MY FIRST DAY IN HO CHI MINH VIETNAM

by: Robelyn Martinez Yambao

Hello Internet People!
Today, I would like to share my first ever trip in Vietnam. From Paranaque Metro Manila where I rented apartment for almost a year, we left the place in the morning. Our flight to Vietnam was at 11 p.m., we just decided to wait at the airport and hangout there than in the place we lived in.

So we took taxi in going to the airport NAIA Terminal 3. We stayed at the passengers waiting area at 2nd floor for awhile and went up to 3rd floor to eat our lunch at noontime. Then, hangout again at the 2nd floor to kill our time by just opening our laptop for entertainment.

In the evening, we were ready to check-in but the airline crew told me to get my travel tax receipt first. I wasn't able to check my ticket if my tax was already paid or not. So, I ran to the tax collector section just to pay my travel tax. After that, I went back to the counter and gave it to the crew and finally, he gave us our boarding pass.

Traveling abroad is not an easy experience especially facing immigration officer to get exit stamp. I was lucky my Huggy was with me so, it was a plus point for me. Aside from that factor, I already had some stamps from different countries like Brunei, China, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. So, my interview was just personal questions. For your information, a lot of Filipinos who want to travel abroad as tourists were denied by the immigration officer so, they won't be able to travel. In my case, I never experienced that but, almost one time when I was headed to Costa Rica.

We only traveled for 3 hours in going to Ho Chi Minh city. The feeling was over-whelming and excited. Though I was so tired and sleepy because we arrived there passed midnight, the excitement was still there.

When we arrived at the Vietnam airport, we went to the visa section upon arrival. We showed our papers to the officer and gave payment for the sticker. After we received our visa, we faced the immigration officer for the arrival stamping.

As a Filipino, I don't need a visa in Vietnam if I would only stay less than 28 days. But, we planned to stay there longer so we got visa. Just check my article on how to get the visa online by going to my PLACES section in this site and click Vietnam.

After immigration, we changed our currency to their currency. Then, at the exit section there was a booth selling sim card and offering taxi. We chose that service for taxi because it's safer though higher rate than normal. I was amazed because the driver was female. In the Philippines, there's no woman driver in taxi. And sometimes, there are bad taxi drivers in Manila. Oooppps!

So, the lady driver took us to the district where our hotel is located. We didn't know that the hotel we got from booking.com was closed at midnight so, it was really a pain in the ass finding it. The driver was so helpful and we found it. She talked to the owner of the hostel to accept us. Finally, we settled at 3 a.m.

We woke up very late the next day and we were so hungry. We look around the city to find a place to eat. We're glad that the hostel was near to everything. I ate my first ever noodles made in Vietnam with duck meat. It was so, delicious! We also found market on the street where they sell fish, chicken and frog. Yes, live FROGS!

We only stayed for 2 days because we're heading to Nhatrang city which we heard from a friend that the beach was so amazing. Before we went to that province, we bought the cheap and fresh fruits from the market but we left it in the Hostel lobby near the information desk during our checked-out. I was so forgetful, my bad! Lucky for them.

So, that's it for today guys. We went to the Miendong Terminal to catch the bus to Nhatrang. Thanks for visiting my site, for videos of my trips just check my travel vlog on Youtube. 
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