Vietnam

My first reaction when my parents announced that we were going to Vietnam for a holiday trip was .....'Huh? Why Vietnam of all places? Why can't we go to Korea or Japan instead?'
I wasn't really looking forward to going to the country, to tell the truth.

The first thing I noticed upon arrival in the country- the traffic. Oh my gosh. More than half of the vehicle population over there are motorbikes. And I always complain about motorbikes swerving right in front of me when I'm driving. Imagine the entire road of motorbikes. Very few traffic lights. Traffic moving freely about, cutting into each others lanes. I am so not driving in Vietnam!

The place we stayed in was a budget hotel, more like rooms rented out to tourists. It has all the basic facilities such as aircon, TV, comfortable beds and ensuite, and it's cheap, so I can't complain. There are plenty of these type of hotels over there.

I realized that there are many tourists in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). The city is such a popular tourist destination, you can see tourists everywhere! As a result, you can see bars, souvenir shops, and English books everywhere.

The Vietnamese people, they are very friendly. They have smiles on their faces, and they are a cheerful lot. They can speak conversational English, although it's hard to understand their English at times. I heard they can speak some French too, although I didn't hear the language being spoken among the locals.

We went on a tour around the city on the second day- where we were brought to the War Musuem, The Reunification Palace, and the market. The following day, we followed the Mekong river tour, where we met two nice Vietnamese girls and one Malaysian girl from Batu Pahat.
Actually, most of the stuff we saw in the second day- can be found in Malaysia too. :p

Anyways, it was a memorable trip. I enjoyed bargaining with the locals, walking along the streets of Vietnam and making friends with the local girls. :)