first day in vietnam

Vietnam, not the first chance to travel abroad but of course a new

chance to put my self in completely different cu

lture away from my country.

It

was more of excitement

then a slight fear about handling a project all alone. the day was 17th of october 2007 when I landed in Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City. The time was around 8:30 Vietnam Time

which is 1:30 hours ahead of Indian

time. Before I was planning

to come here I inquired a few informations about Vietnam.

The Family Luxury apartment Pacific Garden was booked for me and somebody was expected to receive me at airport. My Visa was VOA (Visa on Arrival) and that time getting a Business Visa for

Vietnam was not a tough job. After going through the formalities of Visa stamping and taking my Luggage I thought to convert some of my Dollars

in Vietnam Dong (The currency of Vietnam is Dong VND). being unaware of the conversion rate and the world out

side I got converted some good some of Dollars at whatever rate they offered.

Later I realized that you can get the dollars Converted in any Gold shop at a good rate rather then converting it at airport or in any bank. Also

in areas of Hochi minh city which are mainly crowded with foreigners

you can find some good unauthorised shops who can offer you a good exchange rate.

When I came out of Airport two girls of Pacific garden were waiting fo

r me with my name written on a play card. I thanked god for welcoming

me warmly in Vietnam and landed my self in the Van they sent for me. in the mean time when I was trying to be comfortable in the Van my luggage was kept inside the Van and we started

moving. I was enjoying the view outside when I heard a question thrown at me. "How many months You will stay here?". They were struggling in speaking english and I soon realised that I will soon

be creeping in explaining things to my client.

Outside the Van I saw that there is a huge number of bikes in comparison to car or any other vehicles. Most of the people going on bike were covering there face with mask and girls were covering the exposed body part with longest size gloves possible and socks. The journey was may be for 40-50minutes from airport to pacific garden.

It was a big aprtment spread over a quite big area with 8 or 9 building. After keeping luggage I came out of my flat to check what all things are available in apartment. I was happy to see that there is a facility of swimming pool and gym inside apartment which was very important for my growing tummy.

Sooner I took bath and found that I forgot to bring comb. So I came out of aprtment searching for a provisionary store. It was tough time to find a provisionary store since there were all mobile shops selling mobile accessories or second hand mobiles. Somehow I got one shop and bought one comb cost 3000VND (3000VND ??

yeah that was my reaction but the conversion rate is 1 dollar = 18000VNd yr2009)