Brief Guide In Becoming a Local Vietnamese (First Day of South East Asia Trip)

Today marked the first day of my 30 days backpack around South East Asia. So far I am still able to stick to schedule and write at least one blog post per day.

Let’s hope this trend continue!

At The Airport

Done some writings while sipping Coffee Bean Americano. Made some last minute calls before departure too.

Wrote down some address for people who are expecting postcards from me. Hey If you feeling lucky maybe you can send me your address – who knows I feel generous at times and I might send you a postcard!

The Flight to Vietnam

I sat the the last row and a heavyweight lady was sitting beside me.

Imagine I am already big sized, and her thigh fats “overflowed” to my seat and raised the handle bar in between the seat.

The 2 hours flight wasn’t too pleasant ^^;

And she shakes her legs whenever she’s having food and I woke up from nap few times because of that. Heh it feels like a dog wiggle the tail the food is served LOLOLOL.

Special effect that made possible with only a lens with retract problem^^;

This is my second camera that has lens problem… in 3 days. Luckily with a finger flip of the lens, it’s still fully functional.

Touch Down at Vietnam Airport

When we see the land, it was greenish land – few more kilometres, there’s high rise every where.

Taking The Public Bus and The Vietnam Traffic

We are feeling adventurous so we took public bus instead of taxi. Paid USD$1 for the ride so the driver drops us at exact location.

The traffics are harmonious in many ways, why I said that? It’s because there’s minimal of traffic lights and motorcycles are crossing zigzag and each other.. they never bump into each other. Soon I learned that each motorcyclists only LOOK AT FRONT. If they do turns by looking at behind, they will never cross a single road.

“Where is the bus?”

While exchanging currency at airport, we asked where’s the bus stop.. and they say “YES!”. We asked where is the bus stop, she answerd “THAI BAHT?”. We immediately know we are in deep trouble. hahahhaa.

The Mini Market

We wanted to buy shampoo and instant noodle so we buffed up our balls to buy some groceries. First time purchase in Vietnamese Dong so the many 000000 confuses us for a bit.

The Currency

We are getting use to the currency. 100,000 Dong exchange for RM15.

Meet Pham, Our First “Couch Surf” Host

Meet Pham, we are staying at her guest room for few days. She is friendly and provides us first class hospitality for only $12 a night! She brought us around her neighbourhood and have some simple (yet awesome) food. Can’t remember the name of the dish so I’m just going to show you the photos.

Vietnamese 猪肠粉

Beef Noodle (Pho!)

General Rules of Thumb for Roadside Food

• No ice
• No raw vegetable
• No cold food

… and we broke it all in first day of arrival.

I love it when there’s a stall every 2-3 shop lots. Not many choices of food but it’s every where so it’s impossible to get hungry here. The photo above is the lady hawker sitting on a short tool making layers and layers of 猪肠粉.

Time to Go Yum Cha!

We decided to do what the locals do. We saw the locals sit by the roadside….. and do nothing.

WHAT?! their yum cha level is another level man!

We Malaysian at least sit inside a safe proximity area and have fans and tv etc. The Vietnamese just sit by busy roadside, put up a 2-3 short tools, and just sit there… and look at the motor cyclists. FAMILY TIME!

How To Order Coffee (Without Speaking Any Foreign Language)

Walked up to the stall, said “Coffee! Kopi!” she shrugged shoulder and spoke Vietnamese.

I take out something black and point at it, make a bitter face so it symbolize coffee (black + bitter = coffee. Geddit?). She took out Coke.

So I do what the deaf people do…. I walked behind her stall and open the cupboard myself, and finally found COFFEE. Point at it, make a “peace sign” (which means two hahahah).

Road Crossing 101 in Vietnam

It’s crucial to know how to cross the road of Vietnam or else you will forever stand in the same spot.

There’s only one thing you must do… WALK STRAIGHT WITHOUT LOOKING LEFT RIGHT. The cyclists will dodge you! If you head beep beep maybe you can slow down a bit you continue walking after they drove past you.

We crossed the road total 5 times today and we are lucky we’re still alive. Achievement!

Remember – do what the locals do.

9,000 Dong (RM1.35) For a Can of Cold Beer?!

When you come Vietnam, you must drink beer. The beer I bought is called “Ba Ba Ba”, which means 3-3-3. It’s easy to buy beer here – you walk into any convenient shop, says “bababa”, then show how many cans using your finger – you’re DONE!

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