Thanks and Adios Vietnam.......

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Hey peeps around the globe...

I can remember starting to countdown my days left here teaching in Vietnam when it was 108....I FINALLY finished up my contract here and I am spending the next few days at Eco Hostel in district 1 for two reasons. One I need to apply for my Russian visa at the Consulate here which will be 1-3 days and then I also have to wait for my last paycheck from my prior company which I should get before the end of the month ..Hopefully! As you may know by reading some of my earlier bogs from here in Vietnam, I cannot wait to get out of here. Not because I think it's a terrible place, but more so a combination of things, it's been so long since I have been able to relax and take some time off from teaching as I went from Honduras straight to Uzbekistan starting work the day after I arrived from a 60+ hour flight then straight here where I started 2 days after arriving with only a small vacation at the end of April this year, 2 days. Now I get an extended break for about a month to enjoy a bit of backpacking which I don't have to tell you that I am EXTREMELY excited about! My hostels have been booked in HCMC, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Bangkok, Pattaya and Koh Chang for about......2 months now! I will finish up my Asian experience in Thailand and flying to Denmark on September 22nd where I'll meet up with a great friend of mine who lives in Sweden just over the bridge from Copenhagen and explore for about five days before getting to Moscow to start my next teaching contract.



My time here in Vietnam has been...ok...if I have to sum it all up into one word. Honestly, I expected more, but the monotonous food and constant staring which become a bit...ehh..weird and downright annoying in my opinion, but that's just me. The OCD of running and hiding from the sun is the thing that I was most surprised and annoyed about here, I understand it is part of their culture and respect that as it IS their choice, but what I don't respect is when you hear students saying that people with non white skin are "ugly". That's a brash generalization that the young people are being taught here. It's so ridiculous to see a girl walking without the proper coverings ( Mask, Hoodie, long pants, mittens and stockings covering there feet and toes, mind you its about 40 c here everyday) and come to a break in the trees where there is a 10 foot piece of sunshine and they run to a shaded part....I mean seriously...I am not exaggerating by any means. I have had some young students who you can tell are using a whitening cream as they look weirdly white..it doesn't even look right. I'm usually a person who really doesn't care what other people do because that's their life not mine and it has no affect on my day to day life, It could be just that I am burned out and get annoyed at the slightest of things and need a break, but who knows. I won't ramble on anymore about that topic.



The morning of the 24th My friend Sang and I went for one last coffee in Tan An before I get on the public bus to HCMC, He has come along way with his English which I'm happy about as he was always so timid about speaking because of mistakes etc etc ..He's all out there with that shit now buddy! Good for him as he's a young guy who is the nephew of the director of the school I was teaching at and took time to help me with whatever I needed so for that I will always be grateful! The bus ride to HCMC is pretty uneventful as I just stick in my earphones and enjoy the scenery along the hour or so trip. The first place I ate in HCMC was at my favorite pizza place in Vietnam, ESPY'S Pizza. It's an American style pizzeria and the lack of available cheese where I've been has contributed to my gluttony lol it was pretty refreshing to have some cheese!! The hostel here in the backpacker area called Eco Backpackers Hostel is great! The place is the cleanest hostel I can ever remember staying in and it's right in the middle of everything you would want as a traveler. I had to get my porcelain crown FINALLY fixed as it had come loose maybe 8 months ago and I have just been procrastinating on getting it fixed, but there is a dentist here in HCMC that was highly recommended by a good friend of mine from Sweden and he was right this place is great! I got an initial exam with x rays and all for free and it turns out the crown was broken and the post also so they replaced the crown and the post along with a deep cleaning that I haven't had in about years all for under $100 which is amazing! Very modern place and great dentists. If anyone reads this and wants the info just let me know. On my 2nd day here I had to go to the Russian Consulate to apply for my visa to enter because I have a job starting in Moscow in October, I was told by the school who said they contacted the Consulate here and inquired about the costs and documents I needed to apply, They sent me my invitation so all I had to do was fill out the 2 page application and give them $150 and that was for a rush service of 13 days processing because the school took their sweet time getting the invitation ready etc etc, I would be reimbursed for my visa fees when I get there.....Well it turns out that on the consulates website it says $150, BUT the actual cost is $450............ So I had no choice, but to do it as I need to leave Vietnam on Friday and need the visa by Thursday.



