My first encounter

I've now been in Vietnam for about 2 weeks and this is what I have to say:

I arrived in Saigon to find a sea of scooters and cars weaving up and down the city streets to a clatter of tooting horns. I thought traffic in Central America was bad but I had yet to experience the busy streets of Vietnam. Beeping seemed more a rite of passage than a gentle warning but I was so enthralled to be in a new country that it didn't bother me. It was with excitement that I arrived to what I thought would be my hostel. Instead of a place with lots of fellow travels, I found myself instead at a hotel with a pond and 2 black turtles sunning themselves on rocks. Although I was so happy to have my own room, I wondered where I would meet people to travel with.

My first few days in Saigon were filled with amazing food, oppressive heat, and everyone & their mama asking, "you want motobike?" I quickly booked a bus ticket to Nha Trang, a coastal city that in America would only take a few hours to get to but in Vietnam, it would be around a 12 hour ride.

Sitting on the steps outside the wrong travel agency (did I mention that there are also a million travel agencies that all look alike), I almost missed my bus but luckily made it just in time. I had booked a sleeper bus thinking it would be a luxurious version of Greyhound, but foundthat it was instead a 2 tiered system of individual little elongated sleepers. I stepped aboard and was just about to climb up top to my sleeper when a bunch of mad Vietnamese passengers started pointing at my feet. I looked around and didn't see anything offensive but figured they wanted me to leave my shoes where I was. I took off my shoes and set off again. This time, pointing to a corner and yelling ensued. What was I doing wrong? Finally, someone came down and handed me a plastic bag. Huh?? Then they pointed to my shoes and then to the plastic bag. Oh, ok...they wanted me to put my shoes in the bag. After that ordeal was out of the way, I climbed up top with my backpack and tried to settle into the space. I looked around and saw everyone else lounging comfortably whereas I was struggling to fit my legs into the compartment. My mom had asked me earlier that day whether people were shorter and I had said no. I now recanted my words and began noticing that everyone around me was at least a few inches if not feet shorter.

The 12 hour ride was punctuated by freezing cold air, blasting Vietnamese music videos and plays, and food stops at midnight and 3am. After about an hour of sleep, I woke up near Nha Trang and was awed by the beautiful green rice fields and children playing at 4:30am.