Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh, the Mekong, Mui Ne & Dalat

Peeps Kelsay
Aug 15, 2012
2 min read

The Lower Mekong River Delta, Vietnam

After teaching half a year as a rookie EFL instructor for the Seoul Ministry of Education I got my first real vacation time in August of that year. I decided to fly down to Vietnam and meet up with one of my best friends, Yoshi Wara of the Wara Land Hotel (don't ask) and his girlfriend at the time, Nicky Sue. I got into Ho Chi Minh around 1 am and had to haggle for a ride into the city with the slew of rough and tumble looking sleazy drivers out front of the hotel. Intimidating to say the least. It was my first time in SE Asia and I was wearing my naivete on my sleeve. They could smell the money on me and they were hungry.

But here I was in SE Asia traveling footloose, Han Solo-ing for the first time and it felt fucking good. Untethered from everything. I had enough in my wallet to sustain a few forays into the unknown, yet I didn' know what I was in for. I had no idea my credit cards would be blocked. I had no idea. BUt I was finally on that crazy SE Asian traveling expereince that I had spent so much time idly daydreaming about and it was everything that I expected it to be like and yet not at all anything like I expected. It aint't no Hawaii. This ain't Kansas. It's heap but sometimes the service is spotty. First lesson you learn in SE Asia. Second lesson, you haggle for everything. Even that cheap meal will be doubled if your not ready and have your wits about you. The people are great though, for the most part. They have a rich nuanced culture in Vietnam and are eager to please foreign visitors. Most likely because they see a dollar sign attached to your white sun burnt face but regardless, they're pleasant - for the most part.

Annoyances:

broken English expressions how many near misses on the highway

blind overtakes on bridges in grid-locked traffick

pinch points

the non-sensical hurried rush to get to every place we were going

scooter conferences in the middle of every rotary or roundabout

overly liberal horn usage