That's Vietnamese for 'how much is this?' which by the way I have no idea how to pronounce, and which also is fairly irrelevant cos I already know the answer will be 'cheap, very cheap' So we’re currently in Mui Ne, about 200kms north east of hcmc. Let me just get back to the ‘awesome’ bus again if I may…. I tell ya, that was seriously the most comfortable mode of transportation ever. The ‘sleeper bus’ as they’re called, well they didn’t have air con, but the windows opened so that was okay, are simply the best! Mick slept for just [View Full Entry]

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Predictable title I know, but I’ve always wanted a purpose to say that! So, we are in HCMC, actually to be precise I am writing this from the worlds coolest bus, seriously, it’s a sleeper bus so its full of beds instead of seats, we’ve only been on here 10 minutes and mick is already snoring, (apart from the noise) I’m loving this bus. I actually wrote this huge blog last night, stayed up til the wee hours of the morning producing a flat out masterpiece and the damn site crashed as I pressed submit. I was not a happy camper [View Full Entry]

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Allo Allo ! on est rendus au Cambodge et comme vous avez peut-etre remarque, l'acces internet n'est plus gratuit ! C'est pas cher non plus, mais moins facile que de descendre au rez-de-chaussee de l'hotel. Le Vietnam etait bien pour ca, mais on s'en ennuie pas. C'est unanime (2 sur 2) on prefere le Cambodge ! L'atmosphere, les gens, c'est charmant ! Mais ca c'est une autre histoire ! Je vais d'abord conclure notre periple au Vietnam meme si ca commence deja a etre plus loin dans mes souvenirs donc j'ai peut-etre moins d'anecdotes comiques a inserer, mais m'a faire mon [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, Firstly thanks for all the blog love I've been getting, glad you guys are liking the blog. I'm just happy to share our adventures and some pictures. Anyways, last time it was Northern Vietnam and Halong Bay that amazed us, this time it was the central coast of Vietnam. There is an open bus ticket option here in Vietnam where you choose the number of stops along the way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Min City. The price ranges in the $25-$35 range. Which would be ideal. If you knew how many stops and where you were stopping. So [View Full Entry]

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My morning walk is getting less strenuous and always interesting. If you enjoy watching people, Vietnam is a paradise. Most of the walk also alerts the senses to the beautiful surroundings. This blog is a little of what I see as I walk to the Cafe Vuon Xua. There is a school near my house and a lot of the kids are eating breakfast on the street. No school lunch, no school breakfast, just a bunch of free enterprise street vendors providing a service to the kids going to school. The kids get a lot of variety in their lunches but [View Full Entry]

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Following the French Conquest of Cochinchina and Saigon, the Roman Catholic Church established religious services for the French colonialist in an abandoned Vietnamese pagoda. That was too small so they built a wooden church which was damaged by termites. In August 1876, the Governor of Cochinchina M. Duperré held a design contest for a new cathedral. Apart from creating a religious building for the Catholics, the cathedral, by some opinion, was also aimed at displaying Christianity and the greatness of French civilization. The design by architect J. Bourad defeated 17 others and was chosen [View Full Entry]

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Well, we made it to Vietnam and so far our ecperience has been wonderful. Our hostess at the hotek is the sweetest person I have ever met and really helped us get our bearings here. We arrived in the evening so we went out to dinner and a few cocktails. As we were leaving the restaurant I noticed a little art shop across the street adn I wanted to check it out. Steve and I went in to look around and a gentleman came out to ask us where we were from. When I said America he got very excited and [View Full Entry]

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Mr. Phuong is my English teaching friend from HCMC. He is quite the friend. I met him as I was bicycling down a Saigon street. He pulled up beside me on his motorbike and said: "If you would just stop at that pub ahead, I'll buy you a beer if you talk English with me. I don't like beer but I stopped anyway. I guess that was the start of our friendship, doing things neither one of us finds all that interesting just to be with someone who is interesting. Mr. Phuong is an English teacher, public and private. He is [View Full Entry]

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Day 2 began as we got on the bus and headed down towards the Cu Chi tunnels. The trip turned out to be longer than we thought as we went to the 'Cao Dai' temple which was a few hours away. The bus ride was great to see the other half of saigon, the country side. We soon found out that living quality only worsened as we got further out of the city. On the way we stoped of at another one of the tour guides 'arranged' stops at what appeared to be a large warehouse. We walked inside and saw [View Full Entry]

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Dear Family & Friends, Last month I spent a week in Vietnam and Cambodia; two incredible, developing countries with violent histories. This is Part 1 which focuses on the time I spent in Southern Vietnam, namely Ho Chi Minh (formerly known as Saigon) and the Mekong River Delta region. My buddy Geoff and I planned this trip by not planning anything at all. That's a lie, we did make one non-financially bound reservation at a hostel in our final city, Siem Reap, Cambodia. The 'show up and figure it out' strategy worked out surprisingly well and gave us the freedom to [View Full Entry]

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