Operation: “The World” is a Go

(12/30-1/2/08)

We flew out Dec. 30^th to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, to spend New Year’s Eve before we started our volunteer work. We may have mentioned how crazy traffic was in Bangkok…but that was nothing compared to traffic here. I have never seen so many motorbikes in my life. This was a small parking lot outside of a store.

It’s not just the motorbikes it’s what is on the motorbikes. We have seen families of five, refrigerators, mattresses, ducks, pigs, newborns (I didn’t like this one), fruit baskets, and whatever else you can think of. I would even have to say the kitchen sink. Crossing the street is an adventure sport here. Brian says it is like you’re a pebble in a stream of water. You slowly walk across the street and the traffic just flows on either side of you. I say it’s like playing frogger and I just hope that I don’t get hit!

We met an Australian couple that were in the same situation as us and had not booked a room in advance. Together we trotted through the Pham Ngu Lao neighborhood looking for availability. We found a hotel owner who had another location about 500 meters away where we each got our own room and bathroom, fridge, TV, and wireless internet for $12 a night. This was our first sign that things would be cheaper in Vietnam. This was good for us since the islands of Thailand were not as cheap as the rest of the country especially during the holidays. We learned this was prime travel time for a lot of Europeans. Thailand is like our Mexico or even Hawaii. It’s somewhere warm and tropical close by for them to escape to.

We went out for drinks that evening with our new friends and made plans to meet up for New Year’s Eve as well. This was one of the many restaurants we came across. We though it was quite funny.

They had streets blocked off for concerts all night and we were able to watch from a terrace of a bar and countdown to midnight. Happy New Year! Brian and I were making our way back to the hotel when we stopped at another hotel to ask if we could use their bathroom but before we could open our mouths they grabbed us and pulled us over to their little party. So we kept our mouths shut and enjoyed a glass of wine with food and great conversation with the other hotel guests and staff. It wasn’t until hours later when everyone was leaving to go to their room and us to our own hotel that they realized we weren’t staying there. Whoops! Fortunately, for us they thought it was pretty funny. Our next stop is Da Nang, Vietnam where we start out orientation for volunteering.