French boulevards

18.07.2014

I went to the city of Haiphong, even though Richie told me not to go. I came back in the afternoon because everything closes up at about eleven a.m.

I arrived in Haiphong at around ten and luck would have it, my bus dropped me off not far from the museum area. I missed the naval museum, but went to the city museum. The top floor was closed when I got there, but I went upstairs anyway and it was really creepy. The photos are from the bottom.

Then, I tried to go to the naval museum but it was closed. From there, I headed to a weird temple in the thirty-one degree heat. It was intense. There were big signs all over saying no photos, so I only took some in the garden. A lot different than China, I hope they aren't all like this.

I took a rest with my ham sandwich and cool army canteen water bottle under a nice tree and then headed back home. On my way, a crazy man started following me. Then, I stopped at a yogurt shake stand for a drink so that I could scare the man away. It worked. I pointed at him while I was talking to the yogurt drink lady and he ran away. She said he is always wandering around scaring people. Wow. The drink stand is called Panda Coffee. If you are ever in Haiphong, drink one for me. I asked the drink lady what else there was to do in Haiphong and she said nothing. So, I went home.

On the way home, the bus driver tried to rip me off. On the way there, it cost 60,000 VND to get to Haiphong, but on the way back it was 70,000. OK, no big deal, I thought. THEN, when I got back home, he tried to drop me off on the wrong side of this HUGE BRIDGE. You know why? His taxi driver friend was waiting there, to take me to my hotel. Yep. So, when he tried to push me off, I told him exactly where I wanted to go. He even had the nerve to ask for some MORE money! Wow, people are always skimming off of you in Vietnam, it's intense.