Road Babe Dispatch From Vietnam

Diving head first into a new culture, specifically an impoverished one, was quite intense. It shocked me, exhilarated me, and most importantly gave me a perspective on strange places and people who were vastly different but still presented familiar values I saw reflected in myself.

I experienced culture-shock as soon as I stepped out onto the taxi curb at Ho Chi Minh International Airport around 11:30 p.m. The air was thick with humidity and polluted with the bitter aroma of petrol fumes. If...