Blogs from Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 217

On the run around AisaAlan Gillespie Border roll call, into the bus and cruise through customs via a few monetary incentives from our guide. Vietnam is instantly nicer than Cambodia, except the non-English speaking lady tried to charge me 3 bucks for 2 warm beers! The country already appears cleaner and much more structured. They even appear to have some sort of road sense (some, but not much). Arrive Saigon, what a town. You can see why everyone loves this place. It has its own aura that just seems to reach out and grab you. We get off the bus, of course with no idea where we are but double in number. Evan had joined us also a crazy Canadian, whom is quickly burning my short fuse. She is old, stupid, talks too much (I know, ... read more

Geo: 10.7592, 106.662... read more

Last night was INSANE. I finally managed to get YL off his lazy butt to party at APOCALYPSE NOW (with a little encouragement from 2 lovely girls from Norway). Made a whole bunch of friends from all over the place. Partied the night away and I crept into bed at 7am - absolutely worth it! Well, we are finally in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. It is completely different from Thailand and Cambodia in many ways, some good and some bad of course. We were pleasantly surprised to discover how clean HCMC is especially after spending a couple of weeks in Thailand and Cambodia. The food is also very different - there is pho, rich vietnamese coffee, baguettes.. I feel like I'm eating slightly healthier, a very very good thing. An important thing to note also is ... read more

Happy New Year! According to the Vietnamese we have finally entered 2007 - appropriately for us, it's the Chinese Year of the Pig - and we're in Saigon to watch the last remnants of its new-year Tet festivities being cleared. The celebrations in Vietnam had all of the glassy-eyed derangement of NYE back home, but with a couple of key differences. The party goes on for five days here, as opposed to just one night, and rather than spending their money on rivers of booze, the Vietnamese shell out on several forests' worth of red cards and banners with gold lettering, pig-shaped flower arrangements and ornamental kumquat trees. All very civilised, unlike their penchant for whole-town karaoke contests, but more of this anon. Our time in Vietnam comes to an end today when we take a ... read more

Hi there.... After my last blog a few people have asked me to add pics of the Killing Fields, so i've added a small selection in the last blog! I left Cambodia yesterday and arrived in Vietnam, Thats another country ticked off the list! To be honest I'd have liked to have spent more time in Cambodia, there was still alot to see but I'm on a time schedule so had to get to Vietnam! After being in Cambodia which was pretty laid back, I arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) last night and its mental! Its a massive, noisy city and crossing the road is like dicing with death! I'm only here for a couple of days though, then heading to the beach!! YEY!!!!!! After my last blog, i booked my bus ticket to Siem ... read more