Lauren's Adventures: The first week in Ho Chi Minh City

loz1445 — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 19:31:00 GMT

Lauren’s adventures: First week in Ho Chi Minh City

On my first day in HCMC I woke up early, had a shower and then decided to brave the city. I wanted to go for a walk around and as soon as I got on the street, I was stopped by a man on a cyclo (google it). I’d heard stories about these guys trying to rip you off so you have to agree on a price at the beginning. At first I said ‘no, thank you’ but he kept cycling next to me showing me a book that people had written in saying how nice it was, so I thought why not. I tried to agree on a price but he said we could go for chicken soup first and then we’ll fix a price.

We went for traditional chicken soup, and I have to say that it really was delicious and we agreed on 300,000d to take me to the Ho Chi Minh museum and back. We cycled through the streets, over the motorway, through thousands and thousands of motorbikes, bus, cars and what not. It was pretty scary because you think you’re going to get run over all the time, but it actually works well. The drivers just go around you.

We arrived at the museum and I had a look around. I was a bit disappointed because I thought it was going to be about the history of the city, but it wasn’t. It was a museum dedicated to president Ho Chi Minh.

After the museum, I was very tired so I asked him to take me back to my hotel. On the way he said that we’ll go to a beautiful temple. I actually didn’t want to go at all because I was pretty tired but it was easier not to argue so I just went in and had a look around. Not to be rude, but it wasn’t very beautiful.

Later we got to near where my hotel is and he suddenly asked for 400,000d. I realised that I didn’t have any money so I had to go to my hotel to get my credit card so I could go to the ATM. I couldn’t find my card so the hotel receptionist had to lend me the money, which was lucky because he got the cyclo man to lower the price.

What wasn’t lucky was me realising I had lost my credit card. Panic! And I realised that I had the wrong PIN for my backup card. I cried in dismay for a while until I got through to the bank and cancelled my card and ordered an emergency one. Not a great start to my trip!

I spent the rest of the week in the city. It was okay but it wasn’t the best week of my life. The traffic is sooo bad that I was too scared to cross the street so I didn’t do any sightseeing. I also felt lonely and missed my friends a lot. I really wanted to go out and see something so I decided to book a tour bus to take me around the different places, plus I bought a bus ticket to go to a quiet town near the beach to get away from the chaos.

The tour was great but very long. I saw the War Museum, the post office, the big cathedral and lots more. The war museum is so sad and takes a lot of energy, similar to the Dachau concentration camp. The post office is a very lovely, big building and so is the cathedral.

In the evenings I went to some different places to have dinner. I went to one place which was fairly quiet and a bit hidden, but it was a lovely evening. The waitresses were so friendly and so, so happy to be able to practice speaking English that they literally giggled with delight! They were super-sweet and gave everyone really good service.

So, that was my first week in HCMC. Feeling lonely, lost credit cards, crazy traffic, good food, super friendly staff. I was definitely ready to go to the beach!

Lauren's Adventures in Vietnam - Part I

loz1445 — Wed, 2 Oct 2013 21:18:00 GMT

Well, there's lots to say about my trip even before I set off! I already knew that I have really amazing friends but they felt the need to be especially amazing the weekend before, which made leaving a whole lot harder!

On Saturday Andrea (my Spanish flatmate) and myself united to have one big, massive party. Hers to celebrate her birthday and mine to mark my leaving. Sufficient to say that with friends like ours it was a huge success! The theme was 'Superheros' and I was thrilled to see how many people had made an effort to dress up. It only added to te fun. I was Glitter Girl and I soon discovered my arch enemy was also at the party - Bubble Girl. She made it very difficult for me to go to the toilet because I had to defeat her everytime I needed to go. Hard work, but I managed to beat her and did not pee myself once.

The party went into the early hours of the morning and was full of joy and drunkeness. The next day, the day of my departure, was almost the exact opposite. I woke up next to my lovely boyfriend and felt immensely sad. We went for breakfast at his place and afterwards I left to go back to mine to clean, crying every step of the way. I cried even more when I realised I had to clean alone. Fortunately, we did a lot of it before all the guests left and my good friend, Daniel, came back to help. I felt so sad to leave that I continued to cry all the way through cleaning, packing and walking to Murdock's, where we went for our last goodbye drinks.

My lovely friends surprised me by all being there. This made me cry harder. After lunch and drinks, Nici and Flo went to pick up their cars to take some of us to the airport. The others stayed behind, standing in a row, to wave me off. I cried a little bit more. I cried as we drove along as Kitty and Susi sat in the back drinking cider and singing along to the radio. How on earth could I be leaving such awesome people! Well it was too late, so I had to suck it up!

We got to the airport and luckily for me I stopped crying. As you can imagine, my eyes were pretty sore by that point. I looked like a red and white version of a panda bear.

I went through security was just in time to stand in line to board on the plane. When I was on the plane I felt surprisingly calm and didn't feel the need to cry. I think that might have been because I'd spent the previous 8 hours doing that.

Both flights were pretty good because I'm very good at sleeping on planes and the journey went pretty quickly. I arrived at the airport in HCMC and got my visa with no hassle. So far, so good, right?

As I may have mentioned to some of you, I wasn't sure if I'd reserved a room or booked an airport pick-up because my confirmation email hadn't come through. Well no-one was waiting for me so I assumed I hadn't. I walked around in a confused manner for a while before being approached by a man who said 'taxi'. Thinking that would be a very good idea, I agreed. I waited at the taxi rank for him to pull his car around, but instead he took my bag and started walking towards a darker corner of the car park. Ermm...OK, just go with it I foolishly thought. I made sure I agreed on a price first, that's something at least. He demanded the money first. OK, well he probably needs it to pay to get out of the car park, I thought. It wasn't the most relaxed jouney of my life, and I have to say I was very relieved when we arrived in once piece at the hotel.

As I got to the hotel, I realised that he'd well and truly ripped me off by charging me FIVE times the normal amount! Still, I was just happy to be alive.

I was then showed to my room, which it turns out I definitely hadn't booked, and was pleased with it. It's small but comfortable and clean, with a fridge, TV, WIFI, private bathroom and beer in the fridge. What a great fridge :)

I was so tired after my journey and the internet wasn't working so I went straight to bed and slept in until the early hours of the next morning where the next part of my journey continues.

Lauren's Journal

Lauren's Adventures: The first week in Ho Chi Minh City

Lauren's Adventures in Vietnam - Part I