Also on my 2nd day here I met a REALLY awesome chic from the states who's working here in Vietnam as a teacher and was on a mini vacation. Besides being smoking hot she loves sports and her personality is incredible! I made it a point to leave the dorm right as she did and see if she wanted to get something to eat and chit chat..she took the stairs down and my lazy ass took the elevator down..we arrived on the lobby floor at the same time and she asked what I was heading out to do and I said to get something to eat, and she said she was going to do the same so I said why not just go together...(yea I'm smooth like that :-) ..not really..but it ended up being a great time and we talked a lot about past travels, family, etc etc over some beers and buy 1 get one free pizzas. when the check came..the gentleman that I am I paid for it 😊 see ladies chivalry is alive and well lol!! ..It wasn't a date or anything like that, but in US culture MOST times regardless of the atmosphere the man should pay, that's just me anyways. So we headed back to the hostel and she had to call family back home so I just hung out in the dorm and read until I went to sleep. The next morning I had another dental appointment at 9am and as usual I was up at 5:30am wide awake so I got dressed and went for coffee about an hour later I returned to brush my teeth and everyone was still sleeping so I just hung out down stairs and browsed the internet until my appointment. The dentist made some more impressions to make the crown and I'll go back tomorrow to finish up, when I got back to the hostel I found a note on my bunk that said "Thanks so much for dinner. Enjoy your travels and I hope Russia is a breath of fresh air compared to 'Nam --Jillian" I thought that was sweet to do and quickly realized she never left any kind of contact info which I was hoping to keep in touch with her for obvious reasons...but nothing :-(! YEA A BUMMER FOR SURE! I'll take a gamble and ask the front desk if she left an email addy at check-in, but most likely they won't divulge that info, but it's worth a shot!



I bought my bus ticket to Phnom Penh through the hostel and it was pretty cheap only about $12 direct on Friday morning! I have to wait for my last paycheck here to be deposited to my bank account on Thursday so I can have some extra travel money, that Visa dented my pockets pretty good lol. Until then I'm just hanging out and trying not to spend a lot here and meeting some cool people and one VERY annoying Indian guy who can't seem to STFU and showing everyone how many Uni degrees he has from New Zealand....... riiiiiiiiiiight buddy....So with that ..Vietnam....Thank you and goodbye

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Photos

Woof Woof...
My first taste of Vietnamese dog....

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Trying to make it mind over matter....

Ahhhhhh...
Got it down....

Woof...
Poodle lol

Desert
I haven't had these in like a year so I had to get a pack!

Eco BP's Hostel HCMC
Entrance to Eco's

Russian Visa Receipt...
What a $450 visa looks like... :/

HCMC
Overlooking the backpacking area HCMC

Note..
Been a while since I received a handwritten note lol...still trying to find her through the info I remember talking about the night before :-(

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Farewell
Reminds me of that song, guess you are putting Vietnam in your rear view mirror. Good luck on the next few adventures and we will be reading along.

[El Eterno Caminante]

Hey guys!
Thanks for the comment! Yes tomorrow morning I will be headed to Phnom Penh! Very excited to get on the road! How is everything with you guys?

[taracloud]

Dog, what are you eating?
After your last blog on the monotonous food there (though you raved about it when you first arrived in January), I looked up Vietnamese cuisine on Wikipedia, and for you carnivores, there was lots of variety. Hope you can check out that site and sample a little before you leave. I really can't talk though because I'm in Peru and dislike their famous (meaty) foods and spend tons on imported cheese. I've heard Thailand is a foodies' dream. Good luck!

[El Eterno Caminante]

Food...
There's variety, BUT the lack of spices and everyone using the same marinade for BBQ is what I have a problem with, of course things look good in pictures but the flavor is lacking. Many people I talk to here absolutely love Pho..to me you eat it once and it's not something you can rave about by any means. I guess I'm the exception to the rule. To me the food is just not that good, probably the bottom or close to the bottom of the list as far as the countries I have been to. I'm guessing you are a vegetarian so meats probably aren't your thing, but for me it's everything. I would take Peruvian ceviche over anything here in Vietnam hands down. Yes I have already talked to many people here that have been to Thailand and they all agree the food is very diverse and I am definitely looking forward to getting there! Thanks for commenting Tara! Also as I have said in these blogs here in Vietnam, THOUSANDS of people come here and absolutely love it, to each his/her own..for me it just lacks a lot of things and is down at the bottom of the list just above Uzbekistan.

[El Eterno Caminante]

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and yes of course I raved in January when it was all new...the longer you stay you realize that you cannot eat seafood everyday here, you would have no money left, it's extremely hard to mess up seafood...seafood is seafood plain and simple....eat like the locals and you will be eating the same things every single day...That's what I mean by monotonous.