Friday 28 February 2014

Surviving Vietnam - Part 1

So our first two weeks have been a roller coaster ride consisting of emotions, enjoyment, stress, being ripped-off, scooting around, getting super lost, eating different things, applying for MILLIONS of jobs, drinking beer, walking, traffic, moving hotels, asking advice, not being understood, job interviews, demo lessons and tough decisions. We expected to hit the ground running, but essentially 'hurry-up and waited' to get a break. So we thought that we would dedicate a post to anybody who is thinking of coming to Vietnam, as a tourist or a prospective teacher.

Firstly, the pre-trip admin:

Get yourself a Lonely Planet! Then...

Visiting Vietnam is really not that difficult, but you will need the essentials similar to visiting other countries. The first is your passport (logically). It must be up-to-date, and cannot expire within 6 months of arrival in Vietnam. This is a relatively easy process now that South African Home Affairs have some sort of a system.

Next you will need to buy some air tickets (unless you're a pirate and are happy to navigate your way by sea like Captain Jack Sparrow - please note that this may be a longer journey than the arial option). We used a very helpful website called Hipmunk (http://www.hipmunk.com) which conveniently provides all of the airlines which fly to any country, and ranks them by price, most direct, quickest, stop-overs, you name it! It is also a good idea to do some of your own investigating on the internet (most airlines have comprehensive websites and you can plot your journey online). Be sure to play around with the dates, because this can drastically adjust the price of the ticket.

Right, so you have your passport and you have your ticket. Now you just need to make sure you are at the airport on time and its a happy little trip, right? WRONG! You will need to organise a visa to get into Vietnam, otherwise it could end up being a very expensive visit to Saigon International Airport (assuming of course that you land in Ho Chi Minh City). Applying for a visa is simple. There are many online companies which will organise your visa approval letter in two days. If you just google, you will find a list to choose from (Lonely Planet suggests some specific ones). This step will cost you, and your nationality will determine just how much. There are also different options (e.g. 1 month single entry, 3 months single entry, 3 months multiple entry, tourist or business, etc...) and the prices are different for each type of visa too. In two days time, you should receive a scanned copy of your visa approval letter (your name will appear along with various other people's who applied at the same time). It is important that you print a clear copy of this and take it with you on your flight.

You would think that the visa process would be over once you have received your visa approval letter, but it is not. You will also need two 4cm x 6cm passport photos to go along with your approval letter. Keep all of these pages/pictures in an easily accessible place for when you land.

The next step is to find a place to stay for your first night. Use Trip Advisor (www.tripadvisor.com) to find a hotel or guest house that is within your budget. Most of the hotels in District 1 are between $10 and $20 USD for the room, for a night. They usually have wifi, a TV, aircon, a fan and a fridge. Don't expect a nice, soft bed or pillow! People pay at the end of their stay, and there are no deposits required for most hotels.

Ok, so you have your passport, air ticket, visa approval letter with two photos and you know where you are going to stay for the first few nights. Your pre-trip admin is almost over. The penultimate step is to convert some money. The currency in Vietnam is the Vietnamese Dong (heehee) - or VND. The problem when trying to convert Rand to Dong (stop giggling!) is that you can only get VND in Vietnam, and they aren't too familiar with the Rand in Vietnam. So what you need to do is convert your precious Rands into US Dollars (you suddenly feel very poor and wonder what happened to all of your hard earned savings). Taking Dollars to Vietnam is the best option, because they are easily convertible, and recognisable by the Vietnamese locals. You will need your air ticket to convert currency, that is why the order makes so much sense.

Lastly, you need to pack. Now, instinct would tell you to pack loads of summer clothes and a few jerseys for 'incase it gets cold'. Your instinct is only partially correct. You see, it's hot here - and pretty consistent. Even when the sun goes down, the drop in temperature is not very much. So, our advice would be to save the space in your bags where your jerseys (and other clothes for cold weather) would've gone, and replace that space with precious goodies from South Africa specially for us - email us to find out specific items. We know that these clothes take up more space than summer clothes, so you will have loads of space for our goodies - no skimping!

You are now ready for your trip to Vietnam, admin wise - nothing that we tell you will be able to fully prepare you for what lies ahead (but know that it is awesome!).

