lines are for suckers

I've only been here for 2 days but it feels much longer. I'm getting accustomed real fast to good ol' Vietnam. I think part of it is due to the my aunties and uncles being so chill. I had fun spending time with them talking smack and laughing at how my family in the states are so worrisome/ridiculous all the time. It's a huge relief on my part to be around family who are actually relaxed and semi-supportive. No one has called me fat yet, not to my face anyway, though everyone has commented on how they thought I would be taller "like an American" and didn't expect me to be so dark/light. I had a good time laughing at those things. My feelings aren't hurt (so far) and I'm glad.

Where should I start describing this place? So much has changed over the past 10 years, I find myself reminiscing the good ol' time and amazed at the setting that replaced it. Ahhh so much to say. Alright, I'll try to go in a chronological order.

Last few things about Beijing:

The few last hours in Beijing went my fast. I spent of the time skyping with my ex-Summit ladies while people watching/movie- watching/being one of the few female among the mass of Chinese male flyers. I discovered another noodle shop in the airport on my way to my gate and just had to try it. I mean, the slogan of the shop was "A Good Bowl of Noodles" so how can I resist? I had the noodles with pickled veggies and bean curds. It wasn't bad but wasn't also impressing or anything, except that it was surprisingly spicy. I am usually not shy about spicy food, but for an average eater, this might cause some hurting, and it didn't even look spicy or dangerous! I didn't fall asleep at the shop after I ate this time haha.

On my way back to the gate from the noodle shop, I ran into a group of Vietnamese tourists visiting Beijing waiting for the as mine. How did I find out about these folks these last minutes? The group of auties and uncles set up camp at the gate and gambled to kill time. Of course I had to take a picture, so I sneaked one. They were hardcore. Gambling blood runs deep in us Viets, I'm finally seeing it now.

After a very long and bright day because the airport pretty much composed of glass, the sun finally went away. Look at that glowing ball of fire. How ridiculous is that? So much fire and brightness. Who likes these kind of things??

It got cold pretty fast after the sun went away, a shuttle came to take us to the airplane. It was a small domestic one, so we had to get out and walk up to it. One again, the concept of standing in line is a strange one in this scenario. A few smarter folks (present company included) decided that it was best to just be the last to get on and avoid being push around. I went through some additional custom before the last flight, as I am rushing to get my shit together to get to my flight, a worker said something to me in Mandarin. I gave him another "uhh...ummm" and in English he said, "don't worry." For some reason, I imagined him to break out a "relax, don't do it" song/dance number. That would totally make China memorable for me.

The motherland at last:

It was about 2 am when I finally set foot in Vietnam, and I was the only one who needed to get my land visa. I had a post a while back about the visa semi-worrying about it, but the entire process was painless and anti-climatic, thought the Vietnamese airport people took up 2 whole pages in my passport, and that's just for entrance! The Chinese airport people also took over a whole page. I have a feeling that I might need more pages add in after this trip. This is when I finally really appreciate being bi-lingual, as from experience in China, people who work at airport do speak English, but minimal, and since I am Asian, they would assume that I speak their native language.

My uncles picked me up from the airport and we drove through the sleeping city of Saigon. We went through streets I don't particularly recognize because I probably never went by there, but the first feeling I had was how shrunken everything seem. It's amazing how one's perspective of the world changes over time without the self realizing it. It is only because I haven't these sceneries in so many years that I can see how different the world is in a child's eyes vs. an adult. Globalization also plays a part of this I am sure, more people are trying to make a living and set up shops crowding the city streets. More non-two wheelers are now roaming the streets and the number of motorbikers seem to multiplied five times or more over this past decade.

The drivers here are crazy, not in a lunatic way, but in a super skilled way, little motorbikes co-existing along big trucks and cars weaving their ways in and out of traffic smoothly without a care in the world. These people can ride in the opposite flow of traffic if they feel like it. Cars are free go to the opposite lanes to pass each other, at certain time of the night, traffic lights in the city only shows flashing yellow so drivers don't have to wait or stop. There are no stop signs at any intersections so drivers would honk (or my uncle did) as they drive by. All these are in the city, in the country, the etiquettes are even more relaxed. I think it's safe to say that Asians drivers here aren't bad, they just know what to do to get where they need to go to, it's only when they use the same tricks in lawful America that shits don't go down so well lol.

Vietnam only has one high way connecting the North and South, its name is High Way 1 (haha). So travelers making the move between any regions go through it everyday, so imagine the traffic that it endures every day. It calls a highway, but actually is more like a really long street. Lots of people and houses live along side so close to the street especially during parts going through a certain city or town, and so even though the distance between places aren't that far, it takes a much longer time to get there. We drove for about 3-4 hours to get to the country from the city but the actually drive without traffic I think could probably be about 1 to 2 hours.

Anywho, I am definitely not a person of few words. More to come!