In the morning, I was a rural Vietnamese schoolgirl. In the afternoon, I was a local bike mechanic. Now, I am a big-city tech guy. These are the various faces and walks of life I encountered today.
I woke up at 5:45 AM on a mission—to fix MR Drone! I left Pu Luong for Hanoi, driving through beautiful rural villages, passing all the little kids on their way to school. They were riding small electric bikes. It was cute, and I felt like one of them. It reminded me of when I used to drive to school at 6 AM in high school. I was so tired I almost crashed every day—but somehow, I never did.
I stopped for gas and coffee. The lady gave me drip coffee, which I had never had before. I was in a rush, so I barely drank any of it before continuing my drive. Slowly, I exited the rural mountains and entered the lowlands.
About two hours in, I stopped for an oil change. The guy who sold me my bike told me to get one every 600 km. It had been 600 km, so I stopped to be safe. I want to take good care of it.
I pulled up to a random bike shop, and the guy changed my oil. Another guy in the shop was holding and petting the most beautiful chicken I have ever seen.
I continued my journey. The first 2.5 hours were adrenaline-filled and went by quickly. The last two hours were grueling. As I got closer to Hanoi, I found myself stuck behind so many trucks, dirt kicking up in my face. The city traffic was nauseating. I swerved in and out between vehicles. I was on a mission.
You can't stop a man on a mission. It feels good to be a man on a mission. To be a man on a mission, you have to care a lot about the cause.
I really felt like I was in a video game—starting at the crack of dawn in the rural mountains of Vietnam, speeding down winding roads, and now navigating the chaos of the city, dodging cars and bikes. I was frustrated I had to do this. But I told myself I couldn't complain. How could I? I had bought a bike, was riding through Vietnam with no real destination, no deadlines, and was heading to fix a really nice drone!
I arrived in Hanoi at 11 AM. It was a five-hour journey.
I took the drone to the shop. At first, they told me it would take 2–3 days to fix. I told them I'd just go to another shop. No way were they that busy. They ended up taking the drone.
Then, they told me I needed to replace the entire PCB—for a hefty price. Since I studied EE, I knew they were yanking my chain. I asked to speak with the technician. He explained the issue: the USB-C connector was broken, and the top layer of copper was ripped off.
I knew some people at TI who could have soldered the connector back on—granted, these are probably some of the best PCB technicians in the world. But I obliged, agreeing to replace the whole PCB for the price. I just really wanted the drone back, and quickly. It wasn't worth my time or effort to find someone to fix it by hand.
That brings up an interesting idea about cost and economics. Pricing is a function of demand but also of how badly the consumer wants something and how quickly. These repair shops must have insane profit margins. People will pay a premium for speed.
I'm now waiting for the drone. Hopefully, he finishes soon with no problems. I want to drive back to the mountains today—I don't want to stay in Hanoi. The weather here is nice for the first time since I've been here, and yet, I'm sitting in a drone shop. Oh well. I can't complain!
