On the train now to a city called Hue which is located in the middle of Vietnam. The hostel in Saigon booked us (traveling with someone I met at the hostel) a ticket in the sleeper car which is a room with two bunk beds so four to a room.
The train ride will take 19 hours so I should arrive tomorrow at two in the afternoon and have enough time to check into the hostel and explore the city.
Here are a few pics of the train and our room.
I just canceled my flight and hostel reservation for my first week in China so I can see more of Vietnam before entering China.
And here is why:
My original plan was to enter China from Vietnam by train however upon applying for my China visa I was told that I needed to have an inbound and outbound flight booked so I went ahead and booked a flight to Hai Nan from Saigon.
Towards the end of my stay here I realized that there were 2 more must see cities in Vietnam both of which are towards the north in the direction of the Viet-China border, so I canceled my flight, booked a train from Saigon to Hui (city 1) then from Hui to Hanoi (city 2). From Hanoi I can “easily” enter China by train en route to my first destination (I hope).
The train leaves tomorrow at 7pm and arrives the following day at 2pm so hopefully I can get some sleep before arriving.
Mekong Delta day 2
Mekong delta
Visiting Cu Chi tunnels which were used by Viet Cong during Vietnam War to hide from American soldiers.
I’m taking a break today to allow the blisters on my feet to heal, which was probably from walking a lot around Taiwan and my feet constantly sweating while outside. I started to feel them coming the 3rd day I was there but just ignored them since there was so much I wanted to see in Taiwan and I didn’t want to waste a day. Guess I should have brought moleskin!
Anyway, I had to take care of laundry and update this blog so the day wasn’t totally wasted.
Where I did my laundry, had it done within a few hours!
Iced coffee in Vietnam is really popular and quite strong so no need for Starbucks
The room I’m staying in (that’s my hairy leg!). There are two rows of three bunk beds in this room and guests are from all around the world
Today was the day I had to say goodbye to Taiwan. No more night markets with random whiffs of stinky tofu, no more bubble tea shops on every street corner selling multitudes of different flavored ice tea and smoothies, and no more Taipei 101 lighting up the downtown with its rainbow of colors.
Entering Vietnam was fairly easy since I already had a visa in hand but for those that did not, you could actually apply for a visa at the airport and get in right away.
The first thing I had to do was change my money to Vietnamese currency (dong) and without having any prior knowledge on the exchange rate, I was quite surprised to be given well over 500.000 VND (they use a decimal instead of a comma) just by converting what little money I had left in Taiwan currency. The current exchange rate is 1 USD = 21.185 VND and so far from my experience most things have I been purchasing like water and taxi rides cost around 10.000 VND to 100.000 VND. At first It’s a little hard to grasp common goods like food and beverages to be priced in the thousands but I’m sure by the time I leave I’ll have a good idea on how much things should cost.
After exchanging my money I purchased a SIM card for 200.000 VND (about $10) which would give me 1.5GB of data plus unlimited text and calling (I think). The data plan will be great for posting those must see pics right away and for maps so I can find my way around the city without needing to ask for directions.
The next challenge was to get to the hostel. I could either take the 152 bus then transfer to another bus (or walk 10 minutes) or take a taxi. I chose to take the bus which in hindsight might have not been the best decision but gave me a chance to really experience Vietnam and get me into the swing of things here.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention… I purchased a bottle of water and the cost came out to 30.000 VND which is about $1.5 USD. I think this was a little on the high side but given I was at the airport and I purchased the water from a Burger King (yes, they have BK here) I guess the price was reasonable. Keep in mind I’m still not sure how much things should cost here so as the days go by I should have a better idea on how much different things should cost.