(Please note: This is part 1 in our 'Surviving Vietnam' series)

Monday 24 February 2014

Learner driver

So Mel is officially a learner scooter driver! We went out to a very quiet neighbourhood in District 7 with no one on the roads and she drove for the first time, whoop whoop. After a few more practice sessions, maybe we'll head out to the bustling streets. Maybe.


Before that we had yet another lovely baguette in what is fast becoming our favourite spot in our local park. Ho Chi Minh is full of lovely parks that have beautiful flowers and are kept very clean. With only a few of the outer lying Districts having space for gardens, it's imperative to have good parks. The local schools also use them for their PE lessons since a lot of the schools are in high-rise buildings.

Cheese, lettuce, cucumber, avo and chilli sauce baguette

Our bench

Lots of lovely trees for much needed shade


Our evening meal was had on the side of the road just down the road from our hotel. Ross had shrimp and macaroni (mac 'n cheese craving anyone?) and Mel had shrimp and rice. Both were delicious and super cheap! After that, we went to the rooftop bar that we went to with Craig on Saturday night, it was just as beautiful as last time.



Road-side restaurant


The rooftop view. We definitely need to go back with our camera (not just
our cell phones) to capture the night lights properly.


Sunday 23 February 2014

Some eating and a lot of drinking

So the last few days have been much of the same... wake up, apply for a bunch of jobs, find some food and drink some beer.

The parks are full of random exercise equipment. You see people in all sorts
of attire doing their daily exercise all over the city!


Lunch in the park

Laughing cow cheese, cucumber and lettuce rolls - yum!


The Opera House. When funds allow it we'll definitely have to come and see
a show.

The old and the new. 

On Saturday, we thought we would find some open space and go and visit the botanical gardens and Zoo. After finding our way there quite easily (we're starting to get to know District 1 better), we parked our scooter and bought a ticket. The place was packed! Half of the city had the same idea as us! It was still lovely to see some green and some animals - a little (very little) taste of home. The zoo isn't in the best condition so it was a bit sad to see some of the animals, but it was still a lovely afternoon. On our way out we saw a bar called 'Vuvuzela'. We had to stop for a drink!

Acrobats performing at the zoo. There was also a magician
and a singer.




Ross the giraffe

Chicken and noodles for lunch. We also sampled Vietnamese ice-tea for the
first time (it's super cheap, only 2,000 dong, about R1) 

Any bears in the cave??

'Goldilocks' and the three bears



Elephant shaped bushes. The Vietnamese sure seem to love their topiary!

We had to stop here!

We each ordered a beer, Mel won!

That afternoon, we made our way across to the University to see what the rugby club was all about. We met Craig there and the guys had a good run around. The sweltering heat and lack of recent exercise meant that they were both exhausted after 2 hours of intense touch rugby. Afterwards, we met some very nice guys and did a bit of networking. Everyone reassured us that we'll definitely find jobs soon, so more hurry up and wait! What was quite encouraging is that we seem to be ahead of the curve in terms of getting familiarised with the city - we found the rugby club in week 1 (it usually takes 'newbies' a few months to find out about it), we have ourselves a scooter and we are riding around a lot and we have already sent our CVs to the better known (and better to work at) schools around the city.

We had our first taste of night time riding on our way back to the hotel, and didn't find it too terrifying (it helps that we have become a little more orientated). We had a delicious dinner from a street side vender (fried macaroni with shrimp and veg) and then met Craig for a beer. We went to an awesome roof top restaurant (why didn't we know about this on Thursday night???), where the staff were friendly, the beers were cold (and cheap) and the view was beautiful. We couldn't stay there too long, because the Sharks vs. Hurricanes game was being shown at a pub down the road and we didn't want to miss that. It turned out to be a festive night and we only got back to our hotel after the Lions vs. Stormers game (at 3 o'clock in the morning!).

On Sunday we had a well needed sleep-in. Once we had dragged ourselves out of bed, we went into the streets and bought a delicious baguette which we ate in a nearby park. We went for a walk to explore some of the blocks around us that we hadn't seen yet, and just to get out of our little hotel room before cabin fever set in. We went to the market and bought some fresh produce before heading back to base.

