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A Clash of Cultures, part 1

Transportation

When you think about transportation, you likely think of your car. Outside of places like Manhattan, nearly everyone in America over the age of 18 has their own car or has access to one. And if you're of legal age and you don't have a drivers license, there is probably a good reason for it. The automobile is ubiquitous in America the way bicycles are for Parisian hipsters. Of course, it's not that way in many other countries, which is obviously why I'm writing this piece. 

In Vietnam, the motorbike is king. There are various reasons for this: a rapidly expanding population in a city where the infrastructure can't keep up with the growth, the low cost of owning and operating a motorbike, the extremely high import tax on vehicles, and the lack of parking spaces are just a few of them. 

In 1995 the population of Ho Chi Minh city was roughly 4,640,000 people. As of 2015 the population was roughly 8,244,000. That's about 43% growth in just 20 years. In that same span of time, while there has of course been a tremendous amount of work done on the roads, I would guess that, based on the state of some of the streets, that the amount of work done has not been enough to keep up with the demand. Traffic here can be very frustrating, even more so because the average driver here is uhh, how should I say... very bad. 

Let's say you're as dumb as I was and you buy a brand new Honda Civic off the lot, and you pay $20,000. How much money does it cost to keep that car running, per year? Let's estimate $40/month for gas so $480/yr. If you're a decent driver maybe you pay $70/mo for insurance, so $840 per year. Oil changes, basic maintenance, car washes, and air fresheners, let's say that adds up to about $200 per year. After the first year that car has cost you $21,520, and is now worth maybe... maybe $16,000. 

When I got to Vietnam I found a listing for a Yamaha motorbike on craigslist, I met the guy, test drove it, then handed him $220 in cash. That's it. No registration fees, licensing, nada. I've had that bike for about 5 months now and it costs me about $8 per month for gas plus about $60 in repairs so far (turns out a $220 motorbike might have a few issues). The best part is, if I decide in a year or so that I don't want it anymore, I could easily sell it for $175-200. 

Can you imagine paying $30,000 for a basic Kia or Hyundai car? Probably not, but here those with the cash willingly pay it. Even though the import taxes on vehicles here is outrageous (I've heard anywhere from 50 to 100% of the retail price) the status of being a car owner is too tempting for many middle class Vietnamese. Even though the roads aren't built for high numbers of cars, even though the costs associated with buying and maintaining a car are much higher, and even though you're likely to get a scratch or dent on your first day driving from some junkie "xe om", the vehicle ownership rate here is skyrocketing. Why? Well, there's a lot more money coming into and being made in the city, and being seen driving a car automatically puts you in the cool kid category. 

Xe Om driver hard at work

Have you ever seen Vietnamese architecture? The standard house/apartment building model is approximately 10 inches wide and 30 feet deep. The reason I've heard for why this is is that a long time ago, and maybe today as well, your property tax is based on how much street space your building takes up. Skinnier buildings mean skinnier taxes. However, one of the side effects of this is that even if you wanted to you couldn't have an attached garage. So you'd have to park your car outside your building or in a parking lot nearby if there is one. Or, if you only have motorbikes in your household, you can park them all in less space than the car took up, or even park them in your living room as is the standard in most places here. 

Well now I've taken entirely too much time writing only about motorbikes and cars and not about other modes of transportation. I'll quickly go over the busses, trains, and what flying here is like. 

As far as I know the busses are only there to herd motorbike drivers and occasionally run one over. I'm being sarcastic of course, but honestly all I really know about the city busses are that the drivers care more about being on time than they do about not hitting anyone. I've taken charter busses through the country and into/from Cambodia but I try not to relive those experiences. 

The trains are ok. They're cheap and usually get to their destination, besides that there's not much to expect. I've taken two trains here, both were fairly rickety but sort of an amusingly antiquated experience. There aren't many train routes available here, as far as I know it's just basically North -> South and vice versa.

I have a love/hate relationship with the airline industry in Vietnam. I love how cheap the flights are and how many cities I can fly to or near to, I hate the standard of service on these flights. I can fly almost anywhere in Vietnam for around $40, roughly the same or slightly more to nearby countries like Thailand or China. However, every single flight, and I mean EVERY.single.flight is going to be delayed at least 40 minutes, and likely more. Why? Not a clue. The staff are usually friendly enough, and occasionally one will speak enough English for me to get my point across, but more often than not the person sitting next to me will be a 65-year-old woman who falls asleep over my armrest and has a coughing problem. Also, the security is extremely lax in most airports I've been to. The TSA's collective butthole would be clenched tight enough to create diamonds if they saw how casually the security crew just waved people through with hardly a passing glance.

So that's pretty much it when it comes to transportation in Ho Chi Minh city. There is a metro system that's currently under construction, but the estimated completion date of the first line was just pushed back from 2017/18 to 2020/21 so I have no real idea what it will be like if/when it ever opens. The Vietnamese government is paying Japanese firms multiple billions of dollars (that other countries have donated to the project) to construct them so hopefully they'll be made to a certain standard.

A 3D rendering of what the metro will (MIGHT) look like

Sorry for such a long post, if you made it here without skimming then you're awesome, if you skimmed you're still awesome but... you should take the time to actually read it. Just sayin'. 

Gastronomical Changes, pt 2

In part 1 of this two-part blog post I talked a little bit about some of the foods that fall away from the diet of a western person who moves to South East Asia. Now I'll cover some of the foods that you may not have eaten much at home (or at all) but now eat frequently. 

• Okra & Morning Glory. I'm sure everyone has heard of okra before, it's grown and eaten in some parts of the United States, such as the Gulf Coast. I had heard of it before moving here, but to my knowledge hadn't ever eaten it. My first week here I was at an outdoor BBQ place with a few new friends and there was a strange green vegetable I'd never seen before. It's a fibrous chute similar to celery but inside it was sectional like a grapefruit or an orange. I haven't had it outside of a soup or BBQ'd but okra is one of my favorite new vegetables that I've had since moving here. Morning Glory aka water spinach is another tasty vegetable that was new to me. Essentially it's a long stemmed spinach with smaller leaves, but boy is it tasty and healthy as well. 

• Soups. Ok, everyone knows what pho is. But have you had bun bo hue? Or banh rieu? What about hu tieu? At any restaurant in Vietnam you have various options for your soup slurping pleasure, and if none of these soups are your thing there are plenty more to try. Most places also provide you with a cup of cabbage soup with your meal if you're eating a non-soup dish. Of course soup isn't a new thing to me or anyone else, but the extent to which you end up incorporating soup into your day to day diet is definitely different. 

• Seafood. Now hold on just one minute. I'm from the Pacific Northwest, we INVENTED seafood! I know, but Vietnam really takes the title when it comes to how much seafood is a part of the national diet. Back in the US there are a lot of people who don't like seafood (we call them "mentally insane") and thus never eat the great crab and fish that is available. Here it's inescapable, especially for someone who can't read Vietnamese. The diversity of the seafood that's eaten here blows away the US; they eat octopus, fish, crab, snails, clams, eel, jellyfish, and the king of seafood in Vietnam... shrimp. I swear the amount of shrimp that's eaten here would make Forrest and Bubba proud. 

• Durian, Jackfruit, and Dragonfruit. Durian is one of the most controversial fruits in the world, or at least as controversial as a fruit can be. It's incredibly odorous, to the extent that it has been banned from being eaten on the subway in Singapore. I've eaten durian ice cream and it was a strange but not totally unpleasant taste. Jackfruit is a delicious and nutrient-rich fruit that is a total pain in the ass to collect. They come in these little pods within the larger fruit that you need to tear out of the membrane, pulling them out is like shucking corn, if corn was the size of a clove of garlic and slippery. 

Jackfruit

• Dragonfruit is, I would say, the best fruit that's ever graced our green Earth. There are two variations, one that's bright purple/pink and one that is white with black seeds. Both are delicious, and the skin is cool looking to boot. It's the consistency of watermelon but with a fairly mild taste.

