Friday, March 30, 2012

Day 0: Work + evening flight to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam


Telco life is so busy. Prior to my 11pm flight, I still had to attend to a whole day of work, a birthday lunch c/o my officemate Howie, and parade to launch the MVP Olympics, a sports fest hosted by the conglomerate that recently acquired my company, Sun Cellular.

Bon Chon, Robinsons Galleria - Howie's 23rd Birthday lunch

Meralco Ortigas with Ann
With such I tight schedule,  I just squeezed a few minutes to print out (not even read) some wikitravel and travelfish articles about the places that I'm thinking of going to. Also, given that I will be arriving in Ho Chi Minh at around pass midnight, I sent messages to some people in couchsurfing, hoping to get a local help in a foreign land.

So with that, my one-way MNL-HCM sale ticket which I purchased for 37USD several months back, a quick shower after a long day, and my 9kg bag that I packed the night before, I went to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.



Given that my condo is just outside MRT Shaw station, my travel to the airport is a convenient and cheap (0.75USD) train + shuttle ride. I was there a little before 10PM, at a little lax pace with Cebu Pacific's web check-in, when I got a response from a Vietnamese Couchsurfer, Kha, that he can pick me up.


I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at half pass midnight (there's a 1 hour time difference, so flight was really 2 1/2 hours) where Kha, and his friend Huy picked me up. Apparently, southern Vietnamese prefer calling their city with it old name, Saigon. So I guess I'm dealing with different set of northern locals I met in Hanoi 4 years back.

I rode with Huy since he's going to be my host. It was my first time to ride a scooter with a big back pack, as the driver infront of me is having a conversation, sometimes with hand gestures!

Tired, showered, slept. City tour tomorrow. Goodnight Saigon. 


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