Upon Arrival

It's hard to believe that I have now been in Vietnam for five days! Vietnam is 11 hours ahead of NY so right now it is 11 p.m. on Sunday, September 2, but at home it's 12 a.m. Sunday morning.  I did not experience much jetlag except for the first day and after the first night I quickly adjusted to my new time zone.

I left NY on Tuesday, August 28 at 1:30 a.m. and landed in Hong Kong on Wednesday, August 29 at 5:00 a.m.  after a 15 hour flight.  Three hours later, I flew from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City and arrived at 10:00 a.m.  Thankfully my bag made it and there were two student volunteers from Vietnam waiting at the airport to take me and two other SIT students to our guest house. I was told to expect a wall of heat and humidity when leaving the air conditioned airport, but it wasn't as bad as I expected (though that was short lived...).  It was 86 degrees fahrenheit at 10 a.m. and it only got hotter and more humid from then on. We all piled into a taxi and drove through Ho Chi Minh City for about 20 minutes.  The students who picked us up attend the University of Economics at Ho Chi Minh City where the 10 other SIT students and I will be taking classes for six weeks before traveling around the country.  Zooming around the taxi were motor bikes (more on Vietnamese traffic to follow) and street vendors lining the sidewalks down the streets selling food.  

At the guest house we met our program director and assistant who are both Vietnamese.  We put our luggage away and went out to get lunch.  After successfully crossing the street for the first time on the way to lunch I felt like we should have all earned medals.  Buses are the worst, but cars and motor bikes do not stop at all for pedestrians crossing the street.  You have to look both ways and cautiously edge out and keep walking with steady steps while the vehicles (hopefully) move around you. For my first meal in Vietnam I had to get pho bo, a traditional Vietnamese noodle dish with beef. The rice noodles and beef are served in a bowl of slightly sweet broth with a plate of fresh herbs, limes, and hot peppers allowing everyone to customize their dish. It was refreshing and less than $2.00; you've got to love the exchange rate here.  Each US dollar is equivalent to around 20,000 dong, which you can easily buy a meal with on the street. For the rest of the day we explored the area and had another great dinner with fresh spring rolls, fried spring pork rolls, chicken wings, and a sweet and sour fish soup. 

On Thursday we experienced our first motor bike ride as passengers, which was thrilling to say the least so stay tuned...