My First Impressions of Vietnam

I’ve dreamed of writing this post for years.

I’m actually, finally in another country.

I had originally thought that I’d end up writing it on the plane, but it turned out that I had nothing to say. To be honest, I still don’t – it’s hard to believe I’m actually here. I’m sitting at my desk at my new apartment writing this, and from here, I see smoke billowing from a tower in the distance, testament to the amount of industry that takes place here in the city.

I’m in a town called Bien Hoa, found about 25 km outside of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). It’s a smaller, quieter town, but the sound of motorbike horns punctuates the air every few seconds. There are at least two roosters in a pen outside my window who crow all throughout the day. My apartment is right above one of the main streets of the city, and a busy, bustling market lies directly outside the door of the building. All of the sounds blend together in the background, and I find myself a bit surprised at how fascinating even the mundane is.

Kendly, one of my new friends here in Vietnam, took me out on her motorbike this morning, and I got to experience the chaotic dance of traffic here for the first time (the streets were empty by the time my flight landed last night.) We wove in and out of traffic, just another of a thousand motorbikes accelerating and braking and tooting the horn everywhere we went. We stopped at a roadside stall for breakfast, which consisted of rice and eggs with grilled fish and fresh vegetables, as well as iced tea.

Afterward, Kendly took me to a shop to exchange my US currency for Vietnamese dong, and that’s when I realized I have absolutely no idea how money works here. It’s going to take some time to get used to the new amounts and what each bill goes for. I also stopped at a phone shop and purchased a new SIM card for my phone, which allows me to use 3G and make calls within Vietnam.

The Apartment

My apartment itself is quite big. It’s a two-bedroom, two bathroom apartment that comes pre-furnished, but the furnishings themselves are pretty bare. To the right of the entryway is the desk I’m working from, and I also have a couch and love seat with a small coffee table. My kitchen has a table and a set of four chairs, and there is a TV stand here, but no TV. That’s alright, though – why do I need a TV when I’ve got a brand new country to explore?

The showers themselves are interesting. There’s no delineation between the rest of the bathroom and the shower; the water flows out of the faucet and directly into the rest of the bathroom, where it drains into a grate in the center of the floor. It’s very efficient, and although I haven’t yet learned how to actually turn on the hot water, the cool temperature feels great in this humidity.

I spent most of this morning organizing, unpacking, and making the apartment feel more like home. The afternoon was spent dozing in the bedroom, trying to strike a balance between napping and the urge to sleep like the dead – the jetlag is rough! Right now, it’s 6:44 PM, and I’m getting ready to go out for dinner and to the supermarket so I can buy a few necessities for the apartment. Vietnam isn’t what I expected – it’s so much more than that, and this is just the beginning.