Our first week in Vietnam is virtually behind us. It has provided us with many fantastic memories already, and these two little birdies can't wait to see what Week Two has in store!

Thursday 20 February 2014

The one with a dragon, a scooter, and a cocktail as 'big' as a shooter

After a lazy morning of making sure that our CVs were up to date and writing cover letters, we set off in search of some schools to drop everything off with. We spent our first half an hour at a copy shop trying to get our newly updated CVs printed and then proceeded to walk to where we thought we should go. We soon realised that the night before we were right by our hotel and instead of turning right we turned left! Two hours of walking could have been avoided but as Ross kept saying, "it's all part of the experience".

We met a lovely man along our walk who placed his heavy load of coconuts onto Ross's shoulder and told me to take a photo. He then quickly opened two coconuts, placed straws in them and gave them to us. Before we knew it we were being charged a rather large amount for coconuts that we didn't want! We were scammed yet again! Next time we'll definitely be more street smart (haha).

Sneaky coconut seller

We found were we thought we needed to be but saw a man dressed very smartly and decided that we definitely weren't dressed appropriately to go and hand out our CVs. So we went to the nearest supermarket to explore and decided that it was a walk worth taking as now we knew where we needed to go the next day. We managed to find water in the supermarket for a third of the price that we were paying in our hotel and on the streets, score! Now we know where to buy our water.

On our way back to the hotel we walked through a park which was full of men and children all playing a version of hacky sack that uses a shuttlecock-type-of-thing. There were also a bunch of random sculptures but no explanation to be found on what they were about or why they were there. This seems to be a trend in Vietnam, beautiful / random things scattered around for no apparent reason.

Random statue 
A dragon bush guarding the temple in the park

A temple in the public park

Now, knowing our way home, we decided to venture back to the market for lunch. We had a delicious (and cheap) meal of shrimp (prawns) and vermicelli (noodles). 

The 'restaurant' in the market

Deeeelish! We'll definitely go back to this place

That evening, we were met by one of Ross's friends from Howick, Craig Sharratt. We went and had some drinks with him around the corner and he definitely made us feel at ease in this crazy city by answering our questions and reassuring us that we were definitely in the right place.

On Thursday morning (happy birthday Mel!), we decided to try our hand at scooting through the streets. It's way cheaper to hire a scooter for a month than day-by-day and we figured we'd get the hang of it sooner or later, so sooner it was. After giving over copies of our passports and drivers licences we zoomed away on our black and lime green scooter. Ross manoeuvred through the streets like a boss, remembering to stick to the right-hand side of the road, not the left like back home! Mel navigated, map in one hand and clinging on tightly with the other as we wound our way into the ends of District 1 to look at an apartment. We aren't sure where we want to live as it will all depend on where we get jobs and we are quite happy in our hotel for the moment (we moved into a new one this morning, we negotiated a nice price), but we decided to start looking just to be able to compare and know what is out there.

Fulling up our scooter with fuel

After our adventure in town, we thought that massages were definitely in order! We both went for a 40 minute full body massage, bliss, well most of the time. There were a few techniques (such as punching our arms and legs) that we weren't familiar with and aren't such huge fans of, but never the less they were extremely reasonable (even with the large tip they demanded) and very relaxing. A wonderful birthday treat that will definitely have to be repeated!

The evening saw us seeking out some beverages and good food. We managed to find beer for 10,000 Dong (about R5!!), very nice price. We also decided to try out the Beef Pho. Ross enjoyed it, Mel on the other hand wasn't a fan! The meat is boiled which just isn't great, it also lacked the layers of flavour that our previous meals had.

Cheeeeeap beer


Beef Pho. Definitely sticking to chicken next time

Busy, busy street


We walked back down the busy street to the cocktail bar that we had seen earlier. Two for one after 9pm! We soon discovered that it's way better to stick to the streets than fancy cocktail lounges as the drinks were teeny tiny and super expensive! So our cocktails were quickly downed (well sipped since they were so small) and we made our way across the road to the supermarket in search of a snack. We found some chips and cold milo... R6 for a cup! This could be the end of our savings.

All in all it was a wonderful day and a great way to spend a birthday abroad.



