Landed very early in Singapore (5am) and had a few hours to kill before we ventured out. Singapore airport is huge so it took a little while to get our bearings. Got our hand luggage stashed and ventured outside to a nearby cafè & facilities centre where we had a shower, change of clothes and tried to local coffee Kopi.
Booked our first Grab ride (which is a bit like Uber) and set off into the city. We haven't seen our friend Denise for about 10 years so we met her and her neice Olivia at the Cloud Forest in Gardens at the Bay. Wow that place is amazing and it was so great to see Denise again. Got back to the airport with plenty of time to spare but hit our first snag..... the Suncorp cash card was now rejecting payments despite working all morning. Fortunately the backup card was ok.

The flight out of Changi was delayed and the queue of aircraft was very long. Descending into Hanoi the pilot announced the local temp was 14 degrees. YIKES! That's not the Vietnam we remembered. Trying to get a wifi connection at the airport was a lost cause and of course the Suncorp card still wasn't working, so no cash, no connectivity, no Grab rides. We bit the bullet and bought a SIM card (at airport rates) with the backup card and found a "taxi". This was a small mini bus with 3 other people in it. The driver passed his phone to us, we all put our hotel destinations in for him and he navigated through the cacophony of Hanoi traffic.

We were first off the bus and the porter grabbed our bags while Steve paid the driver - 350k which is about $22 aud. Shivered our way into the hotel lobby to discover they had no reservation for us. Then we noticed the porter didn't pick up Steve's bag from the bus. With no phone number and no company details of the bus we just waited until the driver realised and came back. We remembered the old saying from our last trip... "In Asia, everything works out ok in the end". The driver eventually came back (50k inconvenience fee) and the hotel receptionist got us a room indicating he'll sort out the booking in the morning. Hooray!

First stop was to buy some warm clothes. Got 2 puffer jackets for about $30 ea and found a balcony bar to watch the throng of people down below while we sipped long island tea. The night markets was on and there were people everywhere. It was chaos with cars and motorbikes weaving through the crowds. We tried a few snacks from the street vendors... chicken skewers and a sausage on a stick. Absolutely delicious. The day had been very long so it was a relief to finally be able to crash in a proper bed. Bring on tomorrow!!!!