First days in HCMC

The first few days in Ho Chi Minh City, I wandered around bemused by my surroundings. It was impossible to coherently process the energy of the city, as I was still very much groggy from my traveling. The first night, I arrived at my hotel around 2:00 am and was completely out of it. I hopped out of the cab with my airport pick-up and wandered down an alleyway filled with people sitting on tiny stools, chatting, staring and eating soup with noodles.  I had no idea where I was and I’m sure that was very apparent to the locals. I can only imagine what they thought of the white person struggling with three large suitcases and a stuffed animal under her arm—not to mention I probably looked like I was on drugs.

The following day, I had to go to my school for observations. The easiest method of transportation in Ho Chi Minh City is by xe om (aka a motorbike taxi). I’m using the word “taxi” here very loosely. Most Westerns would immediately associate a taxi as some sort of regulated private of public corporation. This is not the case. However, it is an amazing and exhilarating experience. The lady at the front desk hooked me up with some guy down the street who is a xe om driver. I gave him to the address and off I went with this stranger to experience my first time on a motorcycle.

As a child, I always imagined my first motorcycle ride to be in Italy with some attractive Italian man, riding down cobblestone streets on the way to a nice dinner. Yet, there I was in Vietnam on the back of a motorcycle with someone I had met thirty seconds earlier. I loved it. I must have looked like I had some sort of mental problem for the duration of the ride because I couldn’t stop smiling and staring at everything. I had slept in because I was so exhausted so this was my first time seeing Saigon by day.

I enjoyed the ride so much; I was actually disappointed that it wasn’t longer. However, I was still really excited to check out my school and meet all my coworkers. I arrived really early because I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get there. My school is in Hung Vuong Plaza in District 5, so luckily I had plenty of options to kill my time with. I ended up grabbing an iced coffee across the road. It was my first time drinking Vietnamese coffee and it reminded me slightly of Malaysian coffee in that it was chocolate-y.

Everyone at school was celebrating Halloween for the children, so I met most of my coworkers in costume. They were really lovely and it seems like everyone gets along well. I felt bad that I was thrown onto people in-between observations because everyone was busy preparing lessons and what not; but I guess everyone has been new once so they were really great about showing me the ropes.  I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone better.

When I finished observations, I headed back to my hotel on a xeon and wandered to a vegetarian restaurant where I had some delicious spring rolls and some sort of saffron-vegetarian appetizer with flatbread. The man said it was the best thing they had, so I said why not. It was light and tasty. I washed it down with a Saigon Green beer. I was ecstatic to try the beer, but I wasn’t very impressed when I tasted it and it reminded me of Heineken. It’s something I’m just going have to get over.

After eating, I wandered around a bit and then headed back to my hotel. When I walked into the lobby, I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. It turned out to be another person that was new to ILA (my school). She was sitting in the alleyway with a few other new people and invited me to join them. I must have walked passed them in a jetlag daze and didn’t notice them.  I was really tired but I was excited to meet new people so I went back out with them and wandered some more.

Once everyone decided to throw in the towel, we made plans to meet for breakfast. Eventually, more and more people arrived at the hotel that were from ILA. Everyone got along well immediately—this wasn’t really very surprising to me as it takes a certain type of person to want to pick up and move to Vietnam. It’s nice to be around similar-minded people.

Once our free-stay at the hotel was up, we all decided to move to guesthouses. Most of us are at a delightfully tacky, yet comfortable place called “Miss Loi’s.” It offers free breakfast, a rooftop terrace and enough rooms for many of us to stay in close proximity to each other until we find our own places. The rest of the people are in different guesthouses that are apart of the same alley. Together, we’ve been exploring the city and celebrating our new home on Bui Vien, which is a giant street of shops and bars where many expats and tourists go at night. 

Here's a quick look at the view from Miss Loi's (clearly I fancy the rooftop terrace):