Some interesting options on their menu.

Teeny tiny Mimosa

Ross and his Brandy Alexander

Crazy traffic!


Yeah and we have to try and drive in that!

Wednesday 19 February 2014

We took a tour, we got a little lost.

Warning: This is a very long post so get comfortable!

On Tuesday morning we woke up ready to explore the massive expanse which we find ourselves in, that way we can start familiarising ourselves with the city and see some of the culture of Vietnam. We packed a bag and started off down the alley on our first, epic expedition into Ho Chi Minh City. We made it all of 30 meters when we saw a sign advertising guided tours around the city - a fantastic option for two wide-eyed, bushy-tailed and overwhelmed village folk from Howick. We met our tour guide, Quan, who preferred to be called Jacky (pronounced Jack-ay) after his idol, Jacky Chan. We were a group of 5 on the tour, and our first stop was The War Remnants Museum.

Along the way, in the mini van, Jacky tried to distract us with his likeable charm, as his colleague navigated the chaotic frenzy of scooters and taxis surging along the road. He told us interesting facts about his beloved city, like the fact that there are roughly 10 million people living in Ho Chi Minh and about 6 million scooters on its roads - that explains some things. We made it to the museum reasonably quickly, payed our entrance fee (not included in the cost of the tour) and began exploring the museum. It is a very graphic and emotional experience which really highlights the evils which America was guilty of committing in this country. Sadly, no real explanation is given as to why the war happened in the first place, and there is no real record of what the Vietnamese did to the Americans.

The view from our balcony

The power lines are insane! Live wire everywhere

Yes, people do really wear these hats

War Remnants Museum 

The people of Vietnam love their coffee, and our tour included a visit to a little coffee shop for a tasting of their pride and joy - Weasel Coffee. This is super expensive coffee, and apparently we are very fortunate to be tasting it for free. On the way, Jacky explained why Weasel Coffee is so expensive. You see, the weasels (well, civets really) eat the fruit off of the coffee bush, digest it and yup... poo out the coffee beans - delightful! Jacky assured us that the beans are scrubbed thoroughly once they are sifted out of the poo, and before they are ground up for our enjoyment. We arrived at the little coffee shop and were each given exactly half a sip of this Weasel Coffee to taste with condensed milk. It was very nice, but it also wasn't worth the $8 for 100g that the shop was selling it for. Terbodore would definitely take our vote over Weasel Coffee any day!

Weasel coffee poster

Our next stop was The Chinese Temple. The Chinese have been in Vietnam for thousands of years, and have kitted themselves out quite nicely. The temple is a work of art, and the detail is unbelievably intricate.

Thien Hau Temple

Thien Hau Temple

Thien Hau Temple

The Chinese Market

We then ventured over to the next Chinese strong hold - China Town. Like most big cities in the world, HCMC has a pretty large, pretty overpopulated free-for-all that is their China Town. We were given 40 minutes to wonder around this maize - 40 minutes too long, really. Nothing sparked our interest, and we felt rather claustrophobic.

Jacky and his side kick then dropped us back at their office and we had 1 hour to have lunch. We went back to our hotel and had Chicken Pho (a broth with chicken pieces, sprouts, herbs and noodles). It was very tasty, and may just be our 'go to' meal in times of uncertainty here in Vietnam.

Chicken Pho - You get the base (stock, chicken, noodle) and add extra flavour
to your liking (sprouts, chilli, basil and lime)

Lunch on our balcony

After lunch we piled back into the mini bus (now a group of 9) and headed over to The Independence Palace, or Reunification Hall. Entry fees were paid (again not included in Jacky's rates) and we entered the massive grounds and headed towards the palace in the middle of this enormous city. Jacky then gave us a very interesting history lesson, explaining the whole lead-up to the war with the Americans, the rise of The Republic of South Vietnam and ultimately the fall of the South and the restoration of Vietnam as one, united country. We explored the 4 levels of the palace, and then headed into the underground bunker - a bleak and eerie place.

Reunification Hall

An indoor garden in the centre of the apartments 

Some light reading in the library

The getaway chopper

Tanks breaking down the gates to end the Vietnam War

Target Practice

The Vietnamese government set up a company which benefits the handicapped people in the country, and they produce excellent, artistic pieces using lacquer and shells. We visited one of their factories and were impressed by how talented these craftsmen and women are.

