Arrived in Vietnam / 初到越南

Last month, I took a short break in Vietnam. As we had only 3 days, so we decided to just visit Ho Chi Minh city. We flew with Tiger Airway and stayed at the 'Catina Saigon Hotel' for 2 nights. The whole package cost $350/person. The airport customs officer bombarded me with many queastions. Some of the questions were a bit strange. The young man in the military stayle uniform asked me what kind of job I'm doing. Are my parents all Chinese? What about my husband? What is he doing? etc. I was really puzzled about these questions. If one of my parents is not Chinese, could it mean I would not be allowed to enter the counter? I told him I'm not married yet. But I still do not understand. What if I had? Does it matter? I was thinking in which way it affects me. I was travelling by myself, so eventhough I had a husband, worse come to worse, say, he's a criminal or even a terrorist, nothing to do with me right?
We were told that we would be staying at a 4-star hotel, in the end we found out the hotel was only 3 and a half. Nevertheless the room is clean, spacious and comfortable. However, there's still a severe problem--the room had no windows.
Upon arrival at the airport, we went looking for a taxi booking office. Because our travel book mentioned that in Vietnam, nobody would use the meter system and it's very easy to get cheated as a foreign tourist. The best way is to get a prepaid ticket. Each ticket cost US$5 to go from the airport to the downtown area. But when we approached the counters, none of them was selling at that price. The cheapest we could get was US$8.
The night, we went to some shops recommended by our book. Everything is more expensive than the book mentioned. But I was surprised Vietnamese really have the most amazing taste. They have a spectrum of goods, ranging from table ware, things for decoration and other craftsmanship. The quality is better than can be found in Thailand, and the prices are no more expensive in comparison.

上月尾，我请了三天假，去越南的胡志明市走了走。我们乘坐的是虎航，在Catina Saigon酒店住了两晚，整个配套$350。在机场，一位穿着军装的年轻官员问了我无数问题，其中一些令人感觉怪怪的。如：你做什么工作？你的父母全是华人吗？你丈夫呢？是做什么的？我百思不得其解。心想幸亏我父母都是纯正华人，不然看起来像进来都难哪。接下来我告诉他我仍未婚，但我实在不明白，我是自己来的，那即便我真的结婚了，且他是个罪犯，甚至是恐怖主义者，但他又没来，会影响到我么？
在来之前，旅行社告诉我们酒店是四星级的，可我们住进去才发现只是3.5星而已。不过房间倒也干净，宽敞，舒适，只是没有窗户。
出关后，我们按照书上所说的去买出租车票，因为越南这地方不打表，游客很容易被骗，所以最好提前买票，书上说每张美金5块，可实际上我们花了8块。
晚上，我们在酒店周围转转，那里有很多小铺子，售卖的东西令人眼花缭乱，也许是受到法国人的影响，越南人的taste不错，从装饰物如花瓶，瓷器，小摆设，及艺术品等应有尽有，感觉质量要比泰国好，而价钱又不比泰国来得贵。