Saigon, Vietnam

Within getting into Ho Chi Minh City I went off to explore the area on foot. If you know anything about Saigon, the traffic is overwhelming. I had no idea why the city even had crosswalks because they weren't really crosswalks. I avoided crossing the street but I mean, I couldn't avoid it forever. I watched what the locals were doing and well, they just bravely went for it. I decided that was probably the only way and that I wouldn't die. So with swarms of motorcycles coming at me from all directions, I took a step onto the road. A frightened British girl trailed after me and muttered things under her breath. I just laughed and said, "Just keep taking steady steps, you know? They'll pause for us." And they did. When we got to the other side of the road in piece, she turned to me and said, "Do you live here?" I laughed and said, "I arrived an hour ago."

(Shoutouts to Allison Corbett for helping me become a global pro-jaywalker.)

It's funny how I have gotten used to the traffic, the honking, the motorcycles, the hassling, etc. I think Cambodia was a huge learning experience. HCMC feels somehow familiar and comfortable. And I am so excited that I am in Vietnam for awhile because the food is so intensely delicious. I ate a big, delicious bowl of Pho and drank some sort of sugarcane drink. And I ate some sort of pudding that was more like flan. All of this only cost me $2-3 total. Oh, how I missed you cheap delicious food! (Honestly, Cambodia is not so good for cost-efficient delicious local food.)

I also went shopping at Chợ Bến Thành and the night market. I haggled poorly but I don't feel like I lost anything. I badly needed short sleeve shirts. For some reason I thought that people only wore long sleeve shirts in Southeast Asia. I was wrong. Tomorrow, I am shipping home the jackets I brought with me along with some other heavy things I am tired of carrying. The Notre Dame Cathedral is right next to the post office so I'll go there as well as a couple of pagodas. I'll go to the HCMC central area and walk around. Find cool places to eat. Gin and tonic with Natasha in the evening. Obviously, I'm skipping all those war and weaponry museums. But I might go to art exhibitions.

I don't have much time in HCMC but I'll have plenty in Hanoi. It's strange to think that I'll have a travel partner in two days. I am booking the hostel for Hanoi right now. I am not really sure what's been going on with Alice.

But anyway, this was my first time crossing the border via land (except for Canada but that's easy for Americans). Our bus was interesting because half was upperclass Cambodians going on a family vacation and the other half was Europeans in their late-twenties with those hugeass backpacks/tevas/shell necklace/sunburn. This girl named Elisa (also a rising Junior in college) and I bonded. We're both traveling through Southeast Asia solo and we are both younger than most of travelers we meet along the way (she's 19 and I'm 20). It was really nice to talk to her about psychedelic 70s Cambodian music and food. And yes, I have 70s Cambodian music now. I'll WAMSHARE that shit.

At the border, the Cambodians got through quickly in the beginning. And then the Europeans. Canadians. Older Americans. Everyone got on the bus. And then there was this long pause. Elisa and I were the only ones left. We waited and waited and then they finally let us through.

We think it's because they don't really understand why young American girls would travel through Cambodia/Vietnam without their parents, etc.

Anyway. I am getting really sleepy. I haven't been sleeping much. Still strangely jet-lagged. Everyone still thinks I am Japanese. And the Vietnamese I have met so far have been so excited about practicing their Japanese with me. I need to consult Tachibana-san about this. I mean, Koreans don't even acknowledge me. Japanese tourists still talk to me. And everyone asks me, "How do you speak English so well?"