Saigon

I arrived in Saigon on the morning of the 8th July. I was due to start my training on the 10th and wanted to try and deal with my jet lag before trying to be productive. I caught the bus from the airport in town. I found my hotel with little or no trouble but when I got there they had no reservation for me and were full! They found me a room in the hotel down the street. I was so glad to get into my room, at that moment I was remembering all the things I had hated about Vietnam and couldn't remember any of the good. All I wanted was a shower and some clean clothes. The room was ok and I stripped off and went to open my case to get my shower stuff only I had forgotten the code to open it! I thought I had used the same code as my hand luggage but obviously not and spent a good few minutes trying to tug it open. I was envisaging having to get some kind of tool to open it and panicking about the stuff I needed in there. Then in the midst of my panic attack I tried a variation of my hand luggage code and the case clicked open. Thank God! When I had got myself together I went into the school and met Jeremy, the guy who hired me. He seems to be a good guy, but I was a little put out as two days before I left the U.K. he had emailed me to say that I wouldn't be starting work until the 15th of August, this was a month later than expected. He did however make it clear that I would not be paid for this time and I do understand that from a business point of view but it still leaves me in a difficult position. Despite this as I walked through the city I was beginning to remember what I had liked about Vietnam. Maybe this would be ok.
I went sight seeing on the Friday and was ripped off by a cyclo taxi driver. My own fault, I should have double checked the price before we started. The guide book states that Westerners are viewed as being rich in Vietnam and that's true but I don't feel rich and I have to make my money last. Training started the next day and I walked across town to the school, arriving very hot and sweaty. It went well, I got to meet some other teachers and got to hang out with Denise, Carl and Marjorie who will all be teaching in Nha Trang for the next year. During the day we all received an invite to the wedding party of Madame Ho's daughter,the owner of the school. I was definitely up for going. We headed to our respective hotels to get ready. I met up with Denise and Carl outside her hotel, Marjorie had decided not to come as she wasn't feeling great.
The wedding was cool. It was held in a big conference centre, similar to the wedding halls in Japan. There were three other weddings going on that night. We were also asked to put some money in an envelope for the bride and groom, but here in Vietnam they don't specify how much, it depends on your connection to the couple. Since we are foreigners we only had to put in a couple of hundred thousand Dong, about $10. We all had our photo taken with the couple before entering the hall. The food was good, a lot of meat and the beer was constantly flowing. There was a video of the couple playing on two big screens, interspersed with photos that they had had taken throughout Vietnam. In the hall there were at least three cameramen filming footage and when the couple were ready to make their entrance the female presenter inside the hall handed over to a young male presenter in the entrance to the conference centre. They are going to have one amazing wedding video. I am so glad I went.
The next two days went quickly, we studied during the day and had dinner together in the evening. Denise and I got on amazingly well, it's like I've known her years. We talked about everything and decided that we couldn't wait until we each met our respective partners. Then Denise suggested that I go up to Nha Trang and hang out there for a few days as I wasn't required in Phan Thiet. Jeremy had said that I couldn't pretty much do what I wanted until school started. She also had a plane ticket that she might have to cancel if it couldn't be used. I agreed to go. Unfortunately I couldn't use the ticket and so didn't travel with the three of them, I caught the night bus the same evening and arrived in Nha Trang on the Wednesday morning. Denise had arranged for her fiance, Cal, to meet me at a cafe just around the corner from their guest house. I was good to go.