OK pho sa Vietnam!

Aboard Cebu Pacific to Vietnam

Well, I ended up sitting with my travel mates in the airplane. I learned later on that the passport number was not needed in the online check-in. The plane to Ho Chi Minh was not full. It was 1:30 am when we arrived. In Vietnam, we were greeted by a beautiful airport terminal.This was already starting to be a good sign.

It is my first time to be in a different timezone. I did not change the time in my watch anymore. I'd just have to do a one hour subtraction, something I can very well do. We were met at the airport by a Filipino expat in Vietnam who got us a Toyota Innova for a taxi. The commuter is doing his thing in a foreign land.

With just few hours of sleep, we were treated to authentic pho! Great! This was just what I needed to get this day rolling. After that pho treat at Pho 24 at the tourist district (District 1) of Vietnam, we explored the city center by foot. The enormous number of caucasians made my Asian tourist identity more pronounced. Vietnam, apparently, is getting a large chunk of tourists from the US, France and other western countries.

We did the usual tourist activities in the city center for the most part of the day. To cap my first day  was a dinner at Vietnam House. I took pride in having dined at the same restaurant where the late President Cory Aquino  had dined in 2003. Her photo and that of US President Bush where the only two pictures prominently showed as the restaurant's famous guests. She must have had a great time there also after tasting all those authentic Vietnamese food. 

I shall retire for the night and will wake up to new day in Vietnam tomorrow. It's going to be exciting because I shall be exploring the Mekong Delta! With that in store, I will soon be writing my first ever water-journey experience, I hope. I can't wait. Good night!

There were too many motor bikes!

Welcome to Vietnam!