This is called Vietnam 1 because I'm very sure that I will not be able to fit everything I want to say into one blog post. First, let me say that I write this blog post almost guiltily. I remember so vividly living in Phoenix and nannying for a family one summer. They were young and cool, and I loved the wife. They were also doubly cool in my eyes because there were abundant pictures of them traveling throughout Southeast Asia. I can remember talking with her about this with a longing in my voice. I remember asking her how this kind of life was possible. (It turns out her dad was high up in a corporation based in Jakarta and that she and her new husband moved out to SE Asia for a year and based out of her parents' house while traveling and occasionally working). I came to a realization at that moment that my life would probably never be as awesome as hers and went on with my life.
So I realize now, more than ever, that the life I lead is one that people can only dream about. I don't say this in a bragging way, but conversely, in a blessed way. It hit me during my trip that even a few short months ago, I didn't even have a dream of vising Asia, much less moving here. Vietnam seemed as far away a palace as any. But, here I am, and I'm constantly blown away at this opportunity, and cognizant that not everyone has the opportunities afforded me.
Okay. Onto the details! I'll try to put as much of our itinerary in so that if you ever get inspired to visit Vietnam, you can see what we did.
First and foremost, we didn't decide to book this trip until about 2 weeks before we were supposed to leave, so the flights there were a bit more expensive than they would probably have been otherwise, but still reasonable (comparable to a round trip flight in the US). The flights we selected were about $50USD cheaper than the next cheapest option, but that left us leaving at truly heinous times of the day and night. United Airlines was far and away the cheapest, so I booked a flight leaving Hong Kong at 10:50pm. My friend Lillian had left the day before because she wanted to join the Ho Chi Minh swing dancing group that met on Sunday nights, and I needed to stay for church on Sunday. But we'll get to that later.
Arriving at the airport, nothing made me feel like more of a rockstar than to used my newly acquired Hong Kong ID to breeze through immigration. It is truly a wonder to me why other Western countries (hello, US) haven't implemented a procedure like this. Possibly because lots of people don't ever travel outside the US? In any case, instead of waiting in the lines with everyone who is not a HK resident, you get to bypass and head to the HK resident counter. Where they scan your ID and send you on your merry way. No passport, no stamping, no fuss. So I was happy to take advantage of this!
After making my way to my gate, buying a coffee, and finally boarding, I finally got excited! It hadn't felt like I was
really leaving up until I boarded. Arriving on the plane, blanket and pillow in hand, I expected to sleep the whole way. That is until... announcement one letting us know that due to mechanical problems we were delayed "10-15 minutes". Let me tell you that if an airline tells you this, they're probably lying. Around an hour and a half later, we finally left the gate, "mechanical problems" all sorted out. Instead of arriving in HCMC at 12:30, we now arrived at 1:30am. This was by far the most terrifying part of the trip for me, really because I didn't know what to expect.
We had read on lots of blogs about the rampant scamming of tourists, specifically in taxis. Either they would get way overcharged, the taxi would claim that the hotel they had booked had recently burned down and try and take them to another hotel, or they would drive off with your luggage in the back. So obviously, this made me nervous, being a single female arriving in the middle of the night. We had been advised to take Vinasun or Mai Linh taxis as they were much more reputable, and advised further to buy a taxi ticket inside the arrival hall in order to make sure we weren't cheated. Because it was so late, however, the taxi office was closed, so I emerged into a feeding frenzy of taxis trying to get people inside. I was probably asked 100 times if I needed a taxi, where was I going, etc. I headed down to the end of the taxi stand where a cluster of Vinasun taxis were and was finally able to get a taxi.
Fortunately, the owner of the hostel we were staying at gave us printed directions in Vietnamese to give to the driver, down to where exactly to drop us off and the number to call when we got there so she could come and get us. This really was above and beyond, and set my mind at ease. It was crazy going through HCMC in the middle of the night, exhausted and having no idea whether the driver was taking me to my hostel or to the middle of nowhere. But it turned out alright. When we arrived at the place, he claimed his phone didn't work (though in the printed directions it said I'd pay him 10,000 Vietnamese Dong for making the call). Finally his phone worked and out came the daughter of the hostel owner. It is a good thing she picked me up, because I would never have found the place.
