It is 7 AM on Monday morning here in Vietnam, and I just woke up. I got about 7 hours of sleep last night, which is pretty good because I thought I might wake up at 3 or 4 AM due to jet lag. Considering that I barely slept for the 48 hours before bed last night, I’m really glad I finally got a chance to relax.
So, let me tell you about my travels.
Friday (seems like so long ago) – I woke up at 10 AM and immediately started to finish my packing. I decided it would be a good idea to put my smaller suitcase inside of my super jumbo one from Emily. I then talked to Adrianne on the phone for an hour, which was probably a bad idea because I just could not finish packing in time. I had way too much stuff! My mom and I had planned to leave for the airport at 2:30, but we didn’t end up leaving until about 2:45. Ah well, it could have been worse.
We made it to Boston in great time. At Logan Airport, I learn that my super jumbo suitcase weighs in the 70-100 pound category, which would cost me (or my mom) a hundred bucks. American Airlines also charges $25 to check a bag at all – what cheap-asses. They also didn’t give us ANY free food, and it’s a 6 hour flight from Boston – LA. Instead they wanted to sell us $10 sandwiches and $3 bags of chips.
Aaaaanyway, I decide that the best I can do is to get my bag under 70 lbs, and then I’ll just pay the fee for 50-70 lbs. I thought that the small suitcase inside the larger one was probably taking up too much weight, so I dumped all of my clothes into the big suitcase and my mom took the other one home. 73 lbs. So I shifted around the weight between my carry-ons and my checked bag, putting a bunch of books (heavy) and my instant coffee/nutella/gatorade (heavy) in my carry-ons. 69.2 lbs. YES. Victory over the system.
My mom walked me to the security area and we said goodbye in line. I had her promise not to leave until I made it through security and waved. I wanted to cry so badly when we hugged goodbye, but I stayed strong and put my bags on the belt. As I walked through the metal detector, I waved goodbye to my mom, and when I looked back again, she was gone. Then, the security lady said there was something wrong with my last bag and ran it through again. Uh oh. She put on those ridiculous nuclear gloves and started going through it, until she found the culprit – my jar of nutella. ”Excuse me, miss, we’re going to have to take this.” I was incredulous. “Nutella? Why?” “It fits into the category of gels and liquids.”
I couldn’t believe this. I love nutella and I brought it with me to remind myself of home when I get homesick in China.
“But,” I argued deftly, “Nutella is neither a gel or a liquid.”
“No, but it’s a cream. If I can spread it, it’s gotta go.”
Since when are creams forbidden? I was so angry at the injustice of it that I started crying (quietly and without making a scene). It was just that I couldn’t hold the tears in any longer. The woman looked at me snidely and said, “Are you crying because I’m taking the nutella?”
What right did she have to know WHY I was crying? I didn’t even know her! So I said “Yes, I’m going to be in China for 3 months and I want my nutella. It’s even sealed, see?”
But, she wouldn’t hear it. I left the security area annoyed and indignant. I wasn’t about to point this out to them, but my nail clippers and several pairs of sharp earrings made it through security. I’ve also brought shaving razors on board in the past. But nutella? For shame! These people are making a mockery of airport security if you can bring various sharp objects (I’ve even brought knitting needles on before!) but nothing that is clearly a non-hazardous gel/liquid/cream apparently.
So. I made it to my gate and met a guy who looked my age. He said he was going to Australia for 2 months and I asked him why. He didn’t know. He didn’t even have a hotel booked in Syndey. He was just going to go and see if anything worked out for him. If not, he would be coming home in 2 months anyway. I was amazed at this guy’s nonchalance over going to a random foreign country by himself, but it gave me new confidence in my journey.
I arrived in LA at 10 PM and my international flight to Taipei was scheduled to leave at 1 AM. When I got to the China Airlines check-in, however, they informed me that all flights to Taipei were rescheduled until the next morning because of typhoons on the island. Mine was delayed 6 hours, and was now scheduled to leave at 7 AM. I met a really nice family in the long line and their 17 year old niece was returning to Vietnam (also alone) after a visit to the States. I stuck by them and they were extremely hospitable to me, even giving me friends’ numbers to call if I got lost in Ho Chi Minh City. I stuck by the niece, Vy, the whole way until we arrived in Ho Chi Minh.
So. 6 hour delay. Everyone just sat at the gate, reading and trying to sleep.
