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Published: November 12th 2012
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I will now be writing today's posting because if Nick were to do this I believe every other word would be a curse word. Yes friends we may have fallen vicitm to our first scam.
We should have known this was going to be a bad day when we hopped on the tour bus and our guide began with some statistics about Ho Chi Minh. "Did you know 10,000 people died in traffic accidents last year"..." Did you know three months ago a bus fell off a bridge and no one knows why"... " Did you know we may not even be here tomrrow." Wow that will put a person at ease. She did turn it around later and was actually funny but seriously its not nice to start that way. So about half way to the tunnels they take you to factory where person's affected by agent orange make various crafts. We got to see how they were made and then taken into the store. Everything was gorgeous and walking through you really felt bad for all the workers. As we were looking at a particular statue one of the workers came up and said they can
ship it home for you for only $60. Hey that's not bad! We thought more about it and decided alright let's buy it.
Turns out they dont ship, you take it to the post office. Ok no big deal. So we made our purchase, they packed it up and we were on our way to the tunnels.
We arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels. These were a set of tunnels used by the Vietnamese during the War to hide from the enemy - the Americans - as we were reminded quite a few times. They are very impressive and mind boggling as to how people could fit in these narrow passage ways and walk hundreds of meters underground. The whole tour lasted about two hours and you were able to climb through a tunnel (enlarged for tourists), hide underground, and learn about the villagers in the time of war. Afterwards our group all sat down for tea and a snack. I was taken aback that here we are sitting with people from Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, etc. just enjoying some tea together. Well that was until someone asked us where we were from and when I replied "US".
They jokingly responded "oh the enemy". We of course had to chuckle but it was a bit awkward. There are two sides to every story and the Vietnamese side is quite different from what we all learn in history class. So we take it for what it is and move on.
On our way back our tour bus was nice enough to drop us at the post office to mail our statue home. We stumbled across an Australian couple doing they same thing. At first they were told they couldn't ship it as it was too big, then they said ok you can do it express for $165. Our package was smaller so we thought ok no big deal. Nick then steps up to the counter, they measure it........$255. But don't worry it will be there in 3 days!
At this point we had two options, carry it with us the rest of the trip (7 more flights) or suck it up. We sucked it up. Luckily it is a three pay check month!! No actually that doesn't make it any better.
So maybe a scam, maybe lack of knowledge, but whatever it was we walked back
to the hotel fealing defeted. And to add insult to injury our Bahn Mi lady was MIA and we couldn't even get a snack to cheer us up.
We made our way to dinner at a spot we had picked out the night before. The goal was to try some authentic Vietnamese Cuisine. I was all in but suddenly as we got to the restaurant Nick's stomach was having none of it. We managed to try out a few things and then made our way to the Sheraton Hotel. We had heard there was a bar with a great view of the city. Thinking this may be the cure for the day we headed that way. Although the view amazing, it was clear this day needed to be over. The drinks were a bit pricey and turista (is it called that in SE Asia?) was taking over Nick.
So here we are back in the hotel room. Have I told you how much I love our hotel Saigon Eurpoe. Nicest people ever. I went out to get water and crackers for Nick and they made sure I made it back ok. Such a great place to stay!!
Now you all may be feeling bad for Nick at this point but about one minute ago he rolls over and says "any news on Amendola?"
We are off to the island of Phu Quoc tomorrow. I think a little R and R is much needed.
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Dorota
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Nightmares!
That video of nick is crazy. I have had nightmares of getting stuck in tunnels like that (don't ask). What a brave man! And is the beer in his hand mini-sized?