Last day of jet-lag recovery

Today I woke up at 6:30 am and, having finally moved into my own apartment yesterday afternoon, I unloaded my suitcase full of American brands, carefully and strategically placing every item exactly where I felt they belonged. I must not yet have fixed the jet lag since I normally would never wake up that early on my own free will and without an alarm. Of course, having gone out to get a few items to stock up my fridge, mainly water and orange juice, it is now almost 3 pm and I'm feeling  quite ready for a nap.

But I will first blog about my fantastic new apartment. It's nice and cozy, very quiet, and I feel it'd be just perfect to stay in such a place as a single person, even in America, except....

There are geckos living in my apartment!!

I am not sure how many at the moment, but I know there are at least two. They're tiny - about the size of my pinky - and a dull lime greenish color (booger green); they move super fast (which is what gives me the creeps). When I see them, they give me chills so while I'm building up the courage to move closer to them to kill them or chase them out of my apartment, they hurriedly scurry under cupboards or couches and then it's the end of the confrontation...until next time. But I've decided, based on what I've been told, that I will let them be...since they kill bugs, aren't hideous in comparison to the thumb-size cockroaches that I have seen outside at night, and are probably more scared of me than I am of them. Please just don't crawl into my mouth while I'm sleeping. A friend I met here suggested I give them names...since I can't tell them apart, I've decided they will all share the name Ben...and then I can hum MJ's song every time I get goosebumps.

Other than my new pets, this apartment is just about perfect...ready for some pictures?

The bedroom.

I've got a balcony!

A kitchen I will never use.

The living room.

It's cozy.

Having a nice bathtub was a must for me. I love baths!

And it's quite safe too! Although I would never risk leaving anything unlocked or out in the open to be snatched away in my absence. But...yesterday night I for some reason forgot to lock the main door to my apartment. There's not simple lock so I have to use the key and well, by the time I walk from the main road to the apartment, climb up the five spiraling flights of narrow stairs, and open the door, I'm exhausted and sweaty and just ready to drop the keys on the \TV stand, switch the aircon on and flop on the couch for some kdrama. Excitingly, I've discovered the channel where they air Korean dramas with English subs this morning while turning the apartment into "home" for the next two months. Lucky, eh? Well, anyway, I forgot to lock the main door last night and did not realize it until this morning when the question came to my mind: Did I ever lock the door after I got in last night? No worries. I was a bit paranoid last night, being my first night alone in Vietnam, so I locked my bedroom door. Now I will remember to lock my main door, and maybe I'll continue to lock my bedroom door as well...just in case.
I still have not done a lot of traveling or taking much pictures. But I will make a point of doing so in the evenings after I get off work (although that may not play out since they work 9-hour shifts at the firm). It's depressing. Tomorrow (Monday) is my first day, and I so am not looking forward to it. I just want to be able to roam around freely as though I were on a long vacation. I'll try to make the most of this working experience. I promise.

Yesterday I slept in until 10:30 but it wasn't a pleasant, continuous sort of sleep. I woke up twice and forced myself to fall back asleep. And my back was hurting throughout the entire night so I was unable to sleep comfortably at all. But well, Elliot and I went out for breakfast and had bun bo hue (a thick, round noodle soup) at a nearby place. I don't think the servers like Americans that much because they didn't look happy serving us. Or maybe they just don't normally look happy. Afterwards we decided to go visit the Jade Emperor Pagoda which is supposed to be the ONE worth visiting. Let's just say, it was sunny, it was humid, we walked, we walked, we took some turns, we retraced our steps, we walked some more, and then we gave up, sat down at some corner with some old Vietnamese men (that was more Elliot's doing than mine) and waited for two of our friends/colleagues to find us on their motorbikes and take us (or save us) to lunch. Elliot and I walked around, not aimlessly but surely in inevitable failure, for a total of at least 3 hours. I'm surprised no one fainted or anything of the likes.

But we did take a nice stroll in this beautiful park during this time so...

And I did get to buy this dress for about 8 USD. That's a steal!

Like I said, our friends saved us, took us to an air-conditioned refuge called The Sushi Bar, and we had some good sushi. (Elliot and I got into a little argument...but we're over it now...and Buks, the thought of your potential encouraging and understanding words definitely calmed me =] ) My favorite item there was the deep-fried fatty salmon; it was tasty!

Because of the tension in the air at that time, I was quite happy to get the call from my agent regarding the completion of the apartment. It was ready for me to move in asap! And I did. Right after lunch, I headed back to Elliot's with the two friends, got my things, met the agent, and headed to my new "home." Almost immediately after placing my luggage in the apartment, I headed out for a girls' night out with Tuyen (one of the two friends and the first Vietnamese person I met - formally - since my arrival).

She's a lovely girl and she took me on her motorbike to a few of her favorite shops and then we had frozen yogurt at yogen fruz. With a good getting-to-know-you conversation had, we headed to Acoustic Bar, the place even Lonely Planet raves has fantastic live music. And I'm sure it does...we were just unlucky last night. The place was packed, as I would like them to be, but people were smoking like crazy, there was no place to sit because we did not realize to have to phone ahead to reserve tables, and a bunch of tall people kept blocking our ways. Oh, not only that, the music selection was less than good and we decided not to stay long.

After leaving the Acoustic Bar, which had taken us forever to find in the first place, it took us awhile to get a taxi...by the time we finally did, we were a bit hungry...so Pho 24 we went. It's like a fast-food chain for pho...but it's delicious!!
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I took an extremely long break between when I started this post and when I'm actually posting it. So much more to blog about, but I'm exhausted and tomorrow is Day 1, so to bed I go.

Good night, Vietnam.