Arrival

After almost 18 hours of flight time and a 1-hour layover at Taipei, Taiwan (which wasn't really an hour since we were rushing to board as soon as we got off the larger EVA plane), we finally landed in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Viet Nam. The airport hasn't been fully rennovated, except for the runways, which I've been told underwent pretty significant paving for a smoother landing. However, the oblong runway surrounds an island of wild grass and weeds, grown tall from neglect. Occasionally strewn among the grass are stone walls, the kinds that look like they were used for military training back during the war.

When I got off the plane, I felt the last chills of a California winter melt away, replaced by a warm humidity that coats me like a second skin. I breathed in deep the scent of Viet Nam, and it occured to me that though I've been in this country before, this was the first time I've been on the Tan Son Nhat runway since my family left by boat.

The airport sported interesting cultural sights such as flight attendants in satin "ao dai"--blue long dresses with gold pants. A landscapist pushed an electric lawnmower, wearing a conical-shaped "non la" hat. Airport personnel jumped in to help us locate our luggages and stacked them on carts, gladly accepting tips for the service (when we've got 5 people in our party, 5 check-in luggages full of clothes, 5 check-in boxes full of gifts, 5 carry-ons, and a few purses, dishing out a nominal tip was completely worth it).

It was utter chaos when we stepped out of the airport, where a throng (and that's lightly putting it) of relatives, friends, tour service personnel, and cabbies were holding up signs and cramming all the way up to the windows from outside the airport to await the new arrivals. My first thought was, "What's going on?!" I felt like I was on the inauguration stage, with people waiting, people arriving, security guards patrolling, and endless taxi minivans pulling up to the curb and offering their services. You can bargain with the taxi drivers before you agree to ride with them, securing a flat rate instead of going by the typical taxi meters. We secured a ride to our hotel with all our luggage loaded and unloaded for approximately $15 US. Rides around town to local supermarkets and restaurants cost about $1-$3 US one-way. The distance to these places is pretty short to where we're staying, but our party takes taxi almost everywhere. Why? Because a typical family would own a few Vespas or Honda Dreams, not vans or sedans that are typically used for taxi services. And another reason. . .

This is your typical traffic scene in Ho Chi Minh City: utter chaos. Traffic lights and lane divisions are merely "suggestions," helmets are commodities, and everyone honks every other second. People on motor scooters pull up so close to the van that, had the windows been down, I wouldn't even have to extend my arm all the way to touch them. I've seen 7 rows of scooters and vans crammed into two lanes to wait for a green light. Tapping the horn was as second-nature to the Vietnamese as braking is to Californians during bumper-to-bumper traffic. We've had taxi drivers in stick-shifts more concerned with hovering over the horn than hovering over the brakes.

Our hotel room is clean, roomy, and quiet, with a lovely nautilus staircase leading up. We had a buffet dinner before we crashed for the night, a clean place with good food, seemingly catering to tourists. No stomach aches so far--a good sign. When we got back to the hotel, we crashed as soon as our heads hit the pillow. I thought I'd make up time for sleeplessness on the flight, but I only zonked out for 4 hours before waking up at 12:30AM (9:00AM PST).