Dragonfruit

So there you have a few examples of foods that you'll eat more if you come to Vietnam. There are other examples of course, such as the amount of vegetarian dishes that are available (it is a Buddhist nation after all). I eat way more rice than I ever had before, more noodles and less bread, more fish and much more pork. They say that the Asian diets are healthier than most western diets; I think to a large extent that is true. There are more vegetables here and less refined sugars and processed foods. 

Make sure to keep an eye out for my next blog post which will discuss... something else. 

Gastronomical Changes, pt 1

It goes without saying that when you move to the other side of the world, things change. Your outlook on the world changes, your ability to adapt to strange new situations changes, and your place in the societal hierarchy changes. One of the things that no one tells you, however, is that your diet will change. It may seem obvious but I had expected that in a modernized, large metropolitan city like Ho Chi Minh I would be able to find just about any type of food I could want. And for the most part, that's true. But due to scarcity or price there are some food items that just tend to fall out of most western people's diets when they move to Vietnam. Here are a few of them.

• Dairy. Besides those who are lactose intolerant, most western people get a lot of dairy in their diets. Be it milk, ice cream, chocolate, cheese, etc, these foods are just not as accessible as they are in America. There are some dairy items that are fairly popular here, such as yogurt, condensed milk, and to a certain degree ice cream. However, you start to notice that most of the dairy from your home diet seems to disappear. Regular milk like the kind that you'd put on cereal is expensive and unavailable in any decent quantity. Good chocolate is expensive. Cheese is especially hard to find and when you do, you'll likely balk at the price. Back home I had access to a smorgasbord of fine cheeses: brie, emmental, feta, mozzarella, camembert. If I want a chunk of brie cheese here I practically have to sign over the rights to my first-born child. 

• Bread. Besides the ubiquitous french baguette, good bread here is much harder to find than in America. I'm used to only eating high-quality multi-grain wheat bread; in Vietnam the "wheat" bread is likely just white bread with food coloring. Not to mention that once you do buy some, if you don't keep it in the refrigerator the heat and humidity will birth mold on your bread before you've had time to make a sandwich. It makes sense; rice is the staple here and for good reason, it's one of the most fertile rice-growing areas on earth. Sadly that comes at the expense of good grain options. 

• Beer. Now, here beer is a more commonly available beverage than water or tea, but the lack of high-quality suds here is disappointing. It ties in with the bread, as both are grain based and as of yet no one has found a way to make rice beer (I think). There are a few breweries that produce a good product, and some venues import beer from overseas, but generally speaking you're limited to 4-5 different beers, all of which are just lower quality clones of Budweiser or Coors. 

So there you have it; 3 staples of the American diet which fall to the wayside once you decided to move to Vietnam. There are more ways in which your diet changes in an Asian country; some things that are less integral to your diet and some that are more. Ho Chi Minh is a city of 9 million people, thus any type of food is available here: Mexican, Indian, American, Italian, you name it you can find it. But in your day to day life it's unrealistic to think that you can make this move without having to adjust your eating habits. In part 2 I will cover a few foods that I didn't eat much of back in America but I have found myself eating relatively regularly here.

Adventure Time: Let's go to Cambodia!

Cambodia is a country trying to find an identity. It has remnants of French colonialism, an influx of western money and businesses, and at its core is the Khmer people and their language. Unlike Vietnam, which had its language changed drastically by the French, the Khmer language survived the period where they too were ruled by France. In fact, Vietnam is one of the only Asian countries to not have a language system based on symbols. But this post isn't about Vietnam.

I got to Phnom Penh, Cambodia about 6pm yesterday, after a confusing and at times nerve-wracking experience at the border figuring out the visa process. I'll post more on that later. Since arriving here I can't help but compare everything to Vietnam, both positive and negative. I'm very much enjoying my time here, as English is much more commonly spoken, USD is their secondary currency, and it has the same sort of patina on every surface and space, buildings seemingly dancing on the precipice of decay.

I'd heard that the Cambodian people are incredibly friendly and so far I have to say that's true. Even though the tuk-tuk drivers will hound you for a ride as they do in Vietnam, I haven't really had the feeling yet that someone is trying to scam me. Even today at the Central Market where you can become a proud "Rolex" owner, the vendors were willing to bargain even if they are looking to make a buck off of us. I can't quite explain the difference but the people here are quick to smile and say hello.

I haven't yet gone to see the Killing Fields or the torture prisons, and I'm not sure I will. I don't want to pretend that those atrocities aren't real, or don't still affect aspects of Cambodian people and culture to this day, but I also have a hard time with such depressing experiences. I'd be broke right now if I followed my impulse to hand money over to a crippled or disabled street beggar every time I passed one on the street.

Our (I'm here with my friend Ryan) first hostel was a clean but basic place called Rachana Hostel. It was centrally located and only $12 for a double room. But that was an online only deal so we'd have to pay $25 to stay each additional night so instead we headed out to a place called Good Morning Guesthouse, where I sit and type this now. It's definitely a hippie backpacker place but the price was fair and it was near our first hostel. Had I known the room would look like something I'd imagine a Cambodian prison would look like maybe I'd have gone elsewhere... but for now I'm here and making the best of it as always. The staff is friendly and they have a cafe/lobby area with comfortable chairs. Tomorrow we will find somewhere else to stay, there is no shortage of hostels and guesthouses in the area.

I'll be here for at least 5 days; after my time here in Phnom Penh I'll either bus to Sihoukanville with Ryan or head back to Saigon. I'd like to go to Siem Reap where you can see the ancient temple of Angkor Wat, but that's a 5-hour bus ride the opposite direction. At some point I'll hit the street with my camera and try to capture some of the interesting architecture, the pagodas, and the people. Supposedly there is an elephant sanctuary somewhere nearby, if so you can bet on me visiting. Hopefully wherever you are reading this you're in good health and good spirits, thanks for reading my blog and please stay tuned for more updates!

An update on my life recently

Okay. So I've been really bad at updating this blog (which I knew would happen but didn't want to admit). So now instead of giving each of these experiences their own posts and fleshing out the stories, I'll have to give you a bird's eye view of the last month of my life.

Part 1: Volunteering

Three Fridays ago my friend Minh invited me to go to a charity event about 20km outside of the city. I'd been looking into various volunteering opportunities recently so I figured I should jump at the chance. We were to be handing out food to the poor at a pagoda. We would use the city bus which I hadn't taken before but I'd almost been taken out BY one of the busses (they drive like maniacs). A while later we arrived at a Buddhist pagoda where they shelter disabled orphans, some of which have grown up in the temple and are now adults living and working there. Very few people spoke enough English to make conversation possible so at first it was a lot of smiles, head nods, and hand gestures.

They fed us breakfast which was a vegetarian pho, then we got to work tilling some land behind the buildings to make a vegetable garden. I had tilled before, with a motorized tiller in my mother's garden. These were not motorized tillers. They were sticks with tools fashioned onto the ends. And if I hadn't mentioned it before, Vietnam is kind of... sweltering hot. And we were outside, sans A/C, for the entirety of the day. Yeah, you get the picture.

Around noon we had lunch, which was a really big meal of rice, noodles, morning glory, a vegetable curry, various small dishes. This meal we ate with the monks of the temple, one of which was a well-traveled young man who spoke English very well. It was a special day; it was Buddha's birthday as well as the first official day of that young monk studying there under the... head monk (Master Monk?). He told me about his thoughts on his time in America and several other countries, how he got to be here, and told me a little bit about his religion, without being pushy.

