After a long 20 plus hour flight I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City late in the evening. All I could think of was to get to my hotel and get some much needed rest. I had about 120 bucks in US dollars, so I exchanged it for Vietnamese Dongs (pronounced doms). I ended up with roughly 2 million dongs, leaving me to feel like an instant millionaire. Actually 1 US dollar equals about 16,500 dongs. I got myself a taxi and headed to the Saigon Mini Hotel where I would be staying.
The next day I called my girlfriend who lives in Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City). We’ve been dating online for the past year or so and this would be my first time meeting her in person. Her name is Kha and she has been telling me all about Vietnam and wanting me to come and visit the country. Well I finally got here, and was pretty excited. She met me at the hotel in the afternoon. She looked great and was pretty much how I expected her to be. It was as if we were two distant friends away for a while and just reunited. I was glad to have her around because I would really get lost in Saigon. We both went over to the Bien Thanh market, which is a major hub for all kinds of things to buy. And we walked around and saw some of the sights in the center district. I was taken aback by all the scooters zipping by in all directions. It just seemed like a huge amount of them whirring all around, so I had to be careful where I was walking. But it seemed that the locals would just walk where ever they may and the scooters would just go around them. Interesting.
We ended the day with some real good Vietnamese food at a nice restaurarnt. I had some Vietnamese style pancake and a beef hot pot dinner. I can’t remember what Kha had, but it was all very delicious. The food was fresh and unlike anything I’ve tasted back in the US.