On the 13 hour flight, I could barely sleep. I didn’t have a window seat and thus nothing to lean on to rest my head. Luckily, China Airlines has those jetblue-style personal TVs with a wide array of TV shows and movies free to order. I watched Indiana Jones 4, the Sex and the City Movie, and the Happening, all of which did not disappoint!
Taipei. Looking down at the island of Taiwan before our descent, it looked really agricultural. I couldn’t even see the city of Taipei from my side of the plane. It was so weird being in Taiwan. It didn’t feel real. Then again, what does feel real on this trip? It was strangely comfortable to see Chinese signs and people everywhere, but all the signs were in traditional characters.
Here are some pictures from the Taipei Airport:
Hilarious billboard greeting me as I got off the plane in Taipei. Check out all those hot men in thongs. I wanna go to Taitung!!
Taiwan. No shooting. (I think they meant “no photography” but I obviously broke that rule.)
Smoking room in the airport. Apparently we do have these in the States. Either way it’s funny and looks really futuristic.
Finally I endured the final leg of the journey, the 3 hour flight from Taipei to Ho Chi Minh City. I got through customs with no problem and went to go wait at the luggage belt. I waited. And waited. I started to get nervous when I didn’t see my bag. Finally a guy who worked there said “No more bags!” “WHAT?” I said. “Are you serious?” Then, with a huge stroke of luck, he told me, “They just said there is one more bag.” And then Big Bertha (as I’ve decided to affectionately name it) came tumbling out of the machine.
I took a taxi to my hotel, and got to see a lot of Ho Chi Minh City. It looked kind of like a Chinese city, with a ton of street stalls, bicycles, and open storefronts. But it had a more tropical feel, with palm trees, and waaay more motorbikes. Also, there is a very strong French influence in the architecture. A lot of the buildings are made in the old European style, but have neon signs in Vietnamese and fruit vendors at the doorway. I love this clash of cultures.
My taxi ride to the hotel was seriously scary. Just like in China, people do not pay any attention to road signs here, and they even ride their motorbikes on the wrong side of the street. Bikes, motorcycles, and cars are driving on both sides of the street, somehow weaving through each other so that no one gets hurt. It is apparently common to see someone riding through a red light with two kids on board and no helmets. I don’t know how I didn’t witness any accidents! I have concluded that this whole Vietnam traffic thing is either (a) easier than it looks or (b) requires a lot of skill.
My hotel here is kind of a hole, but for the price I paid I can’t really expect much more. There are visible bed bugs (but actually they’re on the floor too), and my bath towel was damp and not 100% white. However, there is free wifi, satellite TV, and air conditioning, so I’m not complaining.
Vietnamese money on my bed in the hotel. All the bills have Ho Chi MInh on them. They’re also really colorful! You can see it a little on the 50,000 bill at the front, that all the bills have holes in them, which are actually covered with clear plastic. Cool! Also the exchange rate is crazy – $1 US is $16,000 Vietnamese dong. It’s really hard to tell what stuff should cost.
Since my flight was delayed, I missed the group orientation meeting last night, but I’m meeting them in an hour for a walking tour of the city. So last night I walked around Pham Ngu Lao (foreigners district where i’m staying) by myself. There are a lot of whities here and many people speak English. I ate a bowl of pho bo for dinner and then walked around looking at all the shops. The streets here have the same smell as in China – sweet cigarette smoke mixed with dirt. It’s somehow really comforting, but also stresses me out thinking about how amazing last summer was, and wondering how this time will be.
SNAKE WINE! Found this in a random store in Pham Ngu Lao. Those are real snakes, folks. Apparently the alcohol has snake venom in it too. It’s a drink with some bite! (sorry)
A scorpion and what appears to be a formaldehyded mini cobra in a bottle of snake wine. Sorry, Deb, but this has NOTHING on that mezcal with the pupa that you brought back from Mexico. Not that I’m buying this for anyone. What if it broke open in my bag? HELLS no.
Note: since posting these pictures on facebook, I have already had two requests for snake wine from my guy friends.
A snake, biting another snake’s neck. This is whack. I’m so impressed at whoever arranged these dead snakes in the bottle.
When I got back to my hotel room, I finally charged my Chinese phone from last summer. It has an Asian plug, so I haven’t been able to charge it in over a year. All of my text messages from last summer were still on there, and it was so weird to read them – I felt like no time has gone by at all, I felt like I was still in Beijing.
I need to keep moving now, because I have to pack up all of my things and meet the group at 9 AM for a walking tour of the city. More to come soon, I hope!
