Vietnam

Wow its already been over a month since my winter break, but I wanted to write about it before I forget.


In Decemeber 2010 I took a 10-day vacay with a friend to South East Asia. We took 5 days in Vietnam and spent the other 5 days in Thailand. Because of the short length of the trip, we decided to stay in one major city and not travel around too much.


Vietnam

Melanie and I took the overnight bus over to Osaka on Christmas Eve and then the train over to the Kansai Airport on Christmas morning. It was a fairly long flight over to Ho Chi Minh city, because there was an hour layover at the Hong Kong Airport. I enjoyed my flight on Cathay Pacific since I got a meal for both flights, even though I was planning on eating at the HK Airport with some delicious HK food. But I guess free food is always good. I took advantage of the hour to get some HK style milk tea and bought a couple "I <3 Hong Kong" shirts.

The arrival in Saigon was a bit of a mess because we were swindled out of money right away. After grabbing our baggage, we walked out towards the taxi stand. We were only about 50 meters away, but a man came up to us and flashed his "taxi license" persistently. I was a bit skeptical, but we went with him after hearing that it was only "700." When we left the airport, we found that it was 700,000 Vietnamese dong, which is around $35, for the 15 minute ride. I guess during transactions they drop the last three zer0s. It was close to four times the price it should have been! Should have changed our minds when we saw that the vehicle wasn't even a taxi...

The hotel that M booked was great though! Free computers to use in the lobby, free wi-fi, free breakfast and dinner (if you wanted), personal restroom with shower. The only fall back was that we mistakenly booked a double room, so we had to share the bed. Since we arrived so late in the day, I believe it was close to 8PM, we decided to walk around and then grab some pho as our first meal--even though we had dinner on the airplane. Those free meals weren't going to spoil my foodventures! Down a small street near our District 1 hotel there was a restaurant serving pho. I got a small bowl of tendon pho and it was very satisfying. I've yet to find a decent pho restaurant in Japan and this was delicious at a more than reasonable price. All the food from the food stands were around $2 or less.

The area we stayed in had tons of bars and restaurants. We grabbed a beer from a small bar and sat outside watching the vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The first thing I noticed about Vietnam was the horrible traffic. While riding in the car/taxi, which was driven by the worst driver ever, we were surrounded by cars and motorbikes. The driver zoomed quickly by all the traffic without much consideration to the motorbikes. It felt as if we were dangerously close to hitting many of the bikers. I remember the honking the most. Everyone honking, cursing, and pushing around each other. Add pedestrians into the picture and lack of pedestrian crosswalks and you have the chaos that is Saigon traffic.

The next bar we went to was busier. It was called Go and its hard to miss with the hundreds of lights on the sign. The most Christmas spirit I saw on the strip of bars--neon signs and Christmas lights wrapping the palm trees. I had hookah, or shisha, for the first time. The flavor we got was apple and I can't say that I enjoyed it too much. It was fun chatting with a couple tourists at our table, a couple of Vietnamese Americans who were with two local Vietnamese girls. We were quite tired after our hookah and headed off to bed.

The first day of sunshine in Vietnam was far warmer than expected given we had come from the Ishikawa winter. We got our free breakfast buffet in the morning--a mix of Western style foods and Asian cuisine that I wouldn't usually consider breakfast. My favorite part of my plate was the fried egg roll. After stuffing ourselves, we flagged a taxi down and headed to the Giac Lam Pagoda. It wasn't the most amazing attraction, but it was nice to do some traditional Buddhist prayer that my family usually does. The rest of the day was full of temple visits--the nearby temple, the temples in the Chinatown area. We had a delicious lunch on the streets and then we headed to the main event--the local waterpark named Dam Sen. With it being my first time at a waterpark and the high degree temperature, the park was a highlight in my Vietnam trip. It was cheap to get in, close to $5 for the day, and 90% of the people were Vietnamese locals.

The evening was more eventful than I expected. We signed up for the hotel's "Family Dinner" and joined an international group of people for the Sunday night meal. We were all given t-shirts with the slogan: We are a family, then encouraged to meet others at the dinner. A free meal, new friends, an awkward dance party and karaoke made the night silly, but fun. M and I left after the round of karaoke and changed for the "Apocalypse" club. We were joined by the Singaporean couple we met at dinner and danced a little less awkwardly to dance/house music.

The second full day followed a scheduled tour from 8AM until 4PM. A van picked us up from the hotel and we sat with other tourists that were picked up along the way to the attractions. The first stop was a factory with handicapped workers--many of them were affected by the Vietnam/American war. The tourguide led us around to the work stations and of course the store. The second stop was the temple, Tay Ninh Holy See, where many people practice Cao Dai. The temple is extremely ornate and colorful with dragons wrapping around the pillars and a sky blue vaulted ceiling. The visitors, and I don't mean the tourists watching from the second level, dorned colored robes that indicated the religion they believe in--Buddhism, Catholocism, Christianity, etc. Unfortunately, I can't remember what each color represented...

After lunch we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels where the American war had been fought. These then hidden tunnels are surrounded by death traps, which are now safely displayed for the tourists. Sounds of AK47 and machine guns firing can be heard throughout the site because they have an area where you can pay to fire the massive weaponry. Walking underground through the tunnels was an experience I'm glad I tried but would never do again. It's stuffy with poor ventilation, narrow with room only to kneel or crawl and its pitch black most of the time. I must have gotten out after 50 meters.

We were exhausted after the tour and starved so we went to grab some pizza near our hotel. Dessert was fresh coconut juice from a stand in an alley. Then I took some time alone at a cafe and continued to read Norwegian Wood from the page I left off on. On my walk back to the hotel I bumped into a couple friends from Japan and had a beer with them.

The third day was not as eventful but it was probably a good idea to relax. We would be leaving for Thailand the next morning. The first part of the day was spent at the War Time Museum. It is disheartening to see so many images of the people affected by Agent Orange. While I took plenty of videos and images there, I doubt I would ever show these to people because its something a person needs to see on their own volition. The museum soon closed after we got in because there was a midday break.

The rest of our time after lunch was spent shopping for gifts. I started conversing with one of the friendliest store clerks I've ever met. I think it might have been because she is young and eager to speak English. She was so talkative! I invited her to go out after she finished work and we ended up getting smoothies somewhere. It was interesting talking to her about various things, but sitting out that night in the outdoor tables was a horrible idea. 10 new mosquito bites! I forgot why I hated the Asian summers until that night. We said we would keep in contact, but I lost her information. :(

That was the last night in Vietnam and then it was off to Bangkok.