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Published: January 1st 2009
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I thought I better let some of you know what I have been up to. I was "living" in Thailand for 3 months, which was the maximum amount of time I could stay with a "tourist visa" so I had to leave the country. I could have gone to a Thai embassy and got a new visa but instead I decided to travel a little bit. I took the train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok on the 22nd of December and spent a few days in Bangkok and then I flew to Hanoi on the 28th of December.
I am having problems uploading photos onto the travelblog website so here is a
LINK that has a few photos (I haven't taken very many). I did manage to get one loaded, it is a picture of a taxi driver in Bangkok "license". The driver had such an appropriate name for a cabbie, no not Mr. Fast and no not Mr. Lost, rather Mr. Bandit!
Currently I am in Hanoi, back at the sports hotel where I wrote my Christmas 2007 blog. It is a nice place and the staff are very friendly and helpful which can be refreshing in Northern
Vietnam. I popped into the hotel to say hi and the owner remembered me and was kind of enough to take me out to lunch. I wasn't staying at the hotel because I was trying to save a few bucks but I decided to stay there for a few days because of their service. I will be heading back up to the Sapa area and will hopefully take a little motorcycle journey and take many fotos. After that I am not sure, probably back to Thailand via Laos (China?) before heading back to the states to "settle down". The way the economy is going I will probably be living under a bridge with some ex wall street executives. If you don't want to be living under the bridge with me, I
urge you to check out the
entire CRASH COURSE . Why do I urge you? Because I believe in helping others and I think this site provides some very, very valuable information. You don't have to read - it is all videos!
Speaking of economies, one of the "first" things you do when you arrive in a new country is try to find out what the
"true" prices of things are. As a foreigner who doesn't speak the local language you will pay a small "tourist" tax over and above the going price. The other day I saw a street vendor selling corn on the cob and I asked him how much, he said, "10,000 dong" (about $.60) which seemed a little high. I asked him how much the local guy who was eating corn paid and he said, "10,000 dong". I was hungry and didn't want to haggle so I got one. Then a local women came up and got two ears of corn and had a 10,000 dong note in her hand. The vendor then said something to her in Vietnamese, she turned and looked at me and then took out a 20,000 note and paid (20,000 are blue and 10,000 are green). The vendor gave the local guy who was eating corn 10,000 dong and said something to him and the woman. The woman walked around in a circle to the guy the vendor had given the 10,000 dong to who then slipped the woman the 10,000 dong note. All that, three people involved to overcharge a bit. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining and I laughed at what happened. It could of been worse, I could have had some of my money invested with the American crook - Bernie Madoff who stole up to $50,000,000,000 from people all over the world, so and extra $.30 was just fine.
Here is a funny (but truthful) video on the economy staring Fred Thompson from law and order -
Fred on the economy So I conclude this blog by saying, "Happy New Year - I hope 2009 is filled with prosperity and joy for all"
Dave / Yogi
ps: for all my friends in Europe, James Mcmurtry, the greatest singer song writer will be touring in Europe in January. check out the schedule at his website"
James Mcmurtry pss - speaking of James Mcmurtry here is a video i made a few years back -
where's david psss - i forgot what it was like crossing the streets in hanoi - here's a short
VIDEO to give you an idea
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Larry
non-member comment
All the best mate
Thanks for the wishes Dave..Hope the year's fulled with your dreams and good wishes..At the moment, enjoying the African summer in Cape Town..back in Colombia soonish..Cheers mate..Larry