unexciting shoes, a first world problem.

Goodness gracious, all this student loans is cramping my style. If I stay on schedule, I can pay that shit off in 10 years. Yay.

On other news, even if I'm poor, having my own living space again is so worth it. Plenty of sitting around naked time (haha just kidding... maybe) and plenty of room to toss my shit around. Life of solitude is quiet nice. My land lady's poodle is the most and only frequent visitor in my bed room, and even then, my carpet gets more action since the dog likes to rub itself on it. 

Moving on to the good/main stuff. Shoes. Despite only having two feet, any girl would agree that we can never have enough shoes. At least a pair for every occasion and more if we're lucky.

For Peace Corps, shoes are just as important because walking is inevitable and good feet support is a must. Previous and current PC all recommend the newbies to bring at least a pair of Chacos/Teva/Keen for their two years.

Initially, I didn't want to after seeing how expensive and ugly they are, but after some consideration, such as my current flip flops/sandals don't give me that much support or cushion and they are not made for beat up dirt road, I'm giving in and am not shopping for a decent pair. The good thing is, I get about 40-50% off on the account of being a Peace Corps volunteer, the bad thing is, did I mention how unattractive they are?

Under normal circumstances, "shoes shopping" would totally excite me, but looking at these guys, this is soooo not the case. Wah.

Chacos, spells like tacos but chuglier.

1. Chaco: They are supposed to be really good for your feet and all that jazz but on top of them being super expensive ($90 to $100+ a piece) they are also pretty much the least unflattering kind of shoes I have ever seen. Not at much as Uggs though, but still. I'm all about spending good money on good shoes, but they would have at least be good looking too. I spent an hour looking at all the options and the more I look the uglier they got. I was actually having a hard time deciding which one is the uglier one.  I don't understand the differences in style or whatever because they all look alike but in different colors. People's feet look like little piglets hogged tied onto car tires by colorful but ugly ropes.

Might look decent with a skirt, no?

This design reminds me of Jason's mask in Texas Chainsaw

2. Teva: These are slightly easier in the eyes, they don't remind me of car tires, and I can actually tell the difference between each style. They are about $5-$10 cheaper than Chacos and I actually don't mind wearing them. WATSAN (Water/Health Sanitation) volunteers, i.e: me, are recommended to have some light weight hiking shoes so I am having a hard time deciding between the open toes and the closed toes shoes. I don't want any closed toes knowing how hot it's going to be, but the open toes might be dangerous for my toes in the event that I have to step into some muck/rock/swamp/whoknowswhat. Plus, the closed toes shoes seems like they would ask for socks, and for the time being, I'm really trying to avoid the socks and sandal look despite it being all the rage among tourists and travelers these days.

3. Keen: Keen is sort of like Teva, so now that makes me wonder of whether Chaco is just the ugly odd one out or is there something between Keen and Teva that I don't know about. Its price is in just about the same with the other two brands. I neither like or hate the shoes (as oppose to really dislike the looks of Chaco). This pair is being considered, it's a whopping $90. It actually looks a bit better than the Teva closed toes Jason Texas Chainsaw one in term of design. If I finally decide a closed toes pair, I might go with this.

Which would you pick?

Vietnam Recapping: Phu Quoc Island Part 1 (Super long post, you have been warned)

It is the Fourth of July, and this time last year, I was on my way back from Brazil. Today, I am staying inside trying to avoid the heat, sunshine and people. This weekend in the valley saw the temperature up to about 100+, this used to be a normal deal for me before college, but SD has spoiled me, and now, I do not go outside unless I absolutely have to or only when after the sun is down.

The three days weekend has been well spent so far, I think. I caught up on my sleep and all my shows. I got my first pay check from the job and spent it all on the same day on loan repayments and a new pair of glasses. Can't wait for two more weeks to get pay again.

Moving on, on to the recap.

April 18th-19th: Phu Quoc Island and Mekong Delta

A is where I was, and B is where the island is. Obviously... right?

The largest island in Vietnam locateing in the Gulf of Siam bordering Cambodia, Phu Quoc Island is only 50 minutes away by plane from HCM. It's famous for producing fish sauce, and stable in Vietnamese cuisine and pearls, a stable in rich house wives' wardrobes. 

As of now, Phu Quoc is still very much in the midst of development, it is not yet and hot spot for tourists and vacationers. There are only two ways of getting to Phu Quoc from the mainland, plane and boat. By boat, it takes about 2 hours on a "super speed" ferry. The price is 225,00 VND or approximately $11/$12. My 50 minutes flights was about 500,00 VND which is about $25. Anyone who wants to get into Phu Quoc has to go through Vietnam mainland first, though not for long, as an international airport is currently being build in Phu Quoc for easier access in the future. Once it's completed, travelers will no longer have to go through mainland VN to get through Phu Quoc, thus decreases the hassle of traveling by half while tourism revenue increases.

international airport in progress

Most of the island is still in its natural habitat, lots empty land and wild plants, but as my xe om (honda tax) driver/guide for the day told me, all these lands have been bought by big foreign investors companies to build golf courses and casino and resorts here. Soon enough, this place will be another Phuket or Singapore swamped with tourists looking for cheap get aways.

