First Impressions
Good morning Vietnam! That seemed appropriate for today. Well, despite not getting to bed until 1:30 or 2 am last night I was awake bright and early at 7:30 this morning. It must have been all of that restful sleep from the flights.
The morning started off with logging onto my computer and noticing football games were being played (congratulations TCU by the way). This was such a weird feeling to realize football was being played on a Monday morning. After chatting with some people back home I figured it was time to get some breakfast.
My roommate Jason and I along with Sarah made our way to the top floor where the hotel’s restaurant was located. After walking through the small ornate wooden door from the dark staircase into the bright breakfast room all I could say was “Wow.” It was a beautiful view from the 12th floor of the hotel, but not your typical downtown view. There are only 3 or 4 major sky scrappers, no Reunion Tower or Pickle Building (it’s a Dallas thing), mainly there were buildings about our height or shorter. Even without the tall buildings the city was beautiful with its bustling streets below, ornate buildings, and large plots of trees.
As for the breakfast, it certainly wasn’t a standard American breakfast. While the hotel was accommodating and provided bacon, potatoes, and omelets I jumped straight into the Vietnamese cuisine. I had a noodle dish, grilled tomato, fish sausage, and a shrimp cake, as well as other various items. I even ended up trying some of the seafood gruel. It was definitely an experience and I look forward to many more new breakfast foods.
After breakfast I took my first steps on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. In a small group we walked around the block looking at the variety of shops and buildings. Unfortunately this involved crossing the street once or twice. There were a few close calls while crossing the street and one very close encounter walking down a sidewalk. Apparently people can get so impatient that they’ll simply drive their bikes up along the sidewalk.
Following the walk we went through our orientation with our program guide Nhu, and our Ho Chi Minh guide Tung. We the started off our city tour by visiting the French quarter. Here there is a replica of Notre Dame and also the famous Ho Chi Minh post office. This is a huge cultural differcne because I don’t think anyone would want to visit a US post office as a tourist attraction.
In the afternoon we visited the War Remnants Museum, a museum dedicated to providing many of the truths behind the Vietnam (aka American) war. A large part of the museum talks about America’s use of illegal chemical weapons such as Agent Orange throughout the campaign. This was a very enlightening experience, and it was interesting to learn about the war outside of a classroom.
Finally we had some down time which a few of us used to get some frozen yogurt followed by a fish massage. Now, I know what you’re thinking, it wasn’t them massaging your fish, but actually the fish massaging you. You put your feet into a shallow pool and the fish come and basically nibble on your feet. It may sound weird, but it felt great and walking around afterwards felt great too.
I’ll finish todays entry with our first run in with politics and economics in Vietnam. After finishing dinner, our bus stopped on the street in front of the restaurant to pick us up. Unfortunately the police claimed that this was illegal. Despite the hundreds of other traffic violations I had seen throughout the day, we were stuck with the bill. I didn’t even think Ho Chi Minh City had traffic cops, until this incident. Anyways, after a short conversation, a monetary exchange was made. We were apparently able to bribe the cops with 200,000 dong (about $10), whereas if we hadn’t done this it would have cost at least $40 and the driver would lose his license for a month. That’s a pretty steep fine for a minor parking violation, but also a rather cheap bribe. It’s interesting to see the differences between US and Vietnamese traffic systems and laws.
Well, I’m exhausted now, it’s been a long first day and I’m going to hit the sack. I’ll continue to keep you all posted on my ventures, check back soon.