You traded your car for a subway and now a public bus in Viet Nam

So my decision to head over to Viet Nam was partially influenced

my frustration with management at my job in NYC (loved the work, management was a different story).

Talk about drastic huh? After a brief honeymoon period of traveling to Ha Noi with Dave and getting reacquainted with Viet Nam again, my 2nd week threw me back into real life. So I apologize for the lack of blogging but I've been on emotional ups and downs for quite awhile now. My mom still shakes her head about how I would trade in my car in Michigan for subways in NYC to now a public bus in Viet Nam as my mode of transportation.

The buses in Viet Nam don't really stop, they kind of come to a rolling stop and I'm expected to hop on or hop off. Coupled with the fact that I can't read Vietnamese very well, I'm constantly worried I'm going to miss my stop. On the bright side, I'm getting to know the streets of Saigon more, the layout of the city, and now the bus routes. Although people here think I'm kinda crazy for taking the bus here, I personally think for the extra time I'm spending riding the bus, I'm not breathing in the exhaust fumes from millions of motorbikes on the road. If anybody wants to look at the traffic in Saigon, it's absolutely crazy. I almost got clipped by a motorbike the other day but I just have to take it, literally, one stride at a time.

So for now, dirty roads, incessant honking, and the constant roar of traffic/noise from the city. I hate to say it but I'm kind of over big cities (who ever knew the NYC girl would ever say that)?

By the way, the picture I've posted was not taken by me but the bus in the background is the #18 bus (which is the bus I take from my Aunt's house to the Vinacapital office and back every day). Today's bus ride home was packed, standing room only and the air conditioning wasn't working. When I talked to Vinny on Skype as soon as I got home, he commented on how shiny my forehead was b/c it was glistened with sweat. It's 10 pm here right now but the outside temperature is 81 degrees. I'm going to freeze when I head back to Michigan for med school.