Long Hostel is not anything fancy, but at almost 3:00am, I had never been happier to see something! Ms. Long's daughter walked me up to our first floor room, and after some knocking, Lillian woke up and let me in. I pretty much crashed after that! the next morning, we awoke to a great breakfast. And I had my first Vietnamese coffee. And then the heavens opened up. Okay, kidding, but I loved loved loved it. I'm pretty sure I drank about a gallon of Vietnamese coffee on this trip.
We started off our day by taking a city bus that cost us an impressive 4,000VND (Vietnamese Dong). The equivalent of this in USD is about 20 cents, so it was insanely cheap. We had almost no idea where we were going, except to visit the area around Reunification Palace. After about 30 minutes on the bus, we realized that we had really no idea where to get off, or what landmarks to look for. So Lillian approached the driver with our map in hand. All he said was "20 minutes", so we waited. One of the strangest things about being in Vietnam is the lack of English speakers. I think it's probably the least English speaking place I've ever been, but the difference is really noticeable in the little things. Even in areas I've traveled where peoples' English was limited, at least there was some minimum of communication. But here it was pretty much all gesturing and pointing. Please don't take this as a complaint - you probably wouldn't find a stronger advocate for learning languages than me - just a simple observation. And my Vietnamese doesn't exist. In fact, I can say one thing in Vietnamese and that is Beef Noodles. So, also not incredibly useful.
The other thing about Vietnam that really stuck out to me right away is the craziness of it all. Ho Chi Minh city is the largest city in Vietnam, and the density and pace of things blew me away. Literally right before leaving, the wife of the family I'm staying with in HK told me about her experience crossing the street. As I stood unbelieving, she told me that crosswalks, traffic lights, etc, were mere suggestions and that if I wanted to cross the street, I should just walk out into oncoming traffic with a steady measured step, and that that the cars and motorbikes would simply go around me. Don't stop under any circumstances, even if it looks like you're going to get careened into, she said. Right, I thought, I'll tuck that away in my mind and see how it
really is. But how right she was. That was the precise method for crossing the street and it is strange, exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. People truly will go all around you. On more than one occasion, seeing a motorbike flying towards me, I wanted to stop, but I pressed on and safely made it to the other side!
One of the other surprises of HCMC is that road markings seem to only be a suggestion. And there is a pecking order. Basically, whoever is biggest gets to go first. So being in a bus was actually quite a safe time. I saw motorbikes driving on the sidewalk, cars taking their lane out of the middle of two lanes, and bicyclists just trying to make it in the midst of the din.
Another crazy thing I noticed is that people will literally load down their motorbikes to a level that I couldn't even believe. I have absolutely no idea how this guy was operating his bike! Look at that! It's like the entire produce section of HEB crammed onto a motorbike. While I was seriously questioning this guy's judgement, I as also internally applauding him. I guess when a motorbike is your method of transportation, you make it work. I also saw 5 people crammed on a bike - 3 adults and two kids, but wasn't fast enough to get a picture. The sad part of that was that most of the kids don't wear helmets. The adults cover themselves head to toe to avoid sun exposure, and wear facemasks in most cases, but the kids don't, for the most part, wear helmets. I saw on several occasions tiny tots clinging to mom or dad, or standing between the legs of their parents as they zipped through traffic. I can imagine that lots of tragic accidents happen this way. I did find a picture from this website:
http://ferenc.biz/570-motorbikes-traffic-air-pollution-pictures-saigon-vietnam.html. This guy has a lot of pictures that really do capture the craziness of HCMC.
After finally finding our stop, eating at a disappointingly mediocre place for lunch, and walking around some more, we finally found our way to Reunification Palace. This was the site of the South Vietnamese government, and was the place where the South Vietnamese President surrendered to the North. It was interesting to see the history of the building, and to see that strangely, all of the furnishings from the 60's and 70's were all still in use, despite this place being an actual site for events and meetings as well as a museum. The personal highlight for me was the rousing video at the end of our tour that used the world "American Imperialists" about 4,237 times. It is always the case that views on things are different.