By 1pm we had a few tables set end to end and covered with food and other gifts such as simple toys for children. Each person who had gotten a coupon got 5kg of rice, 20 packs of instant noodles, soy sauce, sugar, salt, and wet wipes. The turnout wasn't as high as was expected, there were still about a dozen people unaccounted for. Numerous theories as to why it wasn't as busy as usual were bandied about. About 4pm Minh and I went back out to the road and waited for the city bus to take us back into the hustle and bustle of downtown Saigon.

Part II: Relocation Efforts

My lease at the apartment I'd been staying in the last 3 months expired on the 24th of May, and my friend Ryan and I had been looking at moving in together. It was a stressful search, as the real estate agents here (which almost every landlord utilizes) are the epitome of greediness and ineptitude. You'll ask to see a specific listing then they'll either tell you that it's no longer available, despite being advertised on their window, or they'll agree then show you a different, more expensive apartment. 

But eventually we found a 3 bedroom apartment for a good price in a good location and most importantly, with good landlords. They're an older Vietnamese couple who don't speak much English but are very friendly and agreeable. It's on the 13th floor so it has a great view and gets a good amount of wind. 

Of course, nothing is ever as easy as it seems. Turns out there was a LOT of cleaning to do, as the standard of "clean" can be very different between westerners and Vietnamese. There was 5 years worth of gunk and grime and dirt and soot packed into the nooks and the crannies. We've only just begun to clean really. And our keys only work on the door locks sometimes. But as with everything we have to roll with the punches and adapt. 

Part III: Future Trips

In the last few weeks I've planned two future trips, and possibly a third. In about a week I'll be taking a bus into Phnom Penn, Cambodia, where I'll be tagging along with Ryan for a few days on a poker tour. I'm not much of a poker player but I thought it'd be cool to see a little bit of Cambodia. I might then take a bus to Sihanoukville which is a beach resort town. It worked out perfectly with the timing of my visa so I figured if I have to leave the country to get a new visa anyway I might as well make a trip of it.

Then in September I'll be going to Europe! The plan was originally just to see Austria (where my friends Evan & Gretchen are getting married) and Germany, but my sister thought it'd be cool to see Scotland while we're in the neighborhood, and well you can't just see Scotland and not go to London, so we're going there too, oh and then after Germany we will see Switzerland for a few days! So the trip looks like this:
Sept 8-16th in the UK
Sept 16-21st in Austria
Sept 21-23rd in Germany
Sept 23-25th in Switzerland!

It's not enough time to really see that much of Germany and Switzerland, but you know, money. It will still be a great trip, and we will even go to Munich during Oktoberfest!

We could have died!

It was supposed to be a fun day trip to a local forest park. And it started out that way, though things would turn for the worst a short way into this ride into rural Vietnam.

This happened a few weeks ago, April 23rd to be exact, but I've been lazy and haven't updated this blog since my trip through Vietnam so I guess late is better than never. And besides, now that I am nearing the end of my healing process maybe I have a better perspective on what happened.

We (myself and my girlfriend Trinh) were driving to a nature reserve called the Tan Lap forest, roughly 2 hours northwest of Saigon. We were traveling in a large group that had been organized through a facebook group for expats. There were probably 25-30 people in our convoy. They were all very nice and friendly people, as you might expect. We met in a park at 6am to start our journey outward from the city, but for two people in the group, fate had decided that they wouldn't make it all the way there. (That's us).

An hour and a half into the trip, after rickety wooden bridges, countless times stopping to let stragglers catch up, and passing a dead body on the streets (more on that later), one of the riders in our group decided that his bike should be occupying the space that mine was. To preface this, there had been two times already on the trip that this same driver had swerved and nearly hit us from the side; each time I'd been able to move out of the way. No such luck the third time.

Something you should know about Vietnamese drivers, and don't take this as a message of racism, but they aren't very conscientious. When they turn, they turn. They don't look to see what's there. Many run red lights, drive the wrong way on one-way streets, you get the idea. The traffic laws are mere suggestions to a Viet in a hurry. I'm not sure what this young guy's hurry was as we were all going the same place, but he swerved to his left and his back tire hit my front tire, sending my bike and it's inhabitants (unfortunately my girlfriend and I) sprawling to the pavement at somewhere around 45mph.

Luckily, we were relatively OK. I had/have some pretty decent road rash on my knee, both elbows, and my foot. A hole was worn through my sturdy hiking boots, my pants were stripped to rags, and my shirt was torn up; the worst part was that they were my favorite boots, my favorite pants, and my favorite shirt. Well, no, that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that the trip was ruined for my girlfriend who had been looking forward to it.

Luckily for the guy who hit us, my girlfriend was mostly unharmed. She had/has some small rashes on her hand and wrist that needed caring for, but other than that her backpack pretty much saved her from damage. I'm not a violent guy at all, but had she been hurt I might have thrown him off the bridge we were on. The rest of the group was fantastic and helped us out a ton. Someone had a first aid kit and they applied some anti-bacterial liquid and gave us a quick bandage-up before looking up the nearest clinic and offering to drive us there. My girlfriend was able to drive though, so we just drove ourselves 10km to the clinic.

At the clinic we each got a more thorough cleaning and bandaging, and the nurse sent us on our way with some antobiotics and some VERY spare materials. The bike was damaged, it ran, but had some issues and we were both banged up, so we opted for a taxi ride back home rather than trying to drive the 1.5 hours ourselves. It was an expensive taxi ride.

A few days later my girlfriend and her friend went back out into the country to retrieve my bike from the police station where she'd left it, then brought it back to the city. That's a kindness I'll need to repay a few times over. I'd have gone, but after the shock wore off it became apparent just how bad I was hurting. My knee didn't want to bend or support weight, my ankle would but complained about it, and I couldn't really wear shoes because of where the rash on my foot is. So for about a week it was a lot of delivery for dinner.

We're coming up on 3 weeks since the crash and I'm mostly back to normal. Still can't wear shoes, my ankle has been swelling up (kinda afraid there might be a fracture there), and my scabs aren't gone yet, but I'm back riding my bike around (she's a damn tough bike) and more or less back to life as normal.

Supposedly the kid who hit us "felt really bad about it the rest of the trip", which is sort of strange because he never once said he was sorry, he never offered to help us get to the clinic or help with our wounds, or anything. He acknowledged that he had done it, but hadn't accepted the responsibility. Which, sadly, was very typical for a Vietnamese driver. Remember that dead body I'd mentioned? She was a young Viet girl heading back to the city to study. A driver of a bus that shuttels factory workers hit her while she was driving and drove off, leaving her to die. The police were looking for him but last I had heard hadn't found the bastard.

It hasn't scared me away from riding my motorbike. I definitely drive a little more cautiously now, which isn't a bad thing. As I drive I sometimes have mini-flashbacks to the image of being suddenly thrown sideways and slamming into the road, which definitely helps to curb my speed and make me keep my distance. From what I've heard everyone here eventually is involved in an accident, and statistically most motorcycle riders experience one in their lifetime. I wasn't expecting to have mine so soon, but hey what can you do? The locals seem to get a kick out of my scabs and bandages, they know what happened because they've been through the same.

All in all I still consider myself lucky; I didn't break any bones that I know of, my motorbike still runs, and my girlfriend was ok. It's a hard lesson that I'm not glad I learned it but I did anyway. A life devoid of speedbumps is too smooth a ride for me. I'm just bummed that I had to be a speedbump!

A great night in Hoi An, a trip to the beach, and a so-so start to Nha Trang

When I last left you I was about to head out from my homestay and see Hoi An's Old Town at night. And oh what a night it was.

I spent about an hour or so walking up and down the river, perusing the various vendor's wares, watching the other tourists take touristy selfies on the bridge, and photographing some of it. There were many restaurants and street food stalls that were appealing (lots of donut ladies!) but despite their sales pitches I wasn't really hungry. After a time I had seen more or less what there was to see and I decided to sit on a riverboat bar which had a guitarist playing. I seated myself, ordered a cuba libre, and was enjoying a few songs until...

the Columbians appeared.

