July 30, 2011
Today we arrived in Saigon. We took a flight from Rach Gia to Saigon on a small, 68 seater propeller plane by Vietnam Airlines. It was only a 35-minute flight, but it was one of the scariest of my life, and it felt like hours. If you didn’t know already, I absolutely do not like flying. To fly on a small prop plane is like sympathetic nervous system firing x 100; trembling, feeling of impending doom, and at times hyperventilation. All that said, the plane itself was extremely modern, similar to small planes in the US., but I was especially nervous about the ever changing Vietnam weather. Sunny one moment and thunderstorms the next. We never flew above the clouds, so we were always hovering beneath. I could feel every little bump and turn of the plane. The landing was extremely bumpy. I squeezed Scott’s hand so hard. He tells me that he can always tell how well the flight was by how much circulation he has in his hands when we land.
We landed, fought for a Vinasun Taxi (a reputable brand here) and had to go buy our various bus tickets before meeting up with Quoc and Richard. We finally got our errands done and dropped our stuff of at Quoc and Richard’s apartment. The four of us headed to lunch where we ordered so much food: hu tieu (rice noodles), mi (egg noodles), egg rolls, and bo luc lac (“shaky” beef). We sat there for so long eating, talking, and catching up. I think back to when we first met them 6 weeks ago when we arrived in Saigon from LAX. We were so wide-eyed and inexperienced, not knowing what to expect. We depended on them so much when we first arrived. Now, we were fast friends. They were at summer service camp with us in Rach Gia. After living in Rach Gia for 6 weeks, we have become more or less accustomed to Vietnam. Rach Gia is a true Vietnamese city. There are very few tourists, the town is relatively small, and it seems like everybody knows each other. We had gotten so used to it that when we arrived back in Saigon, we were sad that Scott was no longer the only Caucasian around. There were tourists everywhere! It almost felt like we weren’t in Vietnam anymore. We were sad that we were no longer in the comfort of Rach Gia, but we were also excited about part 2 of our adventure: traveling through the rest of Vietnam.
We really missed Ngan and Tien, our Vietnamese sister and brother. That morning, they came over to have breakfast with us at Bac Chau’s hotel, Hoa Bien Hotel. We sat for an hour and talked a bit, and Scott and I also helped Bac Chau set up a Tripadvisor account for his hotel and to upload pictures. He ended up giving us breakfast for free as it was our last day there. Ngan and Tien went with us to the airport to see us off. We got to the security gate and Ngan started crying and crying. She said she was going to miss us so much. We gave each other a hug and held on tight. Tien was sad but held back his tears; it must have been the man in him. It was one of the most heartfelt goodbyes I have experienced. We told them that we would keep in touch. Scott and I had so much fun with them, and I think they really enjoyed our company. We so want to show them around our hometowns and show them our culture and our way of life. Ngan mentioned that she might be able to go to school in New York in a few years. We hope it works out. Up at the gate on the second floor, I saw them outside of the window and called them and waved to say goodbye once again—a touching ending to our time in Rach Gia.
Quoc, Richard, Scott, and I joked and talked for 3 hours at the lunch restaurant. We talked about medicine, flying, Vietnam, and Project Vietnam. We found out that Quoc is getting his pilot license soon, and he told us about one of his adventurous stories of when he flew to and from Big Bear Mountain, CA. After lunch, we headed back to their apartment where we subsequently all piled onto Richard’s bed, did work on our computer, and chatted. It was almost like a pillow talk session at sleepovers I went to in middle school. I wish someone was there to take a picture of how ridiculous we looked. We all then decided to do Insanity together, a DVD workout program. We geared up in our workout clothes and tennis shoes and pressed “play.” We were so unsynchronized compared to the people on the screen. We were dripping sweat and moaning through the whole thing, but we finished it. We were like a dorky little family.
The four of us all showered and then we headed for dinner. Scott and I had to get on the 11 pm bus for Dalat, which meant that we had to leave Quoc and Richard’s apartment around 10:15 pm after dinner. We got to the restaurant around 9:15 pm and had less than 45 minutes to eat. It was one of the most rushed meals we have had. Annie met up with us during the last 15 minutes to say hi and bye to us. It was really sweet of her. I asked her how her vacation to Phu Quoc was (the last time we saw her, she was heading to Phu Quoc), and she told me that it was amazing and that she wished she was still back there. Scott and I literally scarfed down our food and had to leave. We were 15 minutes behind schedule and had to take a taxi back to Quoc and Richard’s apartment to pick up our luggage. To top it all off, the taxi driver was clueless. He had no idea where the street was and had to call several people to show him the way. He also did not know where the Thanh Buoi bus station was, which was extremely surprising considering it is a well-known bus station in Saigon. Scott and I were so frustrated. This taxi driver was even through the best company in Saigon.
Scott and I called a different cab to get to the bus station for the overnight bus to Dalat. The moment we got there, we realized that we did not have enough cash on us to pay for the bus ticket. We were so rushed getting to the station because of the dinner that we didn’t stop to think. The bus only accepted money once passengers were on the bus and not beforehand, as we had tried to buy the ticket earlier that day. At this point, it was 11 pm, and time for the bus to leave. The station was crowded, and I was trying to ask around. It was so hard to get any of the employees’ attention as they were too busy talking on the phone or helping the other customers that were pushing and shoving their way to the ticket desk. It was incredibly frustrating. Scott waited by the bus to make sure it would not leave without us. I finally got a hold of some employees and asked the following: 1) Do you take credit card? (No) 2) Is there an ATM machine around here? (No) 3) Is there an ATM machine at the bus station in Dalat so that I can pay when I get there? (No) 4) Can my family member who is picking me up bring the 100,000 Dong ($5 USD) when I arrive in Dalat? (No). There was absolutely no solution.
Finally, one lady said she would walk me to a nearby ATM. We walked for about 10 minutes with my extremely heavy backpack only to find that the ATM was not there. I was at my wit’s end and had no idea what to do. I hailed the first cab I saw and asked if he could take me to the nearest ATM machine. Some customers were getting out of the cab as I was trying to get in, and one young lady heard my American accent, so she asked what I needed. I explained the situation to her—that we were short $5 USD—and she ran into the station to try to help us. They told her there was an ATM machine across the street, but it was closed. I was freaking out at this point, and none of the Thanh Buoi employees seemed to care or wanted to help. If we missed this bus, our itinerary would be shifted, and we had planned each and every day in detail. The young lady, who I learned was from Philadelphia, opened her wallet, pulled out 100,000 Dong ($5), and just said, “Here, take it, I don’t mind. I have been in this sort of situation before.” I was dumbfounded by her kindness. I said thank you about 1 million times, and told her that I had a friend in Saigon that could pay her back. She said it didn’t matter. I thanked her again, we shook hands, and I ran to get on the bus. The entire bus ride, I kept thinking back to her generosity. I didn’t know her, and she didn’t know me. She saw that I was in trouble and helped. I kept thinking that all the way in Saigon, Vietnam, I happened to meet a girl from Philadelphia who was willing and happy to help. I told Scott that I felt so guilty for taking her money, but I did not know what else to do. I really needed it. He just told me to pay it forward to the next person that happened to need help. Scott and I also learned a valuable lesson: make sure you have enough cash on hand!
-Audrey
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