Vietnam Hates Me So Far...

When we exited the airport after landing and collecting our luggage from baggage claim we were greeted by hot and humid air. It's really scary leaving the airport. It literally feels like walking out onto an opening of a movie and there are paparazzi everywhere. No one is taking pictures...but there are just swarms and swarms of people looking in your direction trying to find their loved ones.

My mom, Tim, and I just walk around aimlessly because 1) We have no idea where to go, 2) I don't know what my relatives look like, 3) My mom isn't wearing her glasses so she's a little blind, 4) The cops are telling us to hurry up and walk out onto the street, 5) Tim is white and is trying not to draw so much attention to himself by being in a blocked off walk-way for airplane passengers. Suddenly, a man waves to me. At first I was like, "This creeperton thinks I'm related to him" so I look the other way, but he continues to wave to me so I tell my mom. She goes, "OH! That's Bac Tuan (her brother"). What a relief! He then tells us that he didn't recognize my mom but he recognized me from all the pictures my grandma had of me!

We grab a taxi and head to his house. I started panicking and expecting the worst. I've always heard of cheap houses, poor plumbing, no a/c, etc. To give you a better idea...I was supposed to go to Vietnam when I was 11 years old but I kept telling my mom, "No, I need clean bathrooms! I am not going!" However, this was not the case at all. My uncle's house is BEAUTIFUL! He has a 5 story house with 5 bathrooms (one for each room), a extremely cute kitchen, and there is a/c all around the house! The bathrooms are just like American bathrooms but the only difference is that I have to click on a switch to turn on hot water in addition to turning the knob to the side in the shower.

I unpacked, showered, and decided to check out the TV in my room. To my surprise...they had almost all the channels that we have in the US so I wasn't going to be stuck watching Vietnamese Soap Operas or phim taus. It was pretty late when we landed and got to the house that we decided to call it a night and sleep.

So...for the sake of not blabbing on for too long...I'm going to summarize my first couple of days:

I have been woken up every single morning at any time from 4:30 AM-6:30 AM to the sound of roosters crowing all around the neighborhood. Apparently, roosters set one another off and continue to crow for 5 hours-7 hours straight! It sucks hardcore!

My mom still has some family here so we visit them almost every day. The best part about this is that I get to visit my grandma every day and talk to her. I LOVE IT! My other relatives' houses are not as nice as my uncle's place that I'm staying at but it's fine in the end.

Tim and I have experienced a lot of food and drunken a lot of drinks here so far: pho, banh bot chien, banh canh, ban xeo, coconut milk, dragon fruit, lychee, apples, etc. First and foremost...the food is a lot more bland than American food but still pretty good. Tim likes all the food here but he thinks that the meat in America is a lot better.

You know how Americans think that Asians drive horribly? I can see why after being here!
Traffic here is CRAZY! There are no rules of the road, it is literally a free for all! There's traffic coming from all directions at all times. When you hop into the taxis you are entering a war zone between pedestrians, mo-peds, other taxis, and cars. There are traffic lights...but very few. And even then, there are no traffic cops so many people don't stop when they are supposed to. You spend only about half the time on the right side of the road. One of our taxi drivers completely stopped traffic to make a u-turn on a busy street to pick us up. Driving aggressively is not an option...it's a must! If you want to make a turn you have to go one mo-ped, pedestrian, taxi, and car at a time like a sick game of Frogger. How we have not seen a single accident is of wonder to me because I am on the edge of my seat each time I step out of building and have to travel anywhere period.

So get this, there are many districts in Vietnam and the government regulates the amount of electricity used in district. With that being said, each district has their utilities shut off two days during the week. I've only been here four days and I have lost utility privileges twice already =( It sucks balls!

DO NOT READ ON IF YOU ARE EASILY GROSSED OUT!
Well guess what? I freaking got monster diarrhea the third day here and had to poop 10 times in one day (no, I am not exaggerating...that's the real amount of times I had to go). I couldn't go out at all that whole day so Tim and I just stayed in and slept since we didn't get much sleep for two nights since the roosters kept waking us up.

Tim on the other hand cannot poop at all! He has been constipated for days even though he has tried every trick in the book to help him poop. This includes taking 2 types of laxatives, eating bananas, eating lots of vegetables, and even drinking non-bottled water!!! Tim and I are on the extreme ends of the pooping spectrum. If only we can meet each other halfway we'll be okay...

Thus far, I have had a pretty bad experience with Vietnam and am not planning to make any future visits here any time soon! Let's hope this feeling changes!