It's been a few days, I thought I would check in. Thanks to the 11 hour time difference and my lack of self-control, I am still dealing with jet lag, so that has hindered both my sanity and my motivation to really go out and experience everything. I am really over being an American vampire.
Here are a few things that I've learned and/or noticed so far:
1. Nobody walks/Motorbikes reign supreme.
Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of people milling around from market to market, but they aren't going very far. They certainly aren't trekking for a few miles. Practically everyone rides on a motorbike. I thought this was strange at first, but now I get it. It is SO HOT here. I got exhausted and sweaty walking everywhere in the heat. I have started grabbing a xe om (motorbike taxi) to get around and things have gotten so much easier. Or rather, I am still really bad with the language barrier, so I have opted to use "Grab" instead. Grab is a smartphone app similar to Uber. You can choose to hail a taxi or motorbike with your smartphone, choose your route on the maps function, and you can pay through the app so you don't have to deal with the currency at all. It gets rid of the haggling aspect of the Xe Om while simultaneously being much cheaper. Note that catching a Xe Om is not expensive to begin with. My first ride cost 50,000 VND or $2.24 USD. By comparison, a similar ride on Grab during non-peak hours might cost around $1 to $1.75. Just in case this all sounds so suave and adventurous to you, I will fully admit that I was TERRIFIED of the bikes until a wonderful expat talked me into getting on a bike, communicated with the driver for me, AND paid for my first ride since I was bumbling around with my money so much. I was so shaken I couldn't even take my own helmet off after the ride.
2. The traffic is terrifying.
Duh, right? I knew this was coming, because it is the first thing that everyone who has ever been to HCMC has told me. I guess this could really be a subsection of #1, but HOLY SHIT. There is no understating how insane the traffic is without being in it. Stoplights are few and far between and they are kind of like suggestions that most, but not all, follow. Motorbikes bob and weave randomly into any empty space on the streets and lanes are pretty much meaningless in some places. Pedestrians (human, canine, and feline alike!) walk straight into the street and somehow don't get hit. In a way, it is a little less scary than the US because I do not get the impression that the drivers are on their phone and/or drunk out of their mind, but it is unnerving to be in a state of near-collision all the time. Since I was so terrified of the Xe Om the first day, and the actual car taxi drivers I encountered often didn't recognize the address of my hotel, I had to get used to crossing the street right away. My new habits might kill me when I get back to the states.
3. The food is amazing.
The main way I have fed myself is by pointing at things other people are eating or by pointing at menus. Everything I have eaten has been a surprise, because I effectively had no say of what actually went into it. The most mysterious meal I had was the first night, when I pointed at a menu that had no photos on it and got something that looked like rice with some kind of rubbery meat on it. I think it might have been seafood of some sort, but I can't be sure. It was really spicy and tasted phenomenal. It also only cost me $3 and it was a big enough portion that I couldn't finish it. Unfortunately, whether from anxiety or this horrific jet lag, I haven't really had my normal appetite. When it returns, though, I am going to eat every unfamiliar food in sight.
4. I packed badly.
People dress like ninjas here, at least that I've seen so far. Long sleeves, long pants, hats, and pollution masks while they ride their motorbike. I have a whole suitcase full of clothes I feel uncomfortable wearing. My shorts are too short, my shirts show too much skin, and my whole wardrobe just draws more attention than I am comfortable with. I am not about to take fashion advice from the local women around here (there's lots of strange pattern outfits that fit like hospital scrubs here), but I wish I'd packed more modestly. I thought there was no way that anyone was actually wearing sweatshirts and long pants in 90 degree heat. I was wrong.
5. I have no idea WTF I am doing.
No really. I am alone (pretty much), completely adrift, and am experiencing culture shock. I would love if I could just look at things as they are, but I naturally have to compare absolutely everything to what I already know. I am not an excellent communicator even when I have English at my disposal, but I am hopeless when a language barrier is in place. I've lived with myself for 25 years, I have expected this. But there's that tricky space in between knowing something intellectually and actually dealing with it. It's like if there was a deep sea fish, probably living her normal life at at a couple thousand feet under the sea, going to her deep sea fish job, attending deep sea fish music festivals dating her deep sea fish boyfriend. The fish reads like, a couple books and checks out The Lonely Planet's entry on The Surface and decides to go live there by herself, but the change in atmospheric pressure has her all stretched out on the verge of exploding. (That botched metaphor sounded better in my head). What I mean to say is, I am all over the place. I'm so exhausted, lonely, and overwhelmed and just want to chill out somewhere but I also feel this pressure to go see ALL THE THINGS because this is the one time I get to explore and do all of this.
I am not including this last part for pity, but just for honesty's sake. I would hate to give a false impression should anyone read this blog and decide that they also want to potentially explode. I am sure that some people could show up in Saigon, instantly hop on a motorbike and see all the sights and make lots of interesting friends, but I am also equally certain that I am not an aberration. It will get better for me, considering that every day I have become more and more comfortable. Also, my CELTA class starts tomorrow and I will no longer have free time for angst.
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