Good Morning Vietnam

The boys and I spent one night in Bangkok before making our way toward Hanoi, Vietnam on an early morning flight. Our hotel arranged a taxi to collect and bring us to DMK airport, one of the two airports in the city. Unfortunately our instructions were lost in translation, something that happened quite a bit in Thailand, and we found ourselves at BKK airport instead with a just over an hour to spare before our departure.

The taxi driver was very apologetic once he realized the mistake and hauled ass to get us to DMK before checkin for our fight closed. As our driver navigated the dark, early morning roads of Bangkok he reached and sustained a top speed of over 110 mph (180 km/h) for the duration of the ride. The boys were fortunate, they had a back seat to the performance. I on the other hand was not so fortunate, I was seated up front riding shotgun and that much closer to the speeding raceway of the Bangkok highway that lay ahead.

A few minutes into the ride I implored the driver to slow down, telling him I would rather be safe and alive then risk an accident traveling so fast. This too was lost in translation, the driver continued driving at top speed.

As I went to grip the door handle during an approach toward a particularly sharp turn, the driver looked over at me mockingly and said "Ahhhhhh, oh my god, me so scared, boom, muahahahaha (wicked, evil laugh)." It was official, this man was crazy.

Despite signs of mental instability, he got us to DMK airport safely and in time to checkin for our flight. We boarded our flight saying goodbye Thailand and good morning Vietnam.