Please keep in mind as I write this, that I am currently sitting in the Bitexco Financial Building at a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and am extremely frustrated. Though traveling in a new place is 99% of the time, a complete and utter high, there is that 1% of the time when the fact that nothing makes sense really gets under your skin. Sometimes it’s the language barrier, and sometimes it’s the cultural differences, and sometimes it is something that just makes zero sense.

Most of the time when these factors interfere with your daily life, you learn to laugh it off. “What the f*ck is going on?” has become a bit of a joke to us and we have all decided that it is just the general theme of our lives at the moment. Anything from ordering at a restaurant, to seeing somebody with a family of four, plus some chickens packed onto the seat of a motorbike will make me feel as if the entirety of my being has turned into a giant question mark. I love Vietnam, but like every great love, there is always some frustration involved.

Back to the reason of my current situation, I am planning on traveling to New Zealand via Bali at the end of this semester. I am supposed to be meeting my family in Auckland in December, where we will travel for a little over two weeks, before returning to Hawaii for a few days, and then returning to Chicago in January (brrrr). The problem is, that I have a return flight booked from Ho Chi Minh City to Honolulu (via Shanghai) with China Eastern Airlines on January 8, and then a flight from Honolulu to Chicago (via Seattle) with Alaska Airlines, booked for January 14, in time for school to start. Upon looking at flights for New Zealand, I realized that it would be a lot cheaper, and a lot less travel time would be involved, if I could cancel my flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Honolulu, and fly directly from Auckland to Honolulu. It is cheaper even if China Eastern Airlines charges a cancellation fee. The issue is, that I booked all of these flights through Orbitz, and so there is a chance that if I just happen to miss my flight from HCMC to Honolulu, that they will cancel my flight from Honolulu to Chicago, and so I have been desperately trying to contact China Eastern Airlines to figure this out.

Word of advice: Just book your flights directly, don’t use Orbitz if there is any chance you will be having a situation like this.

Orbitz cannot do anything, you must contact the airline directly to cancel or change flights, and this turns out to be incredibly difficult with international airline companies. I have tried everything from calling their offices in Los Angeles, to calling their offices in Ho Chi Minh City, until today, when I finally journeyed all the way to their offices to speak to them in person at the Bitexco Financial Building. This is where I learned, that although the office here, is a China Eastern Airlines office, they are unable to cancel my flights. Only the office in China can do that, and the only way for me to contact the office in China, is by calling a hotline number that doesn’t seem to work. Seriously, what.the.f*ck? Anyways, they finally gave me a second number after I almost yelled at the lady, and now I am waiting for my program coordinator to try that number to see if it works, updates will be coming.

I just don’t understand why they would rather me just not show up for the flight than for me to cancel it. If I cancel it ahead of time, it leaves an extra seat open for them to sell.

I think that I could, at this moment in my life, move to Vietnam and start a business that specifically works with companies or businesses to help them become more efficient. Almost every single time I walk into a restaurant, I think about this, and today has just been another example. I guess that is just one of the frustrations of living in a developing country, when you have been used to an already developed one for your entire life.

I am sorry for ranting in this post. O

 

ther than this situation, this week has been fantastic. I spent most of the weekend in Ho Chi Minh City, exploring, shopping, and eating some great food. We even went out for Mexican one night. Here are the recommendations I have from just my experiences this weekend (for those of you who ever may come to visit this crazy city).

Food

Mexican: La Fiesta – great food, great portions, a little bit pricy (by Vietnam standards). Owned by an American guy though, so the service is wonderful and refreshing.

Vietnamese (upscale): Five Oysters – nicer restaurant, but by no means pricy. 50cent beers, and 44cent oysters. Lots of wonderful Vietnamese seafood, and lots of non-seafood as well.

Nightlife

Backpacker street – lots of cheap beer, and lots of bars and clubs. You can choose to sit outside and drink on a plastic chair, or go into any one of the many bars. Also, I good place to pregame is in the Family Mart convenience store.

Indika – lots of expats, good live music, and nice friendly people.

We also took a trip with our Environmental Science Class to Can Gio National Park, just two hours outside of Saigon City Center. You have to take a short boat trip to Monkey Island, but it is very worth it. It is a national park dedicated to mangrove and other wildlife growth. There are lots and lots of monkeys, that can be very aggressive, but are very cute. There are also alligators. At the touristy area of the island, visit the fish market. Here you can buy any seafood that your heart desires, for super cheap prices. If anything, this place is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City.