Flight to Asia and arrival

On the night of Wednesday, January 8th to Thursday, January 9th, I boarded the large EVA Air plane in Toronto at 0:30 Canadian time, which is 6:30 German time. I had booked a seat with extra legroom, as I would be spending the next 15 1/2 hours there. Consequently, I sat at the emergency exit and was one of the first to board the plane, receiving special instructions on what to do in case of an emergency.

After a few minutes of delay, we took off and I wanted to take advantage of the time to sleep. Unfortunately, dinner was served first, which didn't really fit my schedule as I had already eaten. However, I knew that the next meal wouldn't be served for a few hours and I would surely be hungry by then, so I ended up eating. As a result, I wasn't particularly tired. I dozed off from time to time, but I never really slept deeply. I spent the rest of the time watching movies and organizing or deleting pictures on my phone. Surprisingly, the time went by faster than expected and we were served breakfast shortly before landing.

I landed in Taipei, Taiwan at 5:30 local time, which is 16:00 my internal clock time and 22:00 German time. I had a layover of 3 1/2 hours and departed with a 45-minute delay. The flight to my final destination was just as long as the first one, which surprised me, but almost every seat was occupied. I arrived in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam at 11:30 local time, which is 23:30 my internal clock time and 5:30 German time. From now on, I am 6 hours ahead of Germany.

In summary, I was on the road for 23 hours, experienced a time difference of 12 hours, and a temperature difference of 50 degrees. I departed from Canada at -15 degrees and arrived at +35 degrees. The special thing about this trip: I flew the "back way". Looking at the world map, Europe is in the middle, so you always fly to the right or left. However, I flew across Canada and then over the water for a long time... something you have to do at least once ;)

Now it was time to successfully complete the immigration process. So, I lined up with several hundred other people. It took a while, but as expected, there were no problems.

Then I walked to the baggage claim. It was actually quite an experience and I couldn't stop marveling - maybe it had to do with the combination of heat + lack of sleep + time difference. 90% of the people had a cart and drove it directly to the front of the conveyor belt. This, of course, meant that hardly anyone else could access the belt. Also, at first, I thought I was at a post office. There were no suitcases or backpacks on the belt, only packages. To this day, I don't know the reason, but the packages were wrapped in massive amounts of plastic to withstand the flight. The tape around the package came in all sorts of colors and patterns, so that the package could be recognized quickly. However, this didn't really work, so the baggage carousel quickly filled up and there was a jam. Airport employees then took the packages off the belt and stacked them on the floor - which didn't help with finding the package. Each person had at least 3 to 4 packages, and not the small ones, but the really big ones... I would have been really interested to know what they had inside. After a while, I finally saw my backpack - it stood out among all the packages - but I had to fight my way to the front of the belt.

On the way out, I quickly bought a SIM card and then got on a public bus. I really had to get used to the currency here, because I'm a millionaire here ;) 25,000 Vietnamese dong is only 1 euro, and at ATMs, you usually can only withdraw 2 million VND, not even 80 euros.

The bus ride was another highlight, and it only cost me 20,000 VND. The journey to my hostel took one hour. I had heard a lot about the traffic in the cities in Asia, but experiencing it myself was a whole different story. Honking and bravery are the keys to driving, everyone else has to stop. There are traffic lights and stop signs, but here too, the rule is: if you honk, you can drive, regardless of whether the light is green or red. Cars often come towards you on your own lane. There are pedestrian crossings, but people don't stop. So, as a pedestrian, you have to be brave. The advantage: due to all the traffic, you can only drive at a maximum of 30 km/h ;) A few times, I thought we would run over scooter riders, but that wasn't the case. I have to admit: they know how to drive! To this day, I haven't witnessed a single accident!

I arrived at the hostel around 15:00 and took a nap for an hour. Then, I walked around - or rather wandered around - and ate one of the national dishes in a small bar: Pho soup. The broth has an intense meat flavor and is garnished with various herbs, rice noodles, and usually beef or chicken. However, I opted for the vegetarian version. In the evening, I went for a beer with 4 of my roommates at the rooftop bar of our hostel to stay awake. However, at 21:00, I already said goodbye and went to bed.