By this time of the trip, I have managed (thanks to my relative) to have a trusty honda taxi driver who would take me places when I give him a call. That saves me the trouble of having to bargain and get rip off every time I want to go somewhere. That morning, we left at 7am... I think (getting up early in the morning regardless of which hours all feel the same to me).

I guess he didn't have
anything else better to do

the closest to "forming a line"

airplanes

Only a handful of people, including myself were there waiting for our flights. Some were locals and a sprinkle or two of foreigners. There were three guys who spoke English, they were talking to a gentleman who seem to be a local but I later found out was a Vietnamese-American. I tried to trike up a conversation with those guys later, since after some weeks of just Vietnamese, I didn't want to complete forget all my English (it's possible, okay...), and seeing that they spoke absolutely no Vietnamese what so ever, I wanted to help. However, the guys didn't seem very much interested in talking to me at all, especially after they found out that I wasn't a local and from California. The Vietnamese-American gentleman, however, was very nice. He's  a frequent returnee who has some sort of a English school in the country and trying to teach English to the locals. He even gave me his business card in case I want to teach English in Vietnam and should contact him.

All of this was even before I got on the plane.

Only about 2/3 of the plane was full despite it being a weekend. I sat next to a seemingly proper business man who struck up a conversation with me. Before the plane even took flight, after finding out that I was traveling to Phu Quoc by myself, he suggested that we should trade phone numbers so that when we are in the island and he is done with his business, the two of us could grab some coffee together. Needless to say, that got uncomfortable real quick. I didn't really know how to refuse, so I gave him my number anyway, but ended the conversation at that. Once the seatbelt sign was off, I nonchalantly got up and moved to another empty row of seats and when the flight stopped, waited for him to get off first.

It wasn't anything that he did, but it was something in the way that the conversation went and ended up that I didn't feel comfortable with, and I didn't want to take any chances being so far away from any safety nests. The guy ended up calling me sometime later that day, I didn't pick up because I didn't hear my phone going off, but I listed him under "creepy airplane guy don't pick up" just for future reference.

Once I got off the airplane, I had a giant moment of "now what?". My planning only went as far as getting myself to the island, but I didn't plan anything else in term of hostels or transportation around. The nice Asian American guy was heading to a hotel and offered to get me a ride to the hotel so I can get a room there. Since my original plan for the trip was only to spend a day in the island and head back to the mainland later at night, I didn't want to do that. I wanted to find a ride out of the airport and check out some local sceneries.

A team of honda taxi/tour guides were outside the airport swamped over, and after a few seconds of contemplating, I agreed to a half island tour for about 400 VND, which is about $20. As the guide getting ready to get start, I joked "Please don't kidnap me and sell me to China". They didn't think it was that funny.

my blog shows up under search key word "vietnamse dicks"

... or that's what my stat monitor is telling me.

Nice.

I had a semi-venturing day in District 1 yesterday, the city's center and the nest of foreigners, backpackers and expats. I had to head up there for a meeting with my new friend C to discuss what I will be doing with Helping Hand Saigon for the weekend. I had been wanting to head up to Distric 1 to check out the tourist scenery since I've been chilling on the local side all this time. So this was the perfect excuse to test the water since I am still feeling uneasy about heading out around town on my own.

I had my aunty dropped me off at the cafe where C and I are meeting. (when was the last time I needed a relative to drop me off anywhere haha?) I arrived 20-30 minutes before the meeting time so I took the chance to walk up and down the street the coffee shop is at. It's a completely different feel than the other areas in the city. I'm not sure how to describe it, but for some reason, I felt like I blend in/don't matter there. I don't feel people's eyes on me since they are either used to the sight of tourists or are more distracted by people looking more touristy than me.

Anyway, I head into the coffee shop after walking up and down the street like an idiot holding on to my helmet (that's a story for a different day) and went in for a drink to wait for my friend. This began my discovery of how prices in D.1 is so much more expensive than prices in all the other areas around due to the heavy tourists flow. Such is an iced tea costing 15,000 Dong while you can get the same thing for about 1,000 Dong or less somewhere else. One dollar is about 20,500 Dong right now. The cafe's name is Sozo and is apparently owned by a French of Germany lady.

Sozo cafe's upstair view

C and I talked about HHS for a bit and we talked about hanging out for the rest of the night but wanted to wait until the sun is down so it's cooler to be outside. To kill time C asked me to teach her Vietnamese. She is the Belgium friend I made two days ago. I taught her a few things while the cafe is slowly filled with university students. Apparently, Thursday and Friday nights are for English clubs so we left after it started and met up with some friends from our own English Club and went to another cafe.

I took the opportunity here to snap some more pictures while I'm out and some more when we walked around looking for food. I hung out with more locals who aren't relatives or old friends and it was quite an experience. One told me that he doesn't feel as nervous speaking English to me as he does when he speaks to a foreigner. I guess I have a calming effect on people hahaha. Nah, it was probably because the local mentality here still hold foreigners quite a bit apart from themselves. They either love foreigners for their money, hate foreigners for the customs or just completely don't/don't want to understand that non-Asian people are people too. Anyway, here are some tourist pics:

Not sure what these two buildings are for but they're prominant in District 1

Entering District 1 and the iconic Ben Thanh Market that requires ridiculous bargaining skills

I took this pic by accident, but I think less people should call me fat especially if there are chubby people around here too. Glass houses man, better watch out


Streets bustling with tourists, ridiculous electrical wires and cars without lanes