OK, back to the bus. I got on the bus and was told the cost would be 10.000 VND but would be double since I had luggage. My luggage did take up a whole seat so I guess that’s understandable? The bus driver was unable to start the bus so he went outside to figure out the problem. A few minutes later he came back on the bus and motioned me to the back of the bus. Why did he want me to go to the back? To balance the weight? Then it looked like he wanted me to get off the bus so being extra cautious I took my luggage with me off the bus and turns out he just needed someone to help push the bus to give it a jump start. Not even 1 hour in Vietnam I’m already helping someone jump start a bus. I was finally on my way to the hostel and began to think, this is surely going to be an interesting week.
The email from the hostel indicated where to get off but since the inside of the bus didn’t display the bus stop names and it was hard to read the sign posted on each stop, I just followed my route on Google maps and figured I could get off once I was near the hostel.
Once we got closer to the hostel I got off at the nearest stop and left Google maps to guide me to the hostel. From the bus stop, the walk was only about 20 minutes but that was not left without challenge. You see, crossing the streets in Ho Chi Minh City takes a little effort since a majority of the intersections do not have stop lights so crossing the street turns into a game of Frogger. At first I was hesitant, then I saw another foreigner crossing the street who seemed to have mastered the art of street crossing.
After several levels of Frogger and all my lives in tact, I finally made it to the hostel. Yea!
Not long after checking in I got in touch with Steven (who had been working in Vietnam for a little over a year now) so we could meet up and have dinner. Steven gave me the address to his office which I then showed to the taxi driver and felt sure he knew where the place was.
After discovering that I was not the right place, thinking I could walk there then encountering an intersection that I literally spent 5 minutes trying to cross with no avail, I found another taxi and had him take me to the address Steven had given me. Yea for taxi drivers!
Steven took me to a really good Vietnamese restaurant where he ordered some beef over a vegetable I can’t remember the name of, spring rolls, and tofu. Sure I would have been ok with pho but the food here was actually really good and a great opener to Vietnamese cuisine.
Steven gave me a tour pointing out really good places to eat, coffee shops, and some other popular hot stops and we ended the night with a refreshing smoothie.
The plane!
Hello Kitty, the pilot?
Bitexco Financial Tower
Today I visited Ye Liu Geopark which is a park on the coast of Taiwan that has a bunch of rock formations, many of which look like different things such as an ice cream cone, gorilla, tofu, and the one formation you actually have to wait in line to get a picture with, the queen’s head.
From Ye Liu, I took a bus that drove along the coast to another town called Dan Shui. The only reason why I came here was to catch a boat to Fisherman’s Wharf and watch the sunset so once I arrived I purchased a roundtrip ticket to the wharf (walking would have taken an hour) then hopped on a boat that sped its way across the water to Fisherman’s Wharf.
The main attraction here is watching the sunset on the bridge but since I had plenty of time before the sun set I decided to walk around listening to street performers and taking pictures of the bridge from different vantage points.
The one in the center looks like a gorilla squatting
It’s the queen’s head!
Today I went more north to visit Ruifang, Pingxi, Jiufen, and Shifen which are cities accessible on the Pingxi railway line. Getting to the Pingxi railway line required taking a bus to Ruifang then purchasing a ticket which would allow us to get on and off the train without needing to pay each time. I went with one Singaporean that I met at the hostel and her friend that is from LA.
The first stop was a town called Jiufen which is famous for a street called Jishan Street. Jishan St is a maze of alleyways with shops spaced so close only leaving enough room for yet another alleyway. Getting lost here was fun because each shop was unique with different trinkets and snacks to try.
The next stop was Ping Xi which is a little town also with shops but the main attraction in Ping Xi is writing your wishes on a lantern and watching it float into the sky. I wrote down a few common phrases that I “somewhat” remembered how to write then I resorted to copying phrases that were posted on sample lanterns.
The final stop was Shi Fen which isn’t even worth mentioning since the main attraction there, a waterfall, was not even…well..I’m not sure what it was “not”. On? Working? Visible? Anyway, we didn’t see Shi Fen’s famous waterfall.
Writing my wishes on a lantern. I wrote something about peace, health, doing well, the usual stuff people write
There goes our lantern of wishes!
The bridge at Shi Fen leading us to the nonexistent waterfall