There were 5 of them, they were loud, they were boisterous, and most of all they were happy. They did distract from the guitarist a bit but all in all they were a lot of fun. They spoke very little English and not many of us on the boat spoke enough Spanish for it to matter. I realized fairly quickly that outside of the Columbians I probably had the most Spanish; I neglected to mention this to them for fear they would focus on me. They sang songs that weren't being played, requested La Bamba a few times, and damn near put down a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red in the 30 minutes or so they were there. See the mayhem for yourself...

About 10pm most of the stores and shop had closed up, and by 10:30 it was quiet as a mouse. The streets were empty, the lights were all off, it was time to go home. Though I have a feeling the Columbians didn't stop partying for a while. 

The next morning the family at the Bamboo Garden homestay cooked me a very tasty fried rice w/ egg breakfast and also made a pretty good ca phe sua da. I borrowed a bicycle from them and hit the road, aiming towards the beach. It was slow going as it was a fairly cheap 1-speed bike, so the 4km trip took me about 25min. The beach at the end of Hai Ba Trung St was beautiful, wide and incredibly long. Unfortunately I was leaving town later that day and wouldn't have time to dry out my swimsuit before leaving so I didn't swim, but it was good to at least be there. 

On the way back I had a little extra time so I decided to take a detour and go down a farm road. I ended up adding a kilometer or two to the trip but it was worth it as it took me down a dirt road past numerous farmhouses and seemingly endless rice fields. The decision left it's mark on me however, in the form of one pretty decent sunburn. I returned to the homestay, showered, packed, and checked out, then headed to a nearby cafe along the river to pass the 5 hours until my bus showed up to take me to Nha Trang. 

The bus was all too similar to the previous sleeper bus I had taken; it smelled bad, the driver seemed a bit too aggressive, and the berth was built for a Vietnamese frame. But it got me to my destination, Nha Trang. Or should I say, got me past my destination, as I realized too late that I missed the ideal stop and instead had to take a taxi ride back the way we'd come to get to the area my next homestay was in. It wasn't too far, the taxi fare was only 119,000d, and it was 5am so there was no traffic. 

The place I was/am set to stay in for the next night wasn't open yet so I decided to spend some time watching the sunrise at the beach, which was only about a 2 minute walk away. And I was not disappointed as it was a beautiful greeting from the sun. 

What surprised me most once I got to the beach was how many people were out and about already. There were a few dozen people swimming in the water, another few dozen on the beach preparing to get in, and even more on the sidewalks adjacent doing their morning exercise routine. I'm not sure how effective these routines are as it's essentially walking and stretching, but then again Asian people do live longer than their Caucasian counterparts so maybe there's something to it. 

After that I realized that I hadn't eaten in damn near 14 hours and that noise I heard had to be my stomach telling me I was an idiot. So I walked down the road a ways and found a cafe, where I sit now and type this. After scrambled eggs, toast, coffee, and a coconut smoothie I am ready to start the day and see what I can discover here. 

I'll end off today's post with a simple request; do two things today for no other reason than to make someone happy. One thing for a stranger or a friend, and one thing for yourself.

A Hue we go!

After arriving in Hue and getting off the bus, I was almost immediately approached by an overly friendly Vietnamese man who was very curious as to my travel plans. I've gotten used to these sorts of fellows so I knew he had something to sell or someone to sell me too, figuratively speaking. I politely told him over and over that I had my own plan and was going to do my traveling my own way, but he would not take no for an answer, as none of them do. He was trying to convince me to ride or let him drive me from Hue, where we were at, to Da Nang, my next destination.

I finally was able to rid myself of him and set off with my bag in the other direction. This was just after 6am so there were not many shops open but I knew I at least had to get some coffee. About 3 minutes later guess who drives up next to me as I walk down the street. Yup. I suppose I hadn't truly convinced him that I wasn't interested. Finally to get him to leave me alone I told him I'd go to the travel agency he was working as a recruiter for and hear the spiel. To make a long story short, an hour later I was paying said agency to rent a bike for 2 days to drive to Da Nang and then to Hoi An.

This mean I had only the one day in Hue, but it was early enough that I figured I could get enough sight seeing in. They told me about the best places to visit and off I went. I ended up seeing only two locations in the city; the Imperial Palace and the Thien Mu Pagoda. It was enough, I think. The Imperial Palace itself was quite interesting, I paid 150,000d to get in and give myself a tour and I felt like it was worth it. It was quiet outside of the tour groups babbling in their various languages. Pictures from that trip will be up on my flickr page at some point.

The pagoda was serene and calming, two things that Vietnam at large is not. There were a half dozen or so monks there, all teenage males with the standard shaved head and brown robes. I thought about taking a photo of one but declined, I don't like to make people feel like they're a zoo exhibit.

The weather was starting to turn and it was about a 2.5 hr drive to Da Nang so I figured I should hit the road before it got too bad. I headed back the agency, loaded up my luggage, and set off. Unfortunately I forgot to change into long pants so I made this drive in shorts and a tank top but I was able to put a windbreaker on to at least keep the rain off my upper body. It was surprisingly cold, I'd estimate it was about 70 degrees fahrenheit, which doesn't seem too bad unless you're driving 60mph in shorts and it's raining. But on the bright side someday I'll be able to tell my potential progeny about the time their ol' pappy motorbiked over a mountain pass during a monsoon on a Monday. (It wasn't really a monsoon more like a sprinkle). The first half of the drive I HATED and told myself I'd never be back, that is until I got to the Hai Van Pass.

It was a twisty, turny, fairly steep climb from sea level up to about 1,600ft. It was cold, there was a ton of fog, and I had a great time. I can't explain the change in my attitude as I was still freezing and the views which are legendary were not very visible. But I really enjoyed driving up and down the pass and looking out into the sea of fog covering the ocean. I've decided I'd like to come back and do it again sometime when the weather is nicer.

So I arrived in Da Nang, which I found to be a very nice and clean city compared to Saigon. Much of it is on or near the beach, which I couldn't see much of at the time but I'd heard was very beautiful. After driving through the heart of the city and reaching my hotel I nearly collapsed on the bed and fell asleep right there at 7pm, but I had seen some cool bridges on my way in and decided to go for a walk with my camera and get some photos.

So I walked about 2-3 miles around the city, took a few pictures which can also be seen on my flickr whenever I get around to uploading them. Afterwards I went back to the hotel and passed out. The next day I set out about 9am for some breakfast, and based on google reviews I chose a place nearby called Tam's Pub & Surf Shop. Doesn't really sound like a good breakfast spot but it was, and just as the reviews said the best part was Tam herself. I'll write up a separate post about her but she was/is one of the most interesting people I've met in Vietnam. She was 10 when the war started and worked as an interpreter for the US.

After spending 30 minutes eating and 2 hours listening to Tam's stories I set back out to see the beaches of Da Nang. Unfortunately I only had time to see one, My Khe, which was about 5 minutes walk from my hotel, but it was more than enough as it was an incredible beach. It was wide, very long, clean of trash and debris, and there were not many people enjoying it. I took a few pictures then headed back to my room to collect my things for the trip to Hoi An.

The drive to Hoi An was so nice that I wish it were longer than 20 minutes. The two cities really are quite close together. Close enough that I was worried that it would feel like Da Nang Jr but it has it's own charms that only a smaller city can have. It's still on the beach, which I'm going to visit tomorrow, but it almost doesn't even seem like a Vietnamese city. It reminds me of cities back home in the US. Tonight I'm going to see the Japanese Bridge which is renowned for it's beauty and to see the night market, which is always an experience regardless of where you are. I'm staying at a place called the Bamboo Gardens which a family runs and it's a really beautiful little compound. I have my own separate ground level room with a garden view.

So now I'm off to see some of Hoi An at night. Until my next posting, be excellent to each other.

