The Bus Stops Here

Today was one of the biggest traveling days we've had so far during our Vietnam trip. However, what made it remarkable was the fact that we traveled almost entirely by bus. We left before lunch, and our first stop was a bank to convert some NZ dollars into VN dong. Accustomed somewhat to catching a bus, we went to the stop, sat down and waited for the No. 3 bus to arrive. When it did, however, it was so packed that Mum balked and insisted we wait for the next one. Luckily, it arrived quickly and was nearly empty, so we hopped on, paid the tiny fare (about 30 cents each) and headed off. The thing about taking a bus is that you have to pay a lot more attention to where you are in order to get off at the right stop. As we went through the streets, I was sure that I saw the hotel that we were supposed to get off at. Mum hadn't noticed, so I pointed it out, but she seemed confused. Eventually, we got up and off at the next stop, which was the one we had aimed for. It seemed I had misheard her when I thought she said we had to get off at a certain hotel, but we ended up at the right place anyway.

As we searched for out first stop, the bank, we passed the infamous waffle seller. When she said "100,000", it took a second for me to realize that haggling was required. Once I did, I tried to get her lower, but Mum was so willing to pay the higher price that the best I could get was 70,000. We were later told that this was over 3 times what they were worth. Oh well, lesson learned. We found the bank and got the money converted, then our next stop was a hobby shop that I wanted to visit. Again, we took the bus and managed to get off at the right place, which was a large roundabout. We walked around it until we found the street we wanted, then headed down it. As we walked down, we were looking for number 15, so we kept track of the numbers: 2, 4, 6, 8... Wait a moment. We looked over on the other side of the street, expecting to see odd numbers, but there was only a large wall that continued down the street for 50 meters or so. Confused, we asked a nearby cop/security person for directions. This consisted of us saying "mui lam, mui lam", which means 15, and pointing to the street name. Eventually, he got it and pointed us down the street and across. Ok, so the odd numbers were just a while down. Luckily for us No. 15 was at our end of the street, so we quickly found it.

Inside, there were several RC toys ranging from miniature helicopters to helicopters as big as a dog. I found one I liked the look of, a replica of a twin-rotor thing from Avatar, and we asked to test it. Unfortunately, the batteries were nearly flat, so we couldn't try it properly. It looked quite difficult to fly, as the left toggle could also move left and right to give more power to the corresponding rotor. Used properly, this could be used to strafe the helicopter sideways, but it would be very easy to just flip it instead. I didn't quite have enough money to buy the one I wanted, so decided to come back another day once I'd saved up a bit more.

We headed out from the shop and back to the roundabout in order to catch the next bus, popping into a nearby mall to cool off. Again, we caught it with no difficulty and headed off again. After the longest ride so far, we ended up about a km from our next destination, a massive supermarket called Metro. The entire walk was alongside a large canal, extremely dirty but apparently fishable, as there were several people there with rods. Once we reached Metro, we had to find the entrance, not as easy as it sounds. We found the entrance, but not the trolleys, so had to carry everything we bought, which was just stuff for lunch. By this point we were running late for our youth group, Souled Out, so we caught a taxi for the short ride there. We munched down on the buns, bananas and yoghurt there, then it was time to begin.

After youth group, we hung around for a bit to chat to the Tarrs, who ran the thing, then headed off to meet Dad for dinner, again by taxi. We ate at a thai place down an alley, off a small street, off a main street. Joining us were two of Dad's workmates who he wanted us to meet. The food was very nice, not too spicy, and we left feeling full. One last taxi ride home, then we were done for the day.