Chỉ còn 2 tuần nữa là Quang Anh, intern của team PR.MKT sẽ tạm biệt Navigos Search và quay về Mỹ, kết thúc quãng thời gian gần 1 năm sống tại Việt Nam. Quang Anh đã có 1 tuần đi chơi ở miền Nam và dưới đây là những cảm xúc của Quang Anh khi lần đầu tiên đặt chân đến Sài gòn, nơi vẫn còn có rất nhiều dấu ấn của người Mỹ.

Two weeks ago, I took a vacation to Saigon. This was actually my first ever trip down south. For those of you that don’t know me, well I’m basically a foreigner. I was born here in Vietnam but I moved to the United States when I was four. So when I got off the plane, my first impression was “Wow! This weather is fantastic.” That was a good start to a very long week.

The first gun shooting

During the taxi ride into the city, the driver had techno music on and that was just awesome. As we went through the city, I knew right away if I wanted to drive a car, I would rather drive a car in Saigon rather than Hanoi. The roads are so much bigger and it was a bit easier to maneuver. The entire time I have not driven a car since I’ve been in Vietnam. But of course, I did not dare drive a car in Saigon either.
I went on to visit family members, traveled to Vung Tau, Cu Chi, and lastly visit Navigos Group’s Ho Chi Minh office.  With an outsider’s perspective, I noticed that the region was really marketing to foreigners and tourists. I actually thought that downtown Saigon was pretty clean and very open. There were plants and trees everywhere and it reminded me a little of home.

Củ Chi tunnel

So for the first two days of my trip, I went to Vung Tau. I could not believe how beautiful it was. The entire day, the weather was perfect. When we got to the hotel I was pretty impressed. I knew right away I’d never be able to afford this back in the US. I didn’t go swimming at the beach since earlier that morning, I woke up and ate a buffet breakfast. The food was too good and plentiful to pass up. I did go swimming though, at the pool in the hotel.

Later that week, I took a trip to Cu Chi. It was an amazing experience because I learned so much during my visit. I got to travel down through the tunnels, learned about the traps used, and the different tactics that both side used to try and survive. But the best part of the visit was that I got to shoot a real gun. I’ve never shot a gun before and that was something I have always looked forward to doing so it was a great experience.

During my trip downtown I went sightseeing. I didn’t spend too much time in one spot because there were so many places to visit. There was this one spot where I was told that at night, teenagers would all go there to drink ice tea and the place would be packed. One night I passed through there and wow, there were so many people. Once my sightseeing trip was done, it was time for me to visit Ho Chi Minh’s Navigos Group office. The first thing I noticed when I first walked into the building was the motor bike. It was sitting at the waiting area like it was another seat. Then at night, Ms. Phuoc and Ms. Loan took me out for dinner. We had bread and snails and the dishes were different than in Hanoi. After we said goodbye to Ms. Loan, Ms. Phuoc took me to eat at another place and then went to a live acoustic coffee shop. By the end of the night, I was again full because of the delicious food. Afterwards, the night was over and I had to say goodbye but that was an extremely fun day.

With Phuoc

My week in Saigon was very fun. I didn’t expect to do much since I thought it was the same as Hanoi. But from that experience down in Saigon, I got the see a faster lifestyle that seemed to be more westernized and noticed a bigger and more open city. Maybe the next time I visit, I’ll take a chance and drive a car across town.

Quang Anh (Team PR-MKT)