Near-disasters in Vietnam or how I learned to stop worrying and love the chaos.

The last two days have been interesting. And I mean it in the way that only an experience in a foreign land can be interesting.

My flight to Hanoi went off without a hitch, relatively. The flight was delayed, then delayed again, but at this point I’m as used to the lack of punctuality here as I am the suspect hygiene standards. My Uber to the HCMC airport was cheaper than expected, the airports were nicer than expected, and to my surprise there were several shuttle busses in Hanoi that ferried travelers to the downtown of the city for a mere 40,000d (about $2). I’d heard that the main way to get from the airport to downtown was a 350,000d taxi ride. Note to self: tripadvisor users don’t know shit.

I found Hanoi to be not significantly different than Saigon. On the positive side there were fewer street touts hocking their knockoff knick-knacks, but the trade off was a severe shortage of sunny sky. The air feels dirtier, which is a surprise. The people seemed the same in terms of temperament, though I’ve been told that people in the north are generally friendlier. My hostel room was basic and not terribly unclean, though for $10/night I suppose you get what you pay for.

I had arrived at about 1am so my first real experience with the city was the next day. I had breakfast then decided to test out the travel agents in the area and had I tried to check prices at all of them I’d probably still be there now. It wasn’t an exciting experience, mostly like bargaining for an item in the market. I ended up going with Rose Travel Agency because Rose (I assume it was Rose) gave me an initial price that another agent told me “No, not possible for that price.” That, and her 5 star rating on tripadvisor (despite their users not knowing shit). I paid $90 but Rose advised me to tell people that I paid $110 so they didn’t feel bad about overpaying a bit. She even wrote $110 on the bill then still charged me $90. Nice lady.

Everything was straightforward, and I even used Rose to book a sleeper bus from Hanoi to Hue the day I returned from Bai Tu Long Bay. Oh right, I haven’t told you about that yet. Well I’m getting there, just hold your horses.

The following morning at 8am I met at the travel agency with a man who ushered me and a young woman over to one of the prototypical travel busses seen all over Vietnam. From there we picked up a few other passengers and set off for Ha Long City. 4 hour bus rides are not fun, but you make the best of it when you’re headed to a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our group was an interesting mix; there were 2 Germans, 2 Danes, 1 French woman, 1 Argentinean woman, 2 Malaysians, 4 South Africans, 4 Brits, and 1 American (yours truly).

We got to the boat, set sail (figuratively), and were then lead around like schoolchildren for the next 24 hours. I exaggerate, but the tour guide leader did have a tendency to try forcing everyone into doing every activity exactly when we were supposed to, even if people didn’t want to. But as with the other idiosyncrasies here, I dealt with it. The South Africans had an issue with the boat crew not honoring their free alcohol perk and the French girl wasn’t a fan of the guide but other than that I think we all got along perfectly fine. I brushed up on my Spanish with the Argentinean, chatted about the recent Liverpool-Dortmund match with the Brits, and learned a bit about the South Africans’ homeland. Of the group at large I connected most with the Argentine and the French girl, possibly because we were the only solo travelers.

The first day our activities were as such: kayaking, swimming, beach volleyball, and a totally-not-tourist-trap-but-would-you-please-buy-some-pearl-jewelry trip to a pearl farm. After my Mekong trip I immediately recognized this side trip for what it was, not that I could have afforded anything at the prices they charged anyway. The swimming/kayaking was fun but could have been better had it been sunny and had there not been trash in the water. I’d figured that we were far enough from the mainland to be encountering trash in the water but that just goes to show how little I’ve learned about my new home.

When we got back to the big boat we had a great dinner (side-note: the food on the trip was F A N T A S T I C) then were told our activities were karaoke, fishing, and relaxing. Guess which one we all opted for, here’s a hint it involves laying on a lounge chair. It was a really nice night, all of the boats in the area congregate in the same area of the bay which made for a nice view with all the lights reflecting off the water. Myself, the French woman, the Argentinean, and the South Africans sat around on the sun deck chatting about… come to think of it I can’t remember what we talked about but it was a great conversation. We all retired about 9:30 and it just occurred to me I hadn’t described the accommodations.

The room was sort of small but the bedding was comfortable and the bathroom was surprisingly nice, it had a big glass enclosed shower with a waterfall showerhead. You’ll hear no complaints from me about the boat; it even had a bar in the dining room.

The second day we woke up about 7am for breakfast, which, true to form, was delicious if not extravagant. We then headed for a nearby cave called… something or other. I’d remember it if it were more memorable. I had naively assumed that our group would be the only ones visiting. Ha! The line of people marching up the stairs to the cave entrance resembled a line of ants returning to the anthill. Even better the entrance/exit was wide enough for one person at a time so you can see how it might be a little hectic. The cave itself was fairly interesting though not unlike a cave you might find anywhere else in the world.

Our next test was the construction of our own lunch, or at least part of it. We were granted the honor of assembling our own spring rolls. At which I must say I found myself to be a natural, my fingers deftly producing roll after roll of delicious rice paper-wrapped goodness. The rest of the lunch was (cue the broken record analogy) above expectations.

After this we headed back to the harbor, which lead to the first startling event of the first day and the first time since I’ve moved here where I had the thought, “I might die pretty soon.” To explain it simply, we were all on the smaller boat that’s tied to the left side of the main boat while we maneuvered the harbor, and the big boat was aimed just to the right of an even bigger boat, putt us in the small boat (you guessed it) on a warpath to collide with an opponent we had no chance of besting. Before we’d have hit that boat though, we’d have hit its anchor line, which would have been bad for one or both of us. The crew let us get a bit too close for comfort before unhooking from the main boat and ramming it into reverse, and by too close I mean about 5 feet. I was at the front so I got a niiiice view of my possible impending death.

But I’m typing this post so obviously we escaped unharmed, at least this time. Nothing else of note happened on the trip until the drive back to Hanoi, when there was a truck parked on the highway forcing us to stop. Our driver got out and shouted at whoever would listen, to which the driver of the truck responded with a right hook. He was wearing a camouflage jacket so at first I thought our driver had pissed off a soldier and was about to get a state-sanctioned ass-kicking but it turns out he was just some local with a temper. But as he and the driver had a pretty decent fight for about 5 minutes, we in the group were locked in the bus and it had the feeling of a tour group on a safari watching the wildlife from the safety of a glass cage. In the end neither of them really won and some other bystanders broke them up.

We arrived back in Hanoi about 4:20pm; I had a quick early dinner and a beer and was summoned for my bus trip by the travel agent next door. Now here I sit on a 12hr ride on a sleeper bus to the city of Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam in the days when Vietnam had an emperor. It cost only $17 and after googling reviews of the company I see why. Many people posted on tripadvisor (idiots) that the sleeper busses here are generally inconsistent, inconsiderate, and unsafe. They post about busses crashing or nearly crashing into head on traffic, but if you’ve been in Vietnam for 5 minutes you know that that’s a possibility no matter what sort of vehicle you’re in. The wifi that the bus is supposedly equipped with mysteriously doesn’t work so I’ll have to post this at a later time, unless we have a head on crash in which case consider this my wheel and I leave everything to Bella, my parent’s dog.

Until next time, be great and be good to each other.

Apologies for the absence

I've been pretty bad at updating this blog. For that I apologize to those of you who look forward to hearing about what I've been getting up to here in Vietnam.

You might think that my lack of writing has been due to my being very busy; in reality it's been quite the opposite. I've been doing so much of nothing recently that there has been nothing to write about.

Mostly my days consist of rousing myself out of bed sometime around 10-11am, wandering, wondering, and eventually putting on enough clothing to be considered decent and heading out of the house to find some food.

