Vân and Húòng

The scent of exhaust fumes burns my nose when I find myself sitting on the back of a motorbike, driven by a young lady that I just met two hours before.
I’m in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, and this is by far the most crazy traffic I have ever witnessed. Thousands and thousands of motorbikes and mopeds rule the streets. Thousands and thousands of young people are claiming their spot. Thousands and thousands of girls, boys, man and woman are zigzagging and criss-crossing each other in a constant zooming noise. I close my eyes and hear a million giant killerbees.

Vân has done this before, that is very obvious. She makes her way through this ants nest like you and I would step into an elevator. Vân is a gorgeous girl and a very good friend of my last couchsurfer. Law student, intelligent and funny. Very talkative too, constantly informing me about the building that we’re passing or the square that we’re crossing.
Our escort on the motorbike next to us is also a friend of that same couchsurfer. Húòng is different. Calmer. A little bit more carefull. Less talkative too, but when she says something, she hits the nail on the head. She’s very eager to tell me about her city and her country, and that makes her the best guide I can dream of. She has a natural interest in the history of Vietnam, and she wants to share it. The fact that she can do that while using her English vocabulary makes her even more enthusiastic.

I feel blessed to have met these girls. They’re the best friends one can dream of, and their generosity is hard to describe.
The way they treated me last night left me speechless. I can never thank them enough for the experience they brought to me. I got to know Hanoi and the spirit of Vietnamese people from the inside. That is beyond everything I expected before I stepped out of the airplane.