Blogs from District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Southeast, Vietnam, Asia - page 40

http://PLANET-OF-DEATH.com So, I cracked open the day with two cups of coffee and last night’s football snowfest, had a spliff and half a can of frozen Carlsberg for brunch, and stepped out into the street to - well, to get away from the maid, who calls on Sundays for obscure reasons - but mainly to find some bloody place in this dump where I can get any work done. The house is a typical Vietnamese tower of five identical floors stuck on top of each other, with and office style ceramic fire escape effect staircase connecting them. It’s the kind of building that can be converted into a prison, more or less overnight. The roof is baking most of the time and no work gets done up there really. But a substantial amount of getting stoned ... read more

http://PLANET-OF-DEATH.com I am not a journalist. I have the greatest difficulty in actually talking to people, or at least in leading the conversation. I’m a factionalist, or maybe something Gonzo: as near as I can gather, ‘Gonzo’ means ‘all about me, really’. I have managed to set up the computer so I can watch a DVD in the top half of the screen whilst typing in the bottom. I am watching the opening of Apocalypse Now. Regardless of what you might think of the rest of the film the opening sequence is beyond excellent. “Saigon… shit…” I’m off to Saigon for New Year actually… shit… I lived there in 2001… shit. “Everyone gets everything he wants,” says Martin Sheen. If you are there at the time, could you make sure they write that on my gravestone? ... read more

Hi everyone! We left Sihnoukville early on the 8th of June at 7am to get the 11 hour coach across to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Packed with our self made burger cheese and bbq flavour pringle sandwiches, we got on the first coach, just a normal four hour coach journey to Phnom Penh. We had a break in very hot Phnom Penh for two hrs before the next coach to stretch our legs before continuing to Vietnam. After an hour and a half on the next bus we had to cross the river by ferry. When we got to land on the other side the coach wasn't moving, and randomly everyone started getting off the bus without explanation minus their bags and walking. We found everyone just standing around further up the hill, with the bus ... read more

We take a short flight from Siem Reap and arrive in Ho Chi Minh city and soon realise that Vietnam is completely different to Cambodia. I was expecting it to be pretty much the same 'same same but different' but it really is a lot different. The buildings are more developed and there are more western style shops with glass fronts and A/c. There are neon signs everywhere and advertising billboards which we just didn't really see in Cambodia. We have been told that the people in Vietnam are not so friendly but this is untrue, the people we meet are very friendly towards us. Apparently there are 8 million people living in Ho Chi Minh and there are over 4 million motorbikes. They are everywhere, the traffic is madness with wheels, people just go wherever ... read more

It feels good to arrive in a new country, go to the ATM and become instant millionaires. The only downside was that we were dealing in Vietnamese Dong and there are 28,000 of them to the pound. Nonetheless, being millionaires felt nice and helped with the inflated room rates in comparison to Thailand. In Saigon the going rate for a half decent room was around $10-$20, which is a lot of Dong, but with that you get air conditioning, beds that don't break your back and in some cases a swimming pool. So we were quite pleased when we checked in to Lien Ha Hotel in the heart of Saigon to find all of the above were true. The city was busy with motorbikes whizzing around at all angles, turning a blind eye to any traffic ... read more