For about 3 weeks I'd been seeing a wonderful young woman named Trinh. Unfortunately, that ended recently, of my own volition. I more than likely won't be in Vietnam for more than a year; she has 2.5 years of university left. So the way I see it, it's better to end things now before we get too serious than to allow ourselves to become very attached to each other then have the split be even more gut-wrenching. It's tough when any relationship has to come to an end, but it feels even worse when neither party did anything wrong and the relationship was fine. Maybe I've made a mistake, in fact I can't shake the feeling that I have, but in this case my brain won over my heart and made the decision.

A few weeks ago we went on a weekend trip to Phan Thiet on the coast, to a resort called Rock Water Bay. It was really nice to get out of the city and away from the smog and traffic. I missed the ocean. I'll post some photos later.

For my next trip I'm planning on flying up to Hanoi and from there booking a tour of Ha Long Bay. It will probably be a 2 day/1 night tour with the night being spent on the tour boat. After that I'll hop on a bus and head south to Hue, where I plan to spend a night or two. After that it will be Da Nang, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Da Lat, then back to Ho Chi Minh City. I figure that to do it properly I'll need to take at least a week, possibly two.

I'll do my best to update this blog more often, regardless of whether or not I've done anything new or noteworthy. There's still new things I'm learning almost daily that I can share. I hope you're well.

VLOG: My trip to the Mekong Delta!

Hey all, here's a video of some of the things I saw during my trip to the Mekong! Hope you enjoy.

GoPro Adventures and the last two days in Ho Chi Minh City

Ok, let's start from the beginning.

A few days ago, a Canadian guy named Ryan messaged me on Facebook to let me know he had a motorbike he was selling. He must have known I was in the market to buy. I went and took a look at it, seemed decent for the price he was asking for, and we made an arrangement to make the transaction on Saturday.

Fast forward to... later that day. Ryan messages me again to tell me that he and some friends were going out for food at 8 as a going-away of sorts for him since he was moving to Singapore on Sunday. I say, "Ok." He says, "Cool." I'm paraphrasing here but that's pretty much how it went.

So we meet up with some of his other friends at an American BBQ place about two hops and a half jump away from where I was staying. One is Nathan, an Illinoisian who's lived in VN for 5 years, and his wife Minh. Another was Brian, who's from DC and is a local MC/DJ at a few clubs around town. And also Chris, who has lived in VN for several years and is a teacher/recruiter.

After dinner we all head to the north side of D1 to a bar called Acoustic where Brian is performing for the second time that day. It's a cozy little place where the Budweiser flows like $6 Budwe... woah wait a second holy shit you want $6 for a BUDWEISER? But the music was pretty good, there was a Philipino guy that did a hell of a reggae accent, all good. Once Brian was done we left there for his next gig which was a place called Cargo.

Cargo is a rave/dubstep club that's semi indoor-outdoor, it's basically a gigantic tent. The beer was thankfully much cheaper there at 50k for a Tiger, but the cover to get in was 200k! Now back home a $9-10 cover is not unusual but for a place like Vietnam that's pretty steep. Luckily Brian pulled some strings for us since he was performing and got us in for free.

The show was good, definitely a counter-culture/skater/stoner vibe inside, which I got a kick out of since most of Vietnam is so conservative. Brian rapped over some dubstep/house, and there was a violinist that also accompanied them that gave it a really cool sound. I had a really good time (especially once I'd had a few beers and hit the dance floor), but it's one of those places I'd go once in a while, the super loud club vibe hasn't been my thing since about 22.

Since then I've been touring around D1/D2/Binh Thanh on my new motorbike and getting lost. Actually mostly getting lost. But I'm pretty proud of myself for not having ran over anyone yet, or broken a major traffic rule (not that there are any here). What's supposed to be a 15 minute drive in the city takes me 25-30 because I have to pull over every so often to re-check google maps, or take a u-turn when I go the wrong way.

I've met several new friends in the last few days. It's nice actually having someone to talk to rather than being alone in a sea of strangers. I'm still doing 95% of things by myself, but as I meet more people and get better about inviting new friends out to eat that should change. Tonight I went out and had some Japanese food then took my camera out to Saigon Times Square and Bui Vien for some photography. The photos from that will be up on a separate blog post.

Later ya'll.

A few photos from a walk around my block last night

The Unease of Inaction

I sit and watch the motorbikes whizzing past like a swarm of insects. Were it not for the noise of their motors and the honking of horns, the analogy of a school of fish might be more apropos. As it is, the buzzing of the mid-day travelers reminds of a mass of mosquitos, all going different places, with different agendas.

The quiet cafe where I sit and reflect is a nice respite from the unrelenting heat and humidity. But it is unsatisfying. Perhaps because everyone else seems to be in a constant state of motion, my relative inactivity seems slothful. Many people here do the same; sit in a shady spot and watch the time and the people pass them by. But I am not from here, I feel like I have not earned the right to sit and watch. My purpose here is not to remain idle, to be a passive observer of the world around me. I came to Vietnam to explore, both the country and myself.

This city is a paradoxical place. On the one hand, many people have a relaxed attitude towards life; they are content to sit and wait for the day to come to them. Yet most people on the road have no patience for things like red lights, pedestrians, or even cars crossing their path. Their purpose is singular; to get to their destination as soon as possible, other drivers and traffic signals are a mere inconvenience.

One of the other strange things about this city that I still do not understand is how closely you can find wealth living alongside poverty. On a street where homeless women sell vegetables next to the cot they sleep on you'll see a brand new Mercedes or BMW. And to own a vehicle at all is a sign of wealth; there are huge tariffs on vehicles imported here, any vehicle costs 200% what it would cost in any other country. In America the classes are fairly segregated, you won't see any homeless wandering the streets of Beverly Hills, or find a Bentley cruising down a seedy street on the wrong side of the tracks.

I'm having a hard time trusting people. I think there are numerous reasons for this; my 2nd day here I was almost robbed, every block there is a motorbike taximan heckling me to let him take me to my destination, the communication barrier varies person to person but generally is prohibitive. Not to mention that before I came I was warned by several people and online blogs that many/most locals see my white skin and assume I'm a walking ATM and that with the right sales pitch they can get something out of me.

For example, last night I met up with two young Vietnamese, a boy and a girl, both seniors in university. They told me they'd take me to a really good BBQ place, and to hop on the back of the girl's bike. They seemed like very nice people (and they turned out to be), but for a while on the ride through the city to a fairly distant district, I wondered whether I was being led into a trap. And that's not fair to them, the fears stemmed only from my insecurity and the close call that I had shortly after arriving in the city.

They took me to an outdoor BBQ garden about 15 minutes from the area of town where I'm staying. I was glad to get out of the touristy area of town and get a first-hand experience in a very local area. I was several shades lighter than the second most pale person there; for some people that would be scary but I appreciated being let into their lives rather than have the situation altered to accommodate my western predilections.

We cooked beef, pork, goat breast, octopus, and okra over a makeshift table-top grill, sharing beers and stories about our home countries. Like most young Vietnamese these two were eager to get more experience speaking English with a native speaker; more and more the ability to converse in English is a deciding factor in one's success in today's global marketplace.

If you open yourself up to new experiences, allowing them to either be good, bad, or in-between, you'll learn much more than you would if you stuck to what was comfortable and familiar. You'll learn about other people, other perspectives, other cultures, and more importantly, about yourself.

Wherever you're reading this I hope you're doing well both physically and emotionally, and if you're not, I hope that you find the strength to change that.

A tour of my new temporary apartment!

VLOG Day 4: Buying a motorcycle! Or maybe not.

Possible new apartment?

So. I went and looked at a potential new apartment tonight. It was sort of an expensive trip as well, I had to taxi over to the place ($2) as it was about a 40 min walk, then afterwards I was really hungry so I stopped at a Japanese restaurant and had a beer and some pork + noodles ($5), then had to taxi back again ($2). It was so exhausting that I had to stop and get another beer ($0.60) at the small mart in my building. But anyways, here's my thoughts on the apartment.

