VN: HAT Packs

Chao mi! It has been approximately a year and half since I was last in Vietnam for my Fulbright research. In that time, I've cultivated little tidbits that I've found useful now as I prepare for my Immersion trip to SE Asia. So, I want to take the time to post some thoughts about my trip in 2004-2005 and my upcoming trip, and hopefully these things might be helpful for other travelers to VN.

While I've already written a few posts on VN, this will be the official first in a series of HATposts about traveling in VN. Since I've already begun the process of packing for this January, I'll start there... one of the most angst-ridden part of the preparation and yet the most fun.

Throughout my trip in 04-05, I kept 2 valises and 1 backpack (keep in mind, ya'all, that this was for 10 months, and for me, that's keeping it light). I was based in one city, but whenever I traveled throughout VN, I kept a backpack and 1 carry-on. For those of you who have traveled with me, you'll know this is an extremely difficult challenge. How am I supposed to keep everything (including gifts!) inside these two little bags?! I dunno how it happened, but it did.

As you know, list-making is an essential task in all travels. I've got lists for everything from what I wore to what I bought to how much I paid for things to how much was spent on taxi rides and xe om rides. I'll dispense with the list of stuff in my luggage, since we're all seasoned travelers here, but I think I'll start with itemizing stuff I found absolutely useful while there:

• Baby wipes/facial wipes
• Pepto Bismol
• Pepcid AC
• Clinique travel size face wash
• Toothbrush & toothpaste
• Shiseido facial sunblock
• Clinique's tinted CityBlock
• Burt's Bees tinted lip moisturizer
• Johnson & Johnson travel size baby powder
• pen flashlight
• Digicam/videocam
• Moleskin notebook

Everything was travel size, or were those little free-give-aways which made them ideal for light packing. Other items like the baby/wet wipes were useful to wipe down dirty tabletops or chairs, hands and face, etc. In some areas in SE Asia, I was asked to pay for toilet paper that felt like sandpaper, so the baby wipes were very useful. Because of the humidity and heat in SE Asia, baby powder was a great substitute for lotions and lightly tinted sunblocks such as the CityBlock were ideal.

Something to note, though: You can buy anything at a "sieu thi" like Maximark or Citimart or Co-opmart. I frequented the one in Saigon Center on Le Loi b/c it's small so I don't have the frenzied CostCo shopping experience. However, you can go to any of the other locatoins near Nam Ky Khoi Nghia (?) or on 3/2 street and you'll be smack in the middle of Walmart SuperCenter. I even signed up for a membership card to rack up the rewards points to get the "khuyen mai" deals. Great stuff! You will also be able to visit places like Saigon's Diamond Plaza where everything is priced in European or American price ranges. You'll be able to purchase Clinique, Shiseido, Estee, and other similar brands at regular prices.

Be careful that you don't purchase items over the price that you would pay while in the U.S. While in VN, I decided to splurge and purchase a refill for one of my make-up "must-haves" and ended up paying a little bit more than an arm and a leg. Hee hee hee. (Have I already said that I bought the Harry Potter book from Nha Sach Nguyen Hue when it came out? All the bookstores were out in the first distribution in Saigon and they had to take orders months in advance. I had to come back 3 weeks later to get my copy. Naturally, the hardback I purchased was much more expensive. After I converted how much I'd paid in VND, the USD was about $5 more -- and in Dong, that's an awful big difference. C'est la vie.) All, of course, b/c I didn't want to go through the hassle of haggling at one of the market stalls. It's because they import directly from the countries of origin, and importing into VN "somehow" raises the price considerably. Oh the things we do for the things we don't need...