“The good thing about having hot and humid weather like this,” I tried to reassure myself as I walked down a Saigon sidewalk with bare skin glistening with sweat, “is that the nights are warm and pleasant.”
And so during the second week of my visit to Vietnam, I began to spend less time wandering the sidewalks during the day, but more time during the evenings and after-dinner hours. Saigon particularly had nightlife, with an increasing number of western-style bars and clubs and no shortage of guys and gals in their twenties and thirties hitting the streets in black-and-bare attire. Continue reading »
I was on my way to the Ho Chi Minh Airport on the back of a scooter darting in and out of traffic, literally inches away from cars and other monstrosities going 30+ mph, when a thought came to mind. Perhaps traveling al fresco with an overstuffed, 25-lb Gregory Forester pack on my back in 90 degree heat was not one of my most brilliant ideas.
“It is amazing,” I thought to myself, “that I have yet to witness a single crash here.” Somehow I don’t think my insurance agent would have appreciated the sight of me clutching onto the motorbike’s seat rails for dear life in this sea of motorized disorder, and suddenly I was wishing for a helmet even though absolutely nobody dons one here.
That said, the trip to the airport was well worth it. (Please remind me to take a taxi next time, however!) This is because as I stepped off the plane in Da Nang, I was elated to see something as lacking in Ho Chi Minh City as a motorist who drives in a straight line: lush countryside and jagged mountaintops. Continue reading »
I woke up, pronto, at 6:45am, bursting with energy despite watching TV from 1:00-3:00am (so my internal clock is still a bit off). As I peered over the balcony rails and watch scooters zip on by with an sporadic toot-toot, I thought to myself, “this is going to be a good day…”
A good day it did turn out to be. Here are some notes from Day 2 in Ho Chi Minh City: Continue reading »
We made it! After arriving at the San Francisco International Airport, I almost immediately ran into my friend/former co-worker Loan, her family, and her friends’ families. Together we flew to Vietnam on EVA Airlines (an excellent airline with good service, food, and real silverware) with a two-hour layover in Taipei, about an 18-hour journey that flew by for me since I was sleeping 80% of the time. It was from Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon) that the adventure began.
First there was the order of getting through customs. Continue reading »