Pros: Cheap, roommates seem decent, I get a bathroom to myself, decent terrace, in a back alley so it's quiet, fairly upscale neighborhood/good location.

Cons: Tons of "spas" nearby (which means getting heckled by pretty women every time I walk to/from the place)(which is only kind of a con), upscale area means food is much more expensive ($3-4 minimum instead of $1-2) and there's not much street food, person moving out can't move until the weekend, so I'd have to find alternate lodgings until then.

I think I'm gonna take it. The location is pretty good and so is the price. The roommates are all expats, from various countries, though I haven't met two of them. It's a little nerve-wracking, though, as I have a large suitcase that complicates the whole "temporary lodging" thing. If it was just me and my backpack I could bounce from place to place; that gets much harder when you have two additional suitcases.

The apartment I looked at was a fair sight better than the last one I checked out. My friend Lam took me to one in an alley a few blocks away, the neighborhood had a nice patina of dirt to pretty much the whole thing. I really appreciate Lam trying to help me out, but the place was pretty bad. It was with a Vietnamese family, none of whom appeared to speak English, it had virtually no windows as most were bricked up, the terrace was microscopic as most of the floor room was taken up by chicken cages (yea), the room was tiny, and to top it all off it was $90 more per month than the other place, before utilities.

I'm starting to realize just how much I overpacked; I usually wear shirts 2+ days and shorts 3+ days, and that's just so far. Even if I stunk, I'm not sure anyone could smell me unless we were in a fancy enclosed restaurant. Clothing is so cheap, laundry services are everywhere, I could have brought 1/3 of the stuff I brought. But as they say, you live and you learn.I hope that wherever you're reading this from, that you are happy and healthy.

An American, A Vietnamese, a Brit, and a Scot walk into a bar...

and at some point they all end up at the same table talking about french philosophy, world trade partnerships, language exchanges, and the best vietnamese beer.

This, of course, is not a joke but how my Friday night went. All people, young and old, come out and eat and drink socially almost every night. This leads to crowded streets, crowded bars, and endless opportunities to meet interesting people.

I was sitting in the apartment and getting to know Phillipe, an older British man who was renting out another room there, when Lam showed up. Lam is Vietnamese, and has been an instructor of English here in Ho Chi Minh City for years. He is a close friend of Lotus, who is the person that rents out the unit. Lam told us that if we were hungry he could take us out to eat and for beers, we told him we were indeed hungry and that that sounded great.

So we set off for Bui Vien/Pham Ngu Lao streets, which is the main backpacker/tourist area. Now I'm not sure I want to be hanging around the super touristy areas much while I'm here, but at least for the time being it'd be kind of nice to see semi-familiar faces. On our way there we passed a pho stall that looked too good to pass up, so the woman set up a table for us and we sat on the little plastic stools that are so ubiquitous here.

The pho was very good. I'm no food critic so I couldn't say how it compared to the pho available back home, but I can say the ambience was much more interesting. Seated on the sidewalk, with motorbikes whizzing past just a few feet away, we sat and ate the delicious beef soup and talked about Vietnam with our guide Lam. Once we'd had our fill we paid 35,000 (~$1.50) each and set back off towards the bar scene.

Bui Vien is the main street for expats, backpackers, and tourists, and probably the best neighborhood for cheap beer and great people watching. I would estimate that 40-50% of the people we passed there were non-vietnamese. Lam took us to what he promised was the best place for cheap beer, a nearly empty restaurant called Grill & Chill. I can't say for sure that the beer here was cheaper than anywhere else, but at 12,000-25,000 ($0.50-$1.10) per beer, I'm not complaining.

The only other patron was an older white man who ended up joining our table after hearing us talk about Britain. It turns out he's from Scotland, which was plainly obvious from the moment he spoke! I think it's interesting that he said he hasn't been there for 50 years, but still had a very thick accent. So there we were, 4 men of 4 different nationalities, drinking beer, talking about many different things, telling jokes, laughing, and watching passersby.

On the walk home I decided to take a video of the scene, it was just too interesting not too. Weekend warriors, long term expatriates, and locals all combined to socialize, drink, and enjoy the moment. Sitting and thinking of it now, I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to do this, to travel to the other side of the world and meet so many people of so many backgrounds. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am. Anyways, here is the video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

VLOG Day 1: Sometimes walking around the neighborhood can be dangerous...

So yesterday I thought I'd go have a walk around the block. Good idea, right? Got my GoPro set up, coated myself in several layers of SPF50, and hit the street. First order of business was to get a coffee. The property manager had told me that there was a supermarket on the 3rd floor, so that was the first stop. Now either supermarket means something different in Vietnam or Tuan is a liar, but either way the little store had almost everything I might need.

I took a left down the main road and, selfie stick in hand, proceeded to entertain every local that I passed by. I don't know if they didn't know what it was I was holding or whether they just thought I looked silly holding a stick in front of me talking to myself, but I kind of got a kick out of their reactions.

One of the first things that struck me was how closely you'll find abject poverty right next to wealth. For example there was a nice Audi in front of my building. One block away there are people sleeping on the concrete, sifting through trash, or just whittling away the day under a tree. One building will be nice and clean and the next will have a strong odor of garbage and look pretty decrepit.

After a time I decided to take a chance and cut down one of the side streets. This is definitely NOT the tourist area as I didn't see one other non-Vietnamese person on these streets. Again though, most of them thought me and my stick were pretty interesting. I passed by numerous small stands, food stalls, and shops, though I wasn't confident enough in myself or in their ability to accurately give me correct change (ahem) to stop and have a bite, at least not yet.

And then... I met my two new best friends. According to them, anyway. I was halfway down the next block when an older guy hailed me from his seat at a sidewalk bar/food stall, trying very hard to get my attention. I did my best to wave and keep walking but he walked across the street and, in his broken english, offered me "happy hour bia!" Now I know two things; bia is vietnamese for beer, and I was awfully thirsty in the heat, so I said why the hell not.

I shouldn't have. The guys were very nice, bought me two beers and let me eat some of their food (more on that in a minute), but one of them was fairly pushy and well... as far as I can tell he wanted me to go get a "happy ending" with him. I wasn't recording during most of the interaction because it's too difficult to record with the GoPro and drink beer at the same time, but believe you me that I was incredibly uncomfortable.

I managed to convince him I wasn't interested in going and finding "boom boom" with him, but then he switched targets and decided he should give me a ride to Ben Thanh market once it got dark. And honestly, I might have gone with him as I'd like to see the market, but it was 3 hours until dark and the communication barrier meant that the conversations got stale fairly quickly. After much debate he finally conceded, but only once I promised "tomorrow" and gave him a phone # to call me at. Not answering that call.

Back to the food. One of the things I had heard of before coming was fermented duck eggs. Basically a duck egg is fermented underground for many years, then brought out and eaten. Well, my new friends had one and offered me a taste, and while I had previously told myself that I would never try such a thing, I figured it would be rude to say no. And it was actually pretty good! They also had some tiny onions that were tasty and went well with the beer.

After I left my two new friends and thanked them for the beer, I went back in the direction of my apartment, then explored the blocks to the other side of it. Along the way I might have accidentally wandered into a temple courtyard because it was a dead end and I got some looks from these guys who looked like monks.

My AirBnb rental in Ho Chi Minh City

If you haven't heard of AirBnb, you might be living under a rock. If you haven't used AirBnb while traveling, you've done yourself a disservice. It's the Uber for the real estate world. It allows you to reserve a room in a shared apartment or a hotel/hostel room without having to actually interact with another person, which we all know is desirable these days.

I used AirBnb to make a reservation for this place for 3 days, which cost me a grand total of $56 USD. During the 3 days I plan on looking for a more long term apartment, which should set me back somewhere between $200-300 per month. So far the place is nice, it has a shared kitchen, a totally decent bathroom (coat rack included!) and my own tiny little bedroom.

