White Girl Crossing: Welcome to Vietnam
- Mia Tortolani
- Jan 26, 2017
- 3 min read
It's official: I have made it through my first two weeks in Ho Chi Minh City, but not without a few bumps and bruises (namely: a small burn from a motorcycle engine and several mystery bruises on my calf). Check out the latest video below, apologies in advance for the low quality:
Food:
Ostrich and squid, chicken foot hot pot, pho, bahn mi, questionable beef, mangos and rice, lots of avocado smoothies, even more noodles, and an absurd amount of Vietnamese coffee. A little crazy, right? The food here is ~delicious~ and oh so cheap. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a coffee for about $10 a day? I can dig. Also beer is so cheap and I can drink it here because the age is 18! WOO! Aside from getting wildly ripped off in the backpackers district, the "bia" (beer) has been a great addition to my flowering social life here. The constant heat and 90% humidity also make eating absurd amounts of food slightly less appealing, so I guess I won't have to worry about gaining weight while I'm here? I sweat out all my calories walking to class.
Crossing the street:
One cool thing about Saigon is the motorbikes (everywhere, see: video above). One not so cool thing about Saigon is the motorbike traffic. Amidst a constant stream of motorbikes going both directions at alarmingly fast rate and honking with no apparent rhyme or reason , I stand, waiting to cross to the fresh fruit stand beckoning from across the intersection. Are there traffic lights? No. Any breaks in the traffic? Not quite. So you might be thinking: Wow, Mia. How do you cross the street? The answer: you just go.
Step 1: Right foot into the street. Let the motorbikes know you are going. You are not prey, you're a predator. Mark your territory.
Step 2: Follow with your left foot. Take a step. Walk at a constant pace as the motorbikes (hopefully) just swerve around you. Don't make eye contact, but maybe stick your hand out like you're on a runway.
Step 3: Stop in the middle of the street to check for traffic in the opposite direction. Repeat steps 1 and 2.
Step 4: Arrive at the other side of the street. You did it.
Step 5: Take a moment while your heart rate returns to normal.
If you so desire, you can even get deeper into the traffic by RIDING a motorbike, aka taking an Uber here. If you thought crossing the street was scary, wait until you're at a 5 lane roundabout in District 1 during rush hour. Know what I mean?
Classes:
If I'm being totally honest, I forgot that the reason I'm here is to study. Gross. This week was our first week of classes, and boy are 2.5 hour classes exhausting. This semester, I'll be taking contemporary Vietnamese sociology, intensive elementary Vietnamese, culture of politics and development, humans and the environment in Vietnam, and modern Vietnamese history. If anyone can figure out why the word "ba" pronounced 6 different ways means six different things PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I can't tell if I'm ordering an avocado or your father for breakfast. All I can successfully say is strawberry milk tea (and it turns out I don't even like it).
Vung Tau Beach:
A few of us decided to skip out on Saigon and head to a nearby beach for two days - best decision yet. We lounged by the beach, drank our weight in smoothies, and danced with some locals at a beachside bar. We had a great time mingling and eating at the Gecko Hostel! You never really appreciate silence until you hear it for the first time in two weeks. It also turns out that the sun is a lot stronger over here near the equator. Who would've thought? Special shoutout to ocean breezes and sunburns, thanks for making this a great getaway. The tans may fade but the kink in my back from the hostel bed will not.
All in all, the adjustment to life here has been frustrating at times and surreal at others, but I think we're all starting to get the hang of living in Ho Chi Minh. These next few days are the Vietnamese lunar new year, so we're taking the holiday to visit Malaysia and Cambodia. More updates coming soon!
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