I did find it very interesting and strangely sobering to be in Vietnam knowing our history there. Somehow, knowing that almost 60,000 US Soldiers died there made the trip take on a new spin. It is of course hard to imagine what things would have been like almost 40 years ago in Vietnam, especially spending the majority of our time in the city. But the history is definitely under the surface. It was strange to see Ho Chi Minh everywhere - from statues to currency to pictures in peoples' living rooms. He is everywhere. There is undoubtedly a huge cult of personality going on there, and I've read that it is illegal to write anything negative about him. Many families apparently also worship him as a God-like entity. We did get into a more lengthy conversation with some people at our Bungalow in Phu Quoc, but I'll save that for later...
After an afternoon of sightseeing, we decided to take a little break and pop into a coffee shop for some spring rolls and what else, Vietnamese Coffee. We were both pretty tired, since I had only had a few hours sleep, and had awoken Lillian in the middle of the night with my entry, so we decided to head back to our hostel. We took some time to relax, and then started looking for a dinner place. Lillian really wanted French food, so finding one close to the hostel, we set out. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the restaurant looked extremely dodgy and was lit by only red lights, which didn't seem to be a good omen. We turned back and asked the hostel owners for some recommendations, and they found a great little place about a 15 minute cab ride away called Le Jardin de Sao Mai. It was located on a quiet alley inside an old, cute yellow house. And the food was incredible. I mean, seriously incredible. I had the best Blue Cheese salad I have ever tasted, followed by a great Beef Roquefort, all accompanied by a great French Cabernet. It was truly spectacular. Lilian and I sat there for over two hours just chatting and hanging out. It was one of those moments where I felt like I was truly taking a breath from the busyness of life, and simply enjoying. I'd definitely recommend anyone visiting HCMC to try them!
The next morning, our trend of disturbingly early flights continued with a 7:05am flight to Phu Quoc. Talked out of a 5am departure by our hostel owner, we arranged a cab at 5:30am, since our flight was domestic, we didn't need to be at the airport 2 hours early, she said. We packed up our stuff, walked out to the street, passing the market which was already fired up (no pun intended) and into our awaiting cab. We made it to the airport in plenty of time, approached the check in counter, and Lillian realized that she left her passport in the safe. At the hostel.
At this point, I went into full problem solving mode. Lillian asked if there was a phone in the area since neither one of us had International Roaming, and the check-in lady graciously lent Lillian her cell phone. I, on the other hand, went to the customer service counter and asked how much it would cost to change our flights to a later time, just in case. Armed with that information, Lillian told me that she had begged someone from the hostel to run her passport out to the airport, but that they said they were pretty busy, and would have to call back in 15 minutes. I thought to myself that of course they weren't going to bring it - and in fact, I was dubious that her passport would even still be there when we got back.
As we waited, it became more and more clear that we were not going to make the 30 minute advanced check in window, so I bought us tickets on the next flight out (because Lillian had also left her wallet with the passport). Just as we conceded that we'd have to go back to the Hostel to get the items, Lillian called the hostel one more time. One of the employees was on a motor bike bringing the stuff out to the airport. I told Lillian to wait by the curb outside since we had no idea where she would be coming from while I went in to the customer service counter yet again to see what would happen if miraculously, Lillian's passport arrived before the 30 minute window closed. They assured me that I could get a full refund, but that the latest we could check in was 6:40. As the minutes ticked by, we saw the girl from the hostel sprinting with Lillian's stuff at about 6:46. All of Lillian's things were wrapped tight in saran wrap, and nothing was missing, including money and her iPod touch. It blew me away. As Lillian tried to give the girl some money to thank her, she wouldn't accept it.
It was one of those moments where I realized that there are good people in the world. We didn't make our flight, though we had checked in and were in the terminal for our later flight before our original flight was supposed to leave, but no matter. I got to have another Vietnamese Coffee while we waited, which was a pretty good consolation prize. All in all, a minor hiccup!
Next time, I'll write about our time in Phu Quoc which was for lack of a better word, Magical.
Til next time,
The Adventurer
Funny Vietnamese of the Day:
