Travel bug has got better of me and I decided to concede.After spending all my life amidst some amazing and unforgettable places and people in India, I decided to expose it to more challenges waiting outside the known and friendly atmosphere of my homeland.

It was in month of May, 2015 when I made my mind to give a shot to a work opportunity in Saigon, Vietnam.First time out of your native land and landing in unknowns and legends of Vietnam surely sent some shivers and raised questions in peoples mind.Nevertheless, me as always was sure but preparing for the unknown coming ahead.I booked my tickets with Thai airways from Mumbai after scouring internet for best deals and braced up for my travel in last week of May.Me and my wife worked on clearing up all the small/big tasks in India in last few weeks before the travel.Finally, I was all packed and ready to fly to Ho Chi Minh City.

First international flight : I took a taxi from Pune to Mumbai International Airport and reached around 4 hours before the flight ( yeah that was early but couldn’t get over the excitement and some apprehensions ) with scheduled departure time of 11:30 PM IST.This was my first hand experience of majestic new airport terminal, it threw me back to time when there were tons of pictures and articles talking about the grandeur and vibrancy of new terminal and I could see why they were so fascinated.I went to the Thai airways counter, showed my tickets, passport and visa letter authorizing me to collect visa on arrival in Saigon.My apprehensions started turning true when the agent took the letter to their officer and after few minutes of private discussion, they came back asking that they would need my return ticket as well.Since I was talking talking to my company reps and people who travelled to Saigon from other countries before the journey date, I was pretty certain that there is no such requirement if you have a letter which says that you are traveling for work.Unfortunately, they were adamant and I had no document supporting my case.I realized that talking to these foolhardy people was no intelligence.I dropped an email to my HR in Saigon about the problem and I went to Akbar Travels counter inside the terminal and bought a refundable return ticket for a date 3 months later.Lady luck decided to not let it go so easily, I got to know that I have crossed baggage weight limit 😦 , thankfully they suggested me to take some stuff out of checkin luggage and put it in my hand bag, there was some space in my handbag so moved things quickly and it was a GO.I had a sigh of relief after looking at my boarding pass and the next stop was a food counter.I finished my dinner and moved to sitting area near the gate.In all the hustle bustle of my first international flight encounter, time just flew and soon I found myself sitting in A330 with a Buddhist monk as my co-passenger.I couldn’t have asked for a more peaceful flight time.Next destination was layover at Bangkok, it was early morning so I had a coffee and after finding my way through the twist and turns of this overtly laidback airport I found my departure gate and waited for the boarding to start.It was a A330 again but an almost empty aircraft departing to Ho Chi Minh City (I changed my seat twice before I found my solace with an exit row seat).I had a power nap and next thing was a hard landing in absolutely fine weather in broad daylight by our clearly not so efficient pilot. Nevertheless, I was more excited to embrace the energy of my new destination.

Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport is a small airport with lots of traffic and as you enter the arrival area you can see the truly cosmopolitan atmosphere with people from almost every corner of the world waiting for their On-Arrival visa counter or passing through with their temporary resident card.I went to the counter with the filled application for visa on arrival and passport, they will take the application and ask you to wait.Keep your ear open as they call out your name with strong Vietnamese accent where Sushant sounded like “suhan”.Next you go to counter, pay 95 USD for 3 months multiple entry visa (since I was traveling for work) and get you passport back with stamp on it.Since immigration office here does not accept any other currency except USD( though saw them making some exception with euros), so please carry some USD to save some trouble.Next is a fast moving immigration check and after that you can collect your baggage on the ground floor.Before leaving the airport, convert some USD to Vietnamese Dong from the numerous counters at the exit since they offer one of the best rates.You also have some international ATMs on the arrival, in case you want to withdraw local currency but watch for any surcharges on withdrawal.Most importantly, Don’t go crazy over  1 million bills, you will soon find its worth. 🙂

I stepped out of the airport and saw my colleague holding a placard with my name on it, I figured it can bring real relief and smile when you have even a “not so well known” friend waiting for you in a foreign land.His name is Michal and he was in Saigon for a short work trip from Gdasnk, Poland.We strike a quick conversation with cheer on every one’s face.He talked about his experience in Saigon in last 2 weeks and I super excitedly heard the stories.I told him a little bit about India and that being my first international trip, and as expected he was also impressed with the bold move.We waited for the taxi and soon were on our way to Company apartment.It was a 15 mins drive to apartment located in Phu Nhuan district of Saigon.Like a curious little child in his new home, I was also watching the activities, peoples and high rises on my way to apartment.Apartment was located in center of all the city hustle bustle with business establishments all around the area.I took the keys, went to my room and jumped in my bed.After resting for few mins, I called my wife and parents back home to find that they were growing anxious about my well-being.Soon I realized I need to eat something and Michal had told me about a restaurant on the ground floor of our building. I went downstairs and went straight to the restaurant.I saw the menu on the board at the entrance and every dish was a permutation of beef or ham, I knew it was time to ride on the stranger tides.I went in and looked frantically at the menu card and to my relief there were some sea food dishes.I ordered one sea food fried rice and it was served pretty swiftly with a welcome drink which was a iced tea with some very peculiar nutty flavor known as nước sâm.I thought to myself, don’t worry, its not going to be that difficult :).

First day to office, The Scooter Mania : I was pretty excited on my first day to office, got up early ( no jetlag , no saving the daylight, staying in Asia was not a bad choice 🙂 ), and I was ready to roll.I accompanied my colleague staying in same apartment, we walked to the building gate and there is a guy who manages the taxi service quickly called a taxi waiting out on the road.My colleague took out a business card with office address on it, taxi manager checked and conveyed it to the driver, he turned back and greeted us with smile, he must be thinking “hell yeah, I am gonna take you for a ride now ” and we took off.As we hit the main road, It was a an massive river of swaying scooters with skills so evolved that they can ride in a death well with beer in one hand and a house() in another.

Nevertheless, HCMC, local name Saigon, is definitely riding fast on the growth charts.It was pretty evident from the massive construction sites, big stores, malls and cinemas.It took us around 25 mins to reach office, it was located in a well known business premises, Etown.If you take a taxi and tell the driver just one word “etouh”, he will drive you there with 90 % accuracy 🙂 . It was a amazing day at office with some awesome people and a cool office space.

Since I was not using my India number on international roaming, I also needed a local sim card .I asked Michal and he came with me to search for a sim card shop.We walked for 5 mins and there was a market for selling phones and sim cards in Cong Hoa.We went into a store and realized that even the technical names cannot bridge the challenges of intonations.I showed my phone to her and pointed to board where sim card was written in english, she smiled and quickly handed over a Viettel sim card for 100,000 VND.There are other big mobile service provider like Vinaphone, Mobifone and internet is full of their customer reviews based on personal experiences.It was a pre-acativated sim card with some voice and data balance.As we started walking back to office it was almost evening and people started leaving from their offices, we reached a road crossing and watched arguably the biggest bike ride show on earth, we waited for almost 10 mins but couldn’t dare to cross the road, finally we saw some locals jumping the guns with hands raised high and move slowly with no sudden moves, we joined them in their show and finally crossed the road, “Phew”.

I was stay put in my office apartment temporarily and I had a mammoth task of finding a apartment for myself in a new country in next few days.Since it was difficult to search on working days, I was left with weekends. Relocation team provided some property agent contact to help with the search so I called them and fix appointments on Sat/Sun to do a recce.Much to my relief, all the agent were decently fluent in english probably because they were dealing with lots of expats.Most of the real estate companies had agents to serve local and expats separately.I kind of had an idea of what I am going to look for in an apartment but suddenly after talking to my wife about these places, it changed for good, my priority was a decent spacious kitchen.Although, not very long before I was really grateful to her to have asked for a good kitchen 😉 .I had a great run on the two weekends and after talking to lots of people in office I looked for apartments in District 2(Mini-America), District 7(Korea, Japanese and my beloved country-men making their way in slowly and steadily 🙂 ), Area around District 1(City center dazzling with western influence) and District 3(Recommended residential with vicinity to District 1). After a frantic run, I looked at almost 12 apartments with 4 different agents.Finally, I met Mr Philip who was working in Benh Thanh district which was in center of Dist 2 and Dist 1 and helped me find an apartment in area with mix community of locals and expats.Most importantly, owner was a really helpful and supportive lady who spent a lot of time traveling across countries and lived in India as well for a work assignment.She was delighted to have found an Indian tenant (Thanks to people back in India who probably helped her during her stay). I loved the apartment for many reason( of course one of them was kitchen), and this generous gift from owner’s husband who was a german guy living in Saigon for a long time now,

Living like a local, Ride On !!  So my owner’s generosity went to another level and she happily handed over her bike, a Yamaha classico scooter parked in basement for few months as evident from the layers of dust on it.She gave me the keys and I tried to start the bike but aging caught up with her.We took it to a mechanic shop and he fixed it in an hour.Bike was ready to ride the scooter wave of Saigon.I was happy because taking taxi everyday to office is not worth it, you end up paying around 15 USD everyday for 12 km whereas you can fill the tank 2-3 times(~7 USD)  in a week and go on riding wherever you want in the city.Since I was going to be here long termish, it was a great deal.You can also rent a bike on monthly basis from multitude of shops spread in District 1, 2 and Benh Thanh  for 35-40 USD/month.However, this enthusiasm blinded me to foresee the future waiting next Monday.I used to ride a bike in India as well so it was not very difficult but real challenge was to go along with the hundreds of scooters on road.There are bikes on road in India as well but they are all suppressed by chest thumping car owners who see them as a obstacle in Super Mario game.In Saigon, they are the real boss with separate driving lanes and cars/trucks waiting for every scooter to cross.I was really impressed with this culture.

Monday morning I was on road with hundreds on bike and riding like a wave moving in sync with the crowd.I stopped at few places to check the map confirming my route to office and decided to take a road running along side the river and it was a beautiful small road with lot less traffic but beware of bike invaders appearing from narrow lanes. This experience can’t be complete without the mention of struggle with left hand driving habit, Vietnam( thanks to century of French influence) is a right hand driving country, so it compounded my struggle but when you see a speeding truck coming straight on you, you’d know its time to go right.Nevertheless, now my struggle seems to be over and I am very much part of the motor bike river :).

After two weeks of experience with people, food  and recognizing right VND bill, I was feeling pretty confident.Other expats in office were appreciating the fact the I picked up things really fast, I started thinking about a guy moving from state of Mizoram to Tamil Nadu within India , he’d probably go through the same challenges, maybe more.Having lived in 7 states in India, I was definitely ready to deal with these challenges better.

Where party never ends : Inspite of the challenges you face here as an expat, Saigon is welcoming and has a lot more to offer.Saigon has made its mark on both traveller’s and party lovers map.Thanks to liberal visa procedure, economical stay options and awesome street food, Backpackers have been using it as a launch pad to travel to south east destinations.Thanks to this influence, my team also loved partying after office.There is so much variety in terms of cuisine and music that you’d never have to repeat a place for months.There are Karaoke on every street of the city with Pubs and Dance Clubs running hours past midnight.Most importantly, you have an awesome place for every budget.We went for few parties in Pham Ngu Lao street, better known as Backpacker district.It’s a place where festivity goes on till wee hours.

One thing that still makes me sound like a fool is difficult intonations in Vietnamese 😦 , although the script is english but they have lot of accentuation and phonology is hard.You would end up miss-pronouncing every word.I remember my first 2 days looking for Phở , vietnamese noodle soup where every time I was shown the door with big ? on people’s faces as if no such thing exist.I learnt that I need to ask for “Fah” instead of “Pho”.Next question, How to ask for a chicken Phở? Its “Fah Ga” simple isn’t?

I have not started any formal lessons yet but picking up things in bits and pieces to help me save some apologies and embarrassment.

In the end, my decision is turning out be an amazing experience and I am learning something new every day.When I trace back, it’s the people who have made this transition so easy for me.Everyone I met here has been extremely supportive and extended help whenever I ran into any problems.It’s almost a month and I am already a member of a software development club, playing basketball with players from 5 different countries and able to cross the road using my hands as flag requesting bikers for “please, just one more time”.