Back to Ho Chi Minh

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Place: Hanoi

MARCH 22nd--- DAY 4:

Now going from happy to sad, this was by far the worst day of the entire trip!!! I woke up really early for a 3 hour bus ride back to Hanoi. The ride was really long and bumpy so I had trouble falling asleep. Then we got to the airport really early and had to wait there for three and half hours. We thought we would make the best of it and just find a good restaurant for dinner. The first place we walked into definitely didn’t like Americans because we were the only people in line that they didn’t seat. So we just decided to seat ourselves. We waited about ten minutes and finally got one menu. We asked for three more, but they just shook their head and said we couldn’t have more…weird! Anyway, while my friend is looking at the menu, they grab it out of her hands and go give it to someone else at another table, it was really rude! But we just wanted food at this point, so we said, “excuse me, we are all ready to order.” They just said NO to us and ignored us! So we got up and left. I was so pissed off that they were so rude to us.

After getting over the frustration we went across the hall to a new restaurant. This time we were seated and given enough menus. The bad part was throughout the meal we had about 5 different waiters. I noticed that the restaurants in Vietnam don’t really have a system to serving like we do in the US. In the US, one waiter covers a certain area of tables, but here, they just all wander around. Because no one spoke English, we had a really hard time ordering and had to try multiple times to get it right. The worst part was when I was giving him my order and he just puts a hand up while I’m talking to stop me. He walks over to these Asian businessmen and takes his order then comes back over to take mine again. I was like what the hell; I’m in the middle of ordering my meal. By the time we finished eating, we had wasted so much time that we just wanted the check. This also took a really long time. Finally some girl, who we hadn’t seen the entire meal came over, sat in our booth and gave us the check. She didn’t leave while we were figuring out who was paying for what and how much. She was just sat there hovering over us and I felt like hitting her. Then she counted the money in front of us. We were all so pissed, so we left a really crappy tip. I literally got up and just stormed out. I was angry because I had done nothing all day but sit in a bus, and now this, so I just decided to get to the terminal and relax. Apparently, my group was not the only ones who had problems in the airport cafes; we all were telling our stories to each other.

So around 8 pm we finally boarded our plane. To get on our plane we had to walk outside, walk up this flight of stairs and get on. While I was in line on the step, some Vietnamese woman comes up and pushed me down the stairs and then stands in front of me. I said, “Excuse me, but there is a line and it was really rude that you pushed me, I could have gotten hurt”. She just looked at me angrily and hissed at me. Once I got inside for them to check my ticket, another couple pushed me and tried to budge. They were all in a rush! I was really aggravated at this point and was trying really hard not to punch someone. The worst part is no one speaks English, so insulting them or telling them off doesn’t really work. Finally I got to my seat and put in my headphones…then my ipod died…great! This is also when the captain said that something was wrong with our plane and that we would be sitting here for a while. We ended up sitting for 40 minutes and I was getting really annoyed this point. Mostly because I wanted to get back and go out, but I figured out that with the delay we weren’t going to get back until midnight. Anyway, we finally got in the air and had a 2 hour flight back to Ho Chi Minh City. Once we hit the ground it was around 11:30 and I just wanted to get off the plane!

We got a taxi on the way back, which we also had to negotiate and fight to get the price we wanted. Once I got on the ship, I just decided to go to sleep. I was so pissed off about the whole day. I mean the people who were rude to me and the airport was terrible, but the fact that I wasted a whole day of exploring by sitting on a bus and plane, really made me feel cheated. I mean I understand though, you have to do some long travel at some point. It just sucks because I’m so limited on time in each port.


MARCH 23rd--- DAY 5:

Woke up really early this morning to do some last minute shopping in Ho Chi Minh before getting back on the ship at 6 pm. We went to several market places and I bought a lot of stuff. I did some really good bargaining and got a lot of good deals. I went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch and got a fruit smoothie later in the day. The last day ended up being really fun and made me feel better about the day before!

For dinner they had BBQ food on the ship and it was really good! Now I just have a lot of laundry and homework to do. We only have 2 days of sailing before docking in Hong Kong and I’m stressed out. I have 2 papers and a quiz and I feel like I have no time to do any of it. Oh well…somehow I’ll get it all done.

So here were my final thoughts about Vietnam. Overall, I really enjoyed my time here and would come back some day. The people I met were really bipolar. There were only two kinds of people. They were either extremely nice and went out of their way to help us, or they were complete assholes and were extremely rude to us. The last day in the marketplace, I was looking at some t-shirts at a woman’s table. She asked me if I wanted to buy one. I said that I was just looking and she then started yelling at me and said, “You are a rude person”. I asked why and she said, “Because you shrug me off and then go to this other table and look at her shirts, even though you said you didn’t want to buy any shirts”. I got really pissed at her and said, “You are a really rude lady and I don’t appreciate you disrespecting me. I was just looking and then seeing what my friends were doing. I don’t even want any shirts!” I was so pissed because she started a scene at this point and was calling me a bitch. I said, “Fine I won’t give you any business….and that’s ashame because I was going to come back and buy one of your shirts but now I’m going to this booth up here and buying one”. She told me I was never allowed to come to this part of the market and that I was an asshole. I really didn’t even understand how this argument really started in the first place; all I did was look at her stuff and then move onto the next booth. When I went back to look at something nearby her booth, she spit on my feet and cursed me out. I screamed at her and stormed away.

Also, when I was looking at shoes, two women grabbed my arms and forced me to buy a pair. I ended up getting a good deal on them because I knew how to handle these situations now, but I didn’t really even want to buy one. I was just intimidated because 3 women were holding me down and telling me I couldn’t leave. Seriously though, it is a really scary, different world out there I’m realizing. People are crazy and you have to be careful what you say and do. If I could, I would go back and hit that lady in the marketplace, she made me so angry. They kept ranting, saying things like, “these stupid Americans, they are so rude” and I was just sooo pissed off.

There was also another woman that really stood out to me. Sarah and I were looking at pocketbooks from one of the vendors when Charli approached us to see what bags we were looking at. She was holding one of the bags that she had bought earlier for $5. It was so cheap because it had a tear and mark on it, but she didn’t care. When Charli asked how much one of the woman’s bags was, she gave her a ridiculous price. Charli said, “That is insane! That price is way too high”. The woman got upset and said, “you probably got that bag cheap because you are American and people think you are pretty. But your bag is shit and I don’t want you near my shop”. It is just so weird, how much some of them hated us.

I still had a good time and met some really amazing people while I was here, but most of the people I met were really mean to us. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the war? The younger people tended to be nicer to us, but the older generation basically hated us and were not afraid to make it known. The food was pretty descent and I didn’t get sick once, which is always a positive now! The taxi drivers sucked but every once in a while I found one or two that were really nice and I tipped them well. The shopping was amazing, but you really had to bargain and be on you’re a-game. I just wished I could have been treated a little bit nicer. Also, I didn’t have time to go to the Chu Chi Tunnels, mostly because they were far away. Oh well…next time.

So now onto China! Hong Kong in 2 days!!!

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