Yes we're still alive!

Hey everyone,

We have about 20 minutes before we have to get going, so I'll make this quick and elaborate later.
We're back in Bangkok and it's amazing how much at home we feel here now, especially compared to the overwhelming feeling the city gave us when we first arrived from Detroit.

We have our Thai Cell again: (...) 66 57055512

So give us a call, it's free for us to receive calls!

It's been 10 days or so since our last blog and I'm sure you were all aching to read the next one. Must have been horrible having to wait for so long. Well, here it is.

We visited the Cuchi tunnels outside HCMC and that was cool. I crawled through a Vietcong tunnel for about 140 meters that was about 70 by 80 cm (I think). It was interesting to see the Vietnamese point of view when it comes to the war. I shot an M16 and an AK-47 (see pics) and I think I'm joining the NRA. It feels very manly shooting those guns and I think I got some hair on my chest due to surge of testosterone.

Sorry, I'm justing looking at the time and we need to get going soon so I'm going to upload some pics and write more later.

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Ok I decided not to publish the blog yesterday because it was too short and incomplete.

So here we go.

The Cuchi tunnels were great and HCMC was very modern and much larger (less clostrophobic) than Hanoi. We went to a very nice market where we got a great deal on some of those porcelain soup spoons (or in our case mostly cereal spoons). We found an Australian-run restaurant near our Hotel called Allez Boo that ended up being our hangout while in the city. the food was good, not too expensive, nice people, and cool music.

After having had a good experience in the Future Club in Hanoi we decided to look for a nightclub. This took us right in to the center Dong Khoi area right on Saigon River where all the international class hotels are located. First we went into a place called Apocalypse Now that was more of a bar than a club. It had a restaurant attached to it and the decorations seemed a bit cheesy. We decided to walk around a little. We almost decided to go back to the Hotel when we stumbled upon a place called Rain Forest Disco that sounded like it was bumping. Upon entering we were quickly ushered into the back by a girl that was wearing a skintight red rubber dress and looked like a cheap Asian hooker. So we enede up sitting next to a Kroatian guy in the tourist section of the club, where we were handed a tourist menu. One Tiger beer was 48000 dong ($3), which may not seem that expensive, but normal price was about $1. In addition they added Taxes and service which made it a (for Vietnam) ridiculus 55000 dong per beer. Needles to say, after pounding 2 beers, watching a club full of upper class Vietnamese people shake their booties to thumping techno, and talking to a Vietnamese-American from California for a while, we had had enough and returned to the streets of central HCMC. There is a monument in the middle of the main square where many local couples come to make out, so we thought we woild join them. However, when elinor saw a small rodent running across the grass that fun was over and we were quickly back in a cab to our Hotel (which was called Betty and had a very friendly owner).

That was about it for our HCMC adventures and we were off on a tour of the Mekong Delta before making our way to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The mekong tour took us to an incense making village where a lady was making incence at 10000 sticks per day. believe us she was fast and skilled. One of the tourist gave it a try and failed miserably. Next we took a beautiful scenic trip over the Mekong which ended with a nice sunset (see pics) just outside of Chau Doc, where we were to spend the night.
We had some very nice people on the boat with us. Particularly, a Canadian guy called Mark who we ended up bumping into in Phnom Penh and Siem Riep (but that'll come later).

The resort was very nice, for backpackers' standards, and the food was decent. They woke us at 6 am the next morning to continue our trip through the Mekong to a Muslim minority village.
This was more of a tiny market than a real minority village. Although I did venture into the mosque where Vietnamese Children were learning Arabic and asking tourists for money at the same time. Very smart kids! Also very sad. This is one of the things that sets Asia apart from the West. We have plenty of beggars in Detroit, Amsterdam has a few, Isreal a couple, but nowhere are kids left to beg like here in Asia. There are kids everywhere with their hands out and the sad thing is, there is nothing you can do. Giving money will encourage them to continue this behaviour and even if you were to give the money could go directly into the pocket of an adult waiting on the next corner. Sad, very sad!

The border with Cambodia was a little shack on the side of the river, where we had to get out to stamp out (spend all our last dong, which we did by buying some homeless guy with one leg, who asking for money, a beef and noodles meal and a cup of coffee). Then we walked a short distance to another shack where we stamped in and we were in Cambodia.
It was another hour to where we took the bus to Phnom Penh. We arriveed at around 5 pm and were brought to a guest house where our driver knew he could get commision (as usual).

A guy that we were with had been to Phnom Penh before and said we were far away from where everything was happening so we took a cab to the river where we found ourselves on the French Riveira. Hotels and nice restaurants scattered alover and tourists in every direction.

OK I'm getting tired of typing, but we have lots more to say. Realize that when I write these blogs we are writing them not only for your enjoyment, but also for us. Often the details tha make a trip like this so memorable are forgotten and I am trying to preserve those.

Some of the pics are ahead of the text, but I want to upload them so you can see them.

ENjoy,

Love yall

ELinor and Ishai

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