My favorite part so far is probably the view! I'm on the 20th floor so from up here the vantage is pretty stunning. My least favorite part is probably the local wildlife, and by that I mean the tiny little ants that can be found pretty much everywhere. They don't eat much, and so far I think I've only been bitten a few dozen times, so altogether it's not so bad. I think it's something that I'm just going to have to get used to while living in Vietnam.

VLOG: Day 1: Getting from the airport to my apt in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Getting into the city was a lot easier than I had anticipated. I'd heard stories of grumpy immigration officials who could turn you to stone with one glare, of incredibly long lines, relentless vendors heckling you as you walk past. 

In reality, I handed my documents over and was given my passport stamp within 15 minutes, then stood in line for about 5 minutes before I was sent through. After that I went to what I assume is the only legitimate exchange counter/phone plan retailer as they were the only ones behind customs. There I exchanged $100 USD for NO FEE (amazing) and bought myself an international sim card as well as a 3G plan (unlimited data) for 290,000 dong, which is roughly $14. 

Then I went downstairs, passed through customs like a breeze, and within 45 seconds I located my contact Son who, along with a friend, helped me get a taxi and took me to my temporary lodgings. I'll do another post with a video about the place I'm staying at. 

Flight 1: In the books

My first trans-pacific flight, and definitely the longest flight of my life! The plane was supposed to have wifi and power outlets, sadly it did not. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, as if I'd had those things I'd probably have sat on my phone the whole time and not introduced myself to Ali (as referenced in my previous post).

Shortly after take off the crew came by and offered us a choice of two meals; beef and rice, or pork and rice. I opted for beef. It came with an interesting and unidentifiable salad, fruit, a truffle, and a choice of beverage of which I chose water. I would have gotten a cocktail but the attendant and I were already getting a little lost in translation and I didn't want to drag the interaction out more than I had to.

Then came an attempt at sleep. Even with one of those goofy neck pillows I couldn't really sleep well. Add to that that I had no idea of how much time had elapsed and I can't say for certain how much sleep I got, but it wasn't a lot. 

After waking up I spent some time chatting with my seat neighbor, I covered that in my previous post. After a time we were offered a second meal, which I assume was around what should have been breakfast time as we were offered only coffee and tea with this meal. The choices were japanese congee, which is basically rice pudding, and something that was unintelligible even after asking him to repeat it 3 times. I went with the congee.  It came with a bread roll, fruit, yogurt, and coffee, all of which was pretty tasty. The congee tasted good, and I would recommend it to anyone as long as you're ok with the consistency being somewhat like snot. 

For the times in between eating, sleeping, and talking, I watched the screen on the back of the headrest in front of me. The only mode I watched was the map of where we were at that also rotated through various stats such as our airspeed and elevation,  but that was mostly because my unit was broken and it was the only mode that it would display. The kids in front of me were watching Despicable Me, which I totally would have preferred, but watching our position on the globe change ever so slowly wasn't so bad. 

Now I'm sitting at the gate in Taipei, waiting for my plane to board. Asian airlines are pure gold for people watching. It's an overcast morning here in Taiwan, I'm not sure what it's like in Saigon right now, but I'm excited to get there and see it for myself. 

Meet Ali

This is Ali.

Ali is from Iran but is Canadian, he is traveling to Vietnam to meet his wife who is there visiting family, he spits a bit when he talks, and he's a pretty big fan of Bernie Sanders. 

When I first sat down there was no one next to me, and I was happy about that, because a little extra room never hurts. When Ali sat down I was a little perturbed that someone had intruded on my personal (extra) space, but as with all of life's other minor inconveniences, I dealt with it. 

We didn't talk for the first 3-4 hours of the flight, we were both too busy eating the (surprisingly decent) meal that China Airlines provided us and trying to catch some shuteye. Once I realized that the next 7 hours would be incredibly boring if I didn't talk to anyone I decided to ask whether or not Taiwan was his destination or a layover. 

We ended up talking about all sorts of things. He told me a great deal about Ho Chi Minh City, where to stay, how to haggle with shop owners. We talked about Iran and his life back there. We talked about government and conspiracy theories and what the role of the government should be. I told him I'm planning on going to Austria later this year; he has a brother that lives there, a sister in Germany, two brothers in France and two in England (I'm assuming that's all of them, but who knows?). After explaining how this was my first time traveling abroad he gave me some tips for dealing with stomach flu from eating street food in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and where to get a cell phone set up. 

I'm glad that I got to know Ali. We are both going the same place; maybe we will meet up again, maybe not. But it just goes to show you how beneficial it can be to open yourself up to a stranger and let them open themselves up to you. You both may learn something. 

One week...

This is crazy. This is stupid. This is unrealistic. This is irresponsible.

This is...

it's...

excitingnervewrackingawesomeboldadventurousCHANGE.

And it's happening. In one week. 6 days, 9 hours, 1 minute, annnnnd... 17 seconds until my plane takes off from Vancouver, BC to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

So what? I'll only be in a foreign country, on the other side of the Earth, where I don't speak the language or know anyone, without a long term place to stay or a source of income, with a climate I'm not well suited for, and well, you get the idea.

I waver. Sometimes I go so far as to doubt. Doubt that I can really do this, that I'll enjoy it. Fear that I'll return after a short time a defeated man, to find myself back where I started, except jobless and homeless.

I find my balance by thinking on my reasons for doing this in the first place; the desire to not end up with regrets, to think of Money as only the second most important currency I possess, the first being Time. I think about the other people who have come before me and done the same thing, or even bolder more adventurous things. If they can do it, so can I.

I can do this. I can do this.

I will do this.

One week.

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Why am I moving abroad?

Invariably, when I tell someone that I'm planning on moving overseas, they ask me why I'm doing it. And despite having answered the question many times by now, I don't feel like I've mastered the answer. So let's do that.

Is it because I dislike where I live currently? No... well not entirely anyway. I love the US and am very lucky to have been born here. Sure, we have our own unique societal issues like anyone else, our skeletons in the closet and our dirt under the rug. But for me, the Pacific Northwest will always be home, I truly believe that it's one of the best parts of the world to live in. But as much as I love this area, if it's all that I ever saw of the world it would be like reading the inside cover of a book and claiming to know what it's about.

Is it because I'm bored of my current situation? YES. This is honestly one of the biggest reasons I'm moving. I'm going through a phase that I think a lot of people around my age go through. No longer enjoying the ignorant youth of my early 20s, but not yet at the established, secure time of my mid-30s/40s. I've got a decent job, making decent money. I have a decent apartment, I drive decent car. But is that what I want? If you asked 10 year old me to choose between having a boring, decent life or having a spontaneous, exploratory life, which would I have chosen?

Is it because I'm afraid? Yes. I know this seems like a strange reason to upend my life and move to the opposite side of the globe, but hear me out. In my humble opinion, this life is all there is. No afterlife, no heaven or hell. So my fear stems from the possibility of living with and dying with a regret of not doing more, not going farther, not pushing the boundaries of what I thought I could do.

For me, believing that we have this short timeframe with which to experience life makes it all the more precious. How lucky I am to have been born where and to whom I was born, giving me opportunities that others of my same species have no chance at. It seems an injustice to have been given this blessed life and not do all that I can to enjoy it at it's fullest. Yes, I am afraid. Afraid of wasting this window of time with which to experience all that the world has for me.

About a year and a half ago, I had a realization one night. I realized that I had to travel. I was stuck in a routine life where the days were barely distinguishable from one another. A choice was necessary; stay in this lane where everything is easy, predictable, and unremarkable, or take a detour (the scenic route if you prefer) where though life may not be easy, it will be worthwhile and exciting.

I am moving abroad because I have to. I have to make the most of my short time on Earth. The world owes me nothing but I will go to the outer reaches to see what I can take from it.

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese