How it Begins...

Ever wondered how long a 12 hour flight really is?  Well sit in the same seat without leaning to the left or right for the next 12 hours.  See, problem solved, now you know.  At least that's how it would have been on a flight with most airlines I've experienced. Though I'm pleased to report back that Eva Air made it quite a bearable journey.  I felt more like a paying passenger rather than some organized cargo.  Who would have thought that we would get two full meals throughout the flight, drinks, and have access to personal touch-screen TVs with plenty of options to watch, and all included in the fare.  Oh, and did I mention we were just economy class sitting in the back of the plane, I wonder what first class would have been like, in flight massages?

On the second flight from Taiwan to Vietnam, we met the first of many interesting people.  The first thing we could notice was his tattoo sleeves, which ranged from colorful to sinister and his over stuffed backpack which he was trying to squeeze under the seat in front of him.  Robbie was a 24 year old Australian, but from Austin, TX, and was headed to Saigon to start training in a dojo for MMA.  Apparently he hadn't been to Vietnam in several months, but was extremely excited to be back.  Once Spencer started up a a conversation with him, his enthusiasm burst forward as he talked to us about everything from what not to do, to what bars to visit, to strip clubs.  He was set on showing us a good time once we landed.  He mentioned to us, "trust no one, including myself, yet somehow try to trust me."  We figured it'd be a worth while venture to see Vietnam with someone that already knew his way around, even if his interests weren't exactly aligned with ours.  (He must have mentioned the number of girls he was planning to get with every 10 minutes.)

However, upon arriving, plans changed.  We were greeted by the muggy weather and throngs of people waiting outside of the airport exit much like crowds gather at concerts trying to catch a glimpse of their beloved rock stars walk out.  Robbie was picked up and whisked away by his semi-estranged father, but he left us with the intersection of two streets which we should take a taxi to.  And we did.  However, this was our first foray into communicating, and it definitely wasn't the easiest.  I would pronounce the name of the street one way, Spencer pronounced it another way, the taxi cab driver asked it a third way, and then I tried pronouncing it again.  We played this game of going around trying to convey our horribly skewed Vietnamese until we just pointed at a map and the driver smiled and said of course, no problem (yeah, right).

If you've ever been to NYC, then you've seen some crowded and aggressive city driving, but really, you haven't seen anything until you've seen the streets around here.  It's like a heiarchy of traffic.  Whoever has the bigger vehicle wins.  Maybe 8% of the traffic is comprised of buses and cars, but it's the motorcycles and mopeds that breed the sense of confusion.  Everyone is on one.  Entire families ride on one bike, and these bikes are no bigger than the ones back home.  I could easily have reached out of the taxi window and shook hands with someone on the back of a moped.  These fearless bikers came within inches of the cab.  The cab driver didn't seem to worried about running anyone over either, he would just honk incessantly if someone was in his way or close to being run over.  The taxi driver was amused at how amazed we were by the chaos of traffic, yet how couldn't we be, there was more traffic than New York City, almost no traffic lights to speak of, and everything on the streets was a free for all.  I was quite surprised when I saw an officer walk straight out into the street and point his baton at a biker and direct them to the side.  What law could there have possibly been that was just broken, that everyone else wasn't breaking?!

Stepping out into the city from the cab, all we could hear were cars and bikes honking and the regular murmur you would associate with a city.  There were street vendors, there was a worn down park, there were trashy streets, there were bikes everywhere (even on the sidewalks), and then there were two backpackers trying to figure out, what next?

Before arriving, we had read that to cross the streets, you just start walking slowly and deliberately.  Well now with traffic in front of us, this seemed like quite another thing.  We kept watching and timing traffic for a break to walk through....but no luck.  Spencer and I figured, well, if everyone else is walking across the street, then we should have no trouble.  So we walked.  It was an adrenaline rush to step into traffic and let it part around you like the red sea.  By the time we reached the other side, we high-fived each other only to realize that we need to walk across yet another busy intersection.

We walked around to a couple hotels and settled on something that seemed mid-way between cheap and nice, so it was a nice cheap hotel.  Though we were only on the 4th floor, the walk always feels like it takes forever, the stairs just keep going.  Mind you, it's actually the 5th floor because they start counting at floor zero. Also, these buildings are maybe 12 feet wide but yet 8 or 10 stores tall.  Our first meal of the city was appropriately some Pho at a local restaurant and then it was back to the hotel for an attempt to recover from traveling.

We walked out of the hotel around 8 PM and it was as if the city had transformed.  The streets were filled with a dizzying sense of chaos with the neon blinking lights, the yelling of street vendors, and the every-present honking of bikes.  We meandered a little ways an ended up at another small street side restaurant.  However, along the way, we decided to be a little adventurous and cut through an alley.  It was fine until a rat the size of Master Splinter ran out in front of Spencer and made him start skipping his way down the alley at quick trot.  I laughed, but I was watching out for the next rat otherwise I'd be the next one running.

Here's where the day begins to change.... we were tired but thought the best way to overcome the jet lag is to stay up and form a normal sleeping pattern.  Agreed.  So we thought the best way to stay out is visit a little bar and have a few beers (maybe one or two).  These bars down the street had set up plastic chairs and tables (much like you would find in a kindergarten class room) all the way to the street and onto it.  Almost every seat was packed with tourists and locals watching the traffic and other bar patrons.  So we joined the crowd.

Our next set of acquaintances were a businessman from Australia here for a conference, Kelvin, and a Chinese man on vacation between jobs, Wap (I think).  Kelvin told of some awesome sites to visit in Thailand and where to go in the Mekong delta, all of which were duly noted.  One particular place was an island with cliffs you can rock climb, and if you fall it's right into the ocean, so no need to worry, he says.  The first thing Wap told us, "Don't go to China."  We laughed and he looked at us and said, "Really, don't go to China."  He went on to explain why, but the comment of the night which stuck with me was his joke, "The great thing about America is you are free to curse the American president. You see, China is also a great place.  We too are free to curse the American president!, but really, don't go to China."

At this point, we've now exceeded our expectation of two beers, but the people are friendly, and the night is young so we stay out.  Some travelers sit down at the table next to us and we start up another conversation.  This is a group of 6 ladies mostly from the UK and one from San Francisco.  They all teach English at a local school and were taking their night off to come to the side of town that stays up late.  And with that we joined their group to bar hopping down the street.  They were a friendly and talkative  bunch, and some were quite steady drinkers apparently.  Wap disappeared at some point, but the jovial Kelvin gladly joined us as we searched for different bars.  At some point we ended up at a shady little bar with a pool table in the back, a bar in the middle, and something resembling a dance floor in the front.  It was here that we saw fit to part ways and end the night.

If you've ever watched the movie, "The Hangover" then you might have an idea of how we felt the next morning.  Except, no one was missing, there weren't any tigers in the bathroom, and there weren't bottles strewn across the floor.  So really, I guess it was nothing like the Hangover, it was just two guys waking up very hungover and in a strange new environment, and we were waking up at 4:30 PM.  We think it was the combination of drinks, new atmosphere, and jet lag, because we were much sicker than expected.  It pained us to do so, but we called downstairs asking when dinner would be served and the hostess of the hotel answered, "Good Morning!!"  Apparently she knew that we hadn't been out of the room all day.  We tried to stomach the dinner of soup, banana, and tea.  The hostess was very kind to us, but kept laughing at the long faces we had just sitting there like two corpses.  Needless to say, dinner was the only excitement of the day.

At some point last night, we did a survey of ourselves and were glad we had made it back to the hotel with our wallets.  Which was when I noticed that within the first day I had managed to have my brand new camera stolen.  While we tried to sleep all I could mutter about was losing that damn camera.  I should have known better, if it hadn't been in a pocket down near my knee, then I would have been able to keep track of it.  Oh well, live and learn.  Today, we've got an early start at 6:00 AM, and we're determined to make up for the lost day.  It's unbelievable that we are already on day 3, though we did spend one whole day sleeping.  At least we're sure not to go out drinking anytime soon!

Hopefully future posts will be shorter and with more pictures.  Though having the camera stolen made it difficult for me to post pictures of everything I've seen!  Cheers to whoever is reading!