Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam Trip ~ Day 1

July 12 & 13, 2012

Our Vietnam trip technically started on Thursday afternoon with our take-off from Incheon International Airport on the west coast of South Korea. As soon as our wheels left the ground, we were out over the ocean and heading further west. Our first flight, to Shanghai, took two hours. The flight was normal, although the last ten minutes or so were a little frightening for me since the stewardesses suddenly began to rush up and down the aisle telling passengers brusquely in Mandarin (I think) and English to close their window shades. Having never been told to do that in a plane except for during long trans-continental flights, I was a little nervous that something was going wrong with the plane and the crew didn't want us to see what was happening outside the aircraft. My fears were in vain, though, thankfully, and we landed with no obvious difficulties. After all us passengers had disembarked, ridden the bus to the terminal, and had been funneled through quite a few long empty hallways, we lined up to have officials look at our passports. Then those staying in China or taking national flights were sent one direction while those of us flying internationally went another. The international terminal was a very long, long room and our gate was rather near the end. We killed our couple hours of layover time by reading and talking. Our flight to Ho Chi Minh City was delayed by another hour or so, but finally we were sent to another gate and allowed to board our flight. (Just a tip at this point: if you are ever tempted to fly China Eastern Airways because of a low-priced ticket, I'd recommend just passing up the cheap price and going with a slightly pricier airline. Every single one of our four flights on CEA were delayed, most by an hour or more and one by a hefty four hours!)

The international terminal in the Shanghai airport

The next plane we'd take, from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Sunset from the terminal

After another two hour flight, we had arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, right down at the south end of Vietnam. We had already booked a hotel for the night and asked for a pick-up, so once we cleared customs (very easy with the help of our Vietnam visas), and picked up Jonathan's large backpacking backpack from the luggage carousel, we walked outside into the warm midnight air. We found our driver right away and he put our two backpacks in the trunk while we got in the backseat. The drive took about 15 or 20 minutes and was mostly along quite deserted streets. When we arrived, the driver gave us our bags and then led us to our hotel where we found it barred and locked for the night. The driver called the owner on his cellphone while simultaneously banging on the metal garage-style door until the owner finally raised the large metal door and unlocked the front door for us to enter. The driver left and the owner told us that there had been a mistake and they didn't have an extra room for us, despite an e-mail reply from them saying that we had a room booked. "No problem, though," the man said, "you can stay at my cousin's hotel across the street." He made a call on his cellphone and then led us across the very narrow street. (The driver had had to park at the end of the street because the only motorized vehicles that could make it down the street were motorbikes.) The owner of the other hotel met us, the other owner bid us goodnight - while letting us know that should we need a hotel room for any subsequent night, we should definitely come stay at his hotel. This owner told us that all his one-bed rooms were taken, so we accepted the slightly higher price for a two-bed room (what other option did we have??), and quickly paid for it and followed the owner up three flights of narrow winding stairs to our room for the night. It was around 1 a.m. local time by the time we were finally in our room and able to go to sleep.

View of the street from our window

Looking the other direction

Jonathan's pack with pack cover in case of a sudden downpour

Our nice, clean-looking room

Using the sole computer in the lobby

The next morning, Friday, we woke up to sounds of people walking and talking and cycling and motorbiking on the street below our window, and the louder sounds of a large city on the nearby streets just around the corner. After refreshing showers, we hit the streets to start experiencing Vietnam. We soon realized we were in a touristy area and easily found many restaurants to choose from on the street just around the corner from our hotel. We quickly learned that Vietnamese restaurants place their menus right outside their restaurants so passersby can glance through them as they walk down the street. They also employ people to stand outside near the menus to encourage customers to come eat in their restaurant. After passing by a few of these restaurant hawkers, we finally let one of them encourage us into a small cement-walled restaurant with an open front. A few other white tourists were enjoying breakfast inside, so we decided it looked like a good place to eat. We were ready to order just a few minutes after entering, and our food came quickly and tasted great. We enjoyed watching Vietnamese life passing by on the street out front. The best part of the experience, though, came with our bill. "Wow, food is cheap here!" I exclaimed as I glanced at the handwritten tab. (I must say, neither Jonathan nor I had done too much research about traveling in Vietnam before arriving. Doing the final duties for our jobs and then traveling to Jeju with my parents and brother kept us from spending too much time researching, so we arrived in Vietnam without too much knowledge or too many set plans. Actually, most of what we learned about the country before we arrived came from reading the Vietnam section of our Lonely Planet Southeast Asia guidebook while sitting in the Shanghai airport...) After breakfast, we explored the nearby streets and ended up strolling around the block. We knew before arriving in Vietnam that motorbikes were a very important mode of transportation in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, and boy were they ever!

Cars take second place

More on traffic and crossing streets in Vietnam later...

A church building we came upon in our wanderings

When we got back to our hotel we used the computer in the lobby to check our e-mail and then did a little bit of planning for the next few days. Since it was Friday, we wanted to be somewhere a little more restful for Sabbath so we looked for the next interesting city that looked like a nice relaxing place. Mui Ne was the next city up the coast that sounded like an interesting place to visit, so the hotel owner called around to a few places, trying to find us bus or train tickets there. He ended up finding us tickets on a bus that left in about an hour. He also called a good hotel in Mui Ne to get us a room. The bus company's office was just around the corner, so he took us there and we got the tickets and then went to a nearby shop a few stores down to grab some food for the road. After a very warm wait in the stuffy office, the bus finally arrived and we boarded, then waited a bit longer until leaving time. While waiting we watched a group of young men playing soccer on the sidewalk beside the bus. Before too long, though, we left and started the long drive north to Mui Ne (6ish hours). We got there after dark and got dropped off right in front of our hotel. We checked in to the hotel and were shown to our room. We were pretty tired and went to sleep soon after arriving.

Taking a break in their sidewalk soccer game

Views from the bus window

Not trash - someone's business

Lovely water!

Next up: Mui Ne