Up Close and Personal

On Mondays and Tuesdays, I take the “bus” to work. HCMC’s public transportation system of buses is relatively reliable and fairly extensive and there is almost always a bus (or two) to get you to where you want to go. The bus that runs the most direct route from our apartment to my school is not exactly a bus, but a mini-pick-up truck with a covered bed and two benches running the length of either side, allowing for five Vietnamese-sized people to sit comfortably, facing each other with about a foot of space between their knees. Often, when I get on the space is already full by Western standards, but somehow they manage to find space to squeeze me in. On a recent ride home, I found myself squeezed onto a bench with five other people, facing six other people similarly squeezed onto the opposite bench, with three people squatting on the floor between our knees. In order to allow the person in front of me some space, I had to pull my knees up by “standing” on the tips of my toes. While it is not the most comfortable way to get home, it is definitely a good way to get up close and personal with Vietnamese people.

Sometimes after school, I find myself riding alone in the back of the little “bus.” When this happens, I take the seat on the bench on the right side, closest to the driver in order to hand him my fare of 3000 VND or about 20 cents. The next time he stops to pick someone up, I find myself in the unofficial position of money handler, a role the person in this seat always seems to take on. People hand me their money and since I am closer to the driver and able to reach through the window to the cab, I make the transaction and hand the new passenger their ticket. The new passengers, always Vietnamese, usually find it quite amusing that I help them and will often give me a friendly smile and sometimes it even leads to a conversation in simple English and/or Vietnamese, which is a neat way to break the barrier that usually exists between foreigners and the non-English speaking locals. And it gives me a chance to pretend that I fit in here, even if just for the 20 minute ride to work.