful sand dunes. Then she was off to the bustling city of Ho
Chi Minh (formerly Hanoi) where after a week of two, she got the
hang of crossing the street without being run over the seemingly
endless parade of motorcycles.
    When she got tired of Vietnam after about
two months, she hopped on a bus and went over to Cambodia, to Siem
Reap where the legendary Angkor Wat temples were located. She sat
in front of the temple at sunrise, contemplating on the beauty of
the sun as it rose behind the main temple’s three turrets.
    She explored the far-off Beng Melea temple,
with the roots of the overgrown trees that seemed to swallow up the
ruined structures. It wasn’t until she had been in Cambodia for
three weeks when she realized her time was up and she was scheduled
to meet Alex in Bangkok soon.
    *****
     
    After a long journey (car to the border,
walk, then van to Bangkok, total of 7 hours travel time), Kelsey
arrived at the fame Khao San Backpackers area. It was probably just
in time too, as Kelsey realized that she had spent about half of
her budget living it up in Vietnam and now, unfortunately, she
could only afford hostels for the rest of her trip in Asia. Alex
had assured her that the Golden Flower was a “fabulous” hostel and
she had stayed there “lots” of times, but at the age of 29, Kelsey
wasn’t sure that hostelling and common beds were for her.
    As soon as she walked into the Golden
Flower, she heard her name.
     
    “ Kelsey! You’re here!”
Alex practically jumped at her. “How are you? Tell me about your
trip! But, wait, you gotta meet everyone!”
    Alex dragged her to the table in the common
room, where a bunch of people were sitting down, having a few
beers.
    “ Everyone, this is Kelsey,
my best friend! The one I was telling you about! Kelsey, this is
Colin, he’s from Ireland, and Erika, from Sweden…” Alex continued
to rattle on everyone’s names, which were just a blur to Kelsey.
She waved at them and shook everyone’s hand.
    “ You must be tired!”
exclaimed Alex. “Let’s get you to your bed! You can catch some
sleep and then we’re off to dinner and clubbing!”
    Alex helped her with her things, and they
went up a flight of steps to their room. It was a mixed dorm room
and there were a couple of people inside