Since most of my colleagues are not first-timers in Vietnam, we decided to visit Vung Tau to make the trip different than their previous trips. Our student volunteers suggested we book a day tour with Saigon Tours. The trip was $30 per head inclusive of all entrance fees, lunch, gas, and tour guide. I must say it was worth it.

We had the van pick us up at around 8:30am in the morning. At that time we were already staying at Saigon Hotel near Hotel Sheraton. We slept most of the way over to Vung Tau because we had a Saturday night out. I woke up hearing our tour guide said we’re almost at Vung Tau.

Vung Tau is the nearest beach to Ho Chi Minh City. It takes around two hours to get there. It has a long stretch of shoreline with restaurants at every part of the beach. We were all excited to swim at Vietnam waters however all I did was take pictures at the beach. The beach was too crowded for my taste. Vietnamese people were playing soccer on the beach, something you won’t see here in the Philippines. They have these seats at the beach which you can pay around 2 dollars for the stay.

Two things I love to do when in an unfamiliar place: eat and walk around. Since we were in Vietnam for an event we organized, I couldn’t do a lot of walking around until after the event. And even during that we had a day of touring and two days of just shopping and visiting the sites.

At one point I was crossing a four-lane street to get to a restaurant but it still seemed like a great task. I was standing beside an old Vietnamese woman. She looked at me then suddenly held my arm and helped me cross the street. How embarrassing was it to be helped by an old woman rather than the other way around. Maybe I looked like a kid who doesn’t know how to cross the street. She uttered no word. She just looked at me and grabbed my arm to make me move forward. After crossing she just left still without a word.

I’ve never been out of the Philippines until last July 2, 2010. It was my first flight to another country and I was taking it alone. My colleagues took an earlier flight and I was left at the office due to my workload. So right before I headed to the airport that Friday night, one of our seniors briefed me on what I was supposed to do.

I was carrying three pieces of luggage and a tarpaulin. I had my suitcase, my carry-on bag and a laptop bag. I had to pay for excess baggage at the Cebu Pacific counter. They don’t accept dollars as payment. Our office gives out our per diem in dollars so luckily I brought some extra money in Pesos for the excess baggage.

I grabbed a coffee at the SBC branch inside the terminal while waiting for my flight. The flight to Vietnam from Philippines is just two hours and a half, the same length of my trip from the office to our house when there’s heavy traffic. I boarded around 9:30pm. I filled out my immigration form while inside the airplane to avoid having to struggle with my luggage and the form before lining up in the immigration counter. Our senior advised me to have my passport details ready and attached somewhere to avoid having to bring out the passport for the details. It lessens the risk of dropping your passport. Everyone knows your passport is like your life when travelling.