When the French were in Vietnam, they built The Notre Dame Cathedral and The Post Office. Two very impressive and beautiful buildings. Interestingly, the French imported all of the materials needed to build the cathedral and did not use any from Vietnam. In the post office, there were old phone-booths with various city names on them and the local time for that particular city. Pretoria was one of them, but the clock had stopped working.

Notre Dame



The Post Office 

Post office interior - (Former) President Ho Chi Minh

A little piece of home

Our tour was over and we were exhausted. On the way back to the tour office, Jacky offered to drop any of us who would be interested off at a large tourist market not far from the office. We thought that it might be fun, so jumped out at the market stop. We walked in, adamant not to be ripped off again. This market was far more appealing than the China Town one, and we walked through, interested to see what we might discover. We got to the food section and thought that we would have a fresh fruit smoothie. Mel quickly became the victim of a tug-of-war match between two competing stall owners, as a little man pulled her one way, a not-so-little woman pulled her the other way. The lady won, sitting Mel roughly down on a small, plastic chair just outside her stall. We ordered two pineapple smoothies and weren't disappointed. They were AMAZING!

Our restaurant

Deeeelish!

We then thought that we would get some fruit for breakfast. We cautiously approached a stall and asked how much for a banana. "25, 000," replied the lady. "Each??" we enquired in unison. "No, for whole bunch," replied the lady. Ross thought that was a pretty good price, but Mel (remembering how we were ripped off the night before), suggested that we find another stall with bananas and compare prices. That we did, only to be told the exact same thing. Ross spotted some peeled and sliced mango and asked how much that was. It was 30, 000. We remembered that negotiating is a way of life here in Vietnam, so suggested that 20, 000 was a better price. The lady immediately came down to 25, 000 - a bargain!

It was beginning to get a little late, so we decided to go back to the hotel. We walked out and looked at the surroundings, trying to figure out where we needed to go. We were swamped by taxi drivers and guys who offer lifts on their bicycles. We politely declined, figuring that the only way to learn the city is to walk and find our own way around. Our hotel was only a 15 minute walk away in any case. So off we went, recognising various landmarks from our tour earlier in the day. We were definitely on the right track! So, with confidence, we walked up this road and down that one. Our road-crossing skills went from novice to expert very quickly, and we were making excellent headway through the bustling Ho Chi Minh City and towards our hotel. That was until we recognised the building in front of us... It was the market, and we had just done a (very big) loop!

Our pride was a little bruised, but Ross insisted that, "Getting lost will help us to learn the city." So off we set - in a different direction this time. Time was no longer on our side, and as the light began to fade, the traffic began to swell. The buildings began to light up with flashing lights, and suddenly every street corner began to look the same! We kept calm, pulled out the cell phone and asked good old Google where we needed to go. Piece of cake! We were only a few blocks away, so the cell phone went back into the pocket and off we went. And we walked... and walked... and weaved through millions of scooters... and walked some more. We thought that we should have been at the hotel by now, so we took out the cell phone again, and asked Google again where we should go.

Somehow, we had managed to bypass the street which our hotel is in and carry on going for a number of blocks. The funny thing is, we were certain that we were recognising shops and buildings all the way along. Google pointed us in the right direction again, but we somehow got dazed and confused by the bright, flashing lights and streams of traffic. We were lost - again! So there we stood, on the corner of one of the busiest intersections that these two small town, flustered birdies had ever seen. We spent a few minutes trying to Google shops around us to get a route to the hotel, but to no avail.

A very friendly man saw our distress and asked us where we were trying to go. We told him and he said that we were only two blocks away. We thanked him sincerely and headed back to our hotel - and some sanity. We had managed to turn a 15 minute walk into a 2 hour expedition through the maize of Ho Chi Minh. We ordered dinner (Mel had a chicken salad and Ross had fried rice with chicken and pineapple - served in a pineapple too!!), ate and then went up to our room. Phew, what a day!

An anti-poaching poster (we think!)
Pineapple and chicken fried rice

The little restaurant at the bottom of our hotel