Vinh Anh Hotel Bien Hoa, Vietnam

When Barbara was offered the job, she had a choice of a beach town, Saigon, or , what was described as " a small city outside of Saigon". Of course she chose the beach town, but as we commenced our taxi ride out of Saigon, it became obvious that we were not going to the beach, but to the "small town" of 1,000,000 people, Bien Hoa. The first thing we saw upon entering town was a giant Christmas tree in front of a 4 story mall which had the words BLACK FRIDAY written on the window. Barbara did a double take. Something about it reminded her of home. I'm not sure what?
Bien Hoa was the airfield during the Vietnam War. Barbara was a bit young to be involved in the Vietnam War, but some of her older friends and relatives were not happy upon hearing the name of this town again. Vietnam for the most part seems to have forgiven the Americans for their part in the war. You will find that a lot of Americans in Vietnam have chosen to come here because of what happened during the war. They want to give back.

All the young teachers want to live and party in Saigon, so Bien Hoa is where they placed all the 50 and 60 year old teachers.
The taxi dropped us off at our address, but it was a private residence, not our hotel, so she had to walk and walk lugging our suitcases all over town. And she was NOT happy. For this trip, she had purchased a matching set of luggage which included one of those giant sized suitcases. These are not conducive to hand transport.

Here's how the next hour went: The suitcases are marched along the street searching for the correct address. A nice lady who was working at an outdoor food cart takes pity and drives off on her motor bike to find the address. She finds the address and sends us off, but it ends up being the same private residence. We trudge back to her shop, where she gives up and places us in a cab to the school, because everyone knows where that is. It's in the only high rise in town. Eventually, we make it to our hotel.

Advise: Don't rely on addresses in developing countries. In advance of arriving, locate your residence on a map, copy down the phone number, and find a picture of the building to show to your driver.

What kind of luggage do you carry? Are you a light traveler or do you bring everything you own?