Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City

I arrive late last night in Ho Chi Minh City. I reckoned with having to pay the 'dummy tax' as I will be calling it from here on out. Its not uncommon when traveling to a new country that you end up paying more for stuff than a local would and getting scammed occasionally because you just don't know how it works. Since I've gotten here I've met 5 other people who went through the same or much worse than I did with the visa. I learned that the price I payed was a fraction of what others paid. An American I met had to pay over $1000 to get theirs sorted, then they got here and their airbnb was trashed and covered in very disgusting trash from the former guest. So, I'm counting my luck that I got here last night to a clean room that was exactly as described. That being said, I was a bit annoyed when I went through customs and the customs agent didn't even look at my visa. I was like "I paid $500, the least you could do is scrutinize it" lol, but atleast all worked out and paying the extra fee got me vip access through customs. An important thing to note for future travel to non-english places, the "given name" is your first and middle name, not just your first name.

Flying internationally is always so interesting. America is the only country where you have to take off your shoes to go through airport security, and the relationship with airport security is so much calmer. For example I was asked nicely to take off my belt, and I did, but my pants were too big and falling off and the security guard comes up to me laughing before I go through the metal detector and he goes, "if you pants are going to fall off its okay, you don't have to take off your belt its not that big of a deal, put it on its totally fine". I'm not used to just friendly interactions with airport security. Furthermore it was just a lot less stressful.

The flight  was easy and I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and go a grab car (their version of uber). Ride shares at airports never cease to be confusing, no matter what county you visit, and it took me a while to find my driver, but google translate helped a lot, and it was totally okay. 

The streets in Vietnam are pretty hectic. Cars and motorbikes drive in all directions its very stressful and they communicate with eachother via honking. One motorbike I saw had 2 adults, a baby and a toddler, and a french bulldog, all on the bike. Its actually impressive watching all the people cross eachother with so much flow. There is clearly a language of the drivers here where they understand how to function with so many vehicles on the road together. I'm not looking forward to the first time I have to cross a busy road. It's going to be very stressful.

This morning I got a salt coffee, which was really interesting and sweet and very salty. The first sip was like taking a sip of the ocean and I wasn't sure if I liked it, but after a few drinks I really enjoyed it. There I met an American man with his Vietnamese fiance who lent me their phone charger since I forgot to bring a converter. We talked a bit and they told me where I could find a converter which helped. 

After that I went to the mall and picked up some snacks and a converter. I got some really yummy spring rolls and these weird red fruits that they call plums. They are decidedly not plums. They have a reddish outside, and are the shape of a tiny butternut squash in a way. The flesh is very mildly flavored and very fresh and watery. There were not any seeds in the middle. It was really delicious. I took it back to my airbnb to rest and get some of my trip sorted. Flying late last night left me pretty tired, but tonight I will be going on an all you can eat food tour of the city, so I will be spending a few hours resting before heading out to the main part of the city to wander for a few hours before my tour begins.