Sai Gon Nights!

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Crossing the border from Cambodia to Vietnam was rather uneventful. Except for the part when we first got there and some people in blue suits asked for our passports. Without a word they filled out the forms that we usually fill out to enter a country. They gave them back and requested $1.00 for their service.
What the hell, I didn't ask for that, I snapped. I gave them 80 cents, 40 cents each from Jasmine and I. In Asia they are very smart and have the most elaborate ways to part you with your money. If you're not always thinking you can be nickle and dimed to death! haha

It happened when I arrived from Laos to Thailand and it happened once again when I arrived from Cambodia to Vietnam. It feels like I arrived in the future! Ho Chi Minh City also known by it's former name Sai Gon is a beautiful, well organised, clean city. The architecture is really cool looking. Very skinny buildings, barely the length of my house rise up above the streets. 1000's of motorbikes ride past you in a mass organised chaos. The people differ from their counterparts in the rest of South East Asia. More reserved than playful Cambodians, yet unlike the Thai's they aren't too shy to grab you as you walk down the street when trying to sell you something.

At night the streets are filled with ladies wearing their conical shaped hats, selling hanging dried squid or balls of stuff or ??? Kids will come sell you cigarettes, and men selling books offering marijauna every few minutes.

It feels very westernised and liberal here. More like home than many places I've been lately. Maybe I've just been in Asia too long! I was really worried after seeing videos that we wouldn't be able to cross the streets. I thought phnom Phenm was crazy, well this is INSANE! There's at least triple the amount of motorbikes here. However just like magic all you have to to is walk. You need to be brave and walk with confidence. No stopping and going, no sudden moves. If you maintain the proper speed, they will all magically go around you.

We spent our first day doing a walking tour of the city. it's much easier to find your way around and less poluted than Bangkok. We saw some beautiful buildings nad did the usual tourist stuff. We're staying in a $6.00 hotel in an alley that is very Vietnamese. It's really cool to see the life they live. Sitting in their tiny little rooms that house their whole family, cooking on the street trying to sell us food as we walk by.

it's very cheap here. Maybe the cheapest city we've been to. We spend $15.00 each yesterday. That included our activities, meals hotel and 9 pitchers of beer. No joke! Viet Nam is home to the cheapest beer in the world! At 10 cents a beer we have no problem finding other friends and drinking the night away. We all laugh as the bill is presented to us. 9 pitchers is 63 000 dong. That's $4.00 total for 6 people. We ordered 1 thing from Every street vendor that passed by, no matter how weird it was. After a few hours the total was only 70 cents.

We did a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Quite interesting to be on the real war grounds of the Vietnam War. Here they call it the American war. The showed us around some clausterphobic tunnels that the Vietnamese lived in underneath American bases without their knowledge. I had a hard time staying under there. it's amazing that they could live under there.
I had the chance to shoot a machine gun for $1.60 a bullet but declined. It would shoot 10 bullets in 2 seconds so I figure why bother. Would've been cool though!

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Photos

Very Bikey here
Thousands and thousands of masked Vietnamese Motorbike Bandits. The masks protect them from the pollution.

Jazzy Jazzerson @ the Cathedral
Vietnam is a great place to celebrate Christmas. There are most churches here than anywhere else we\'ve been, more than home actually. Appearantly Santa Rides a motorbike!!

10 cent beer!
With some friends we met. Good times, Good times. Bad Mornings

Cu Chi Tunnels
Clausterphobic tunnels that the Vietnamese lived in for many years during the war.

Comments

[eric]

what's up girlfriend
it's good to know your ok!when you gone a be in thailand hopefully i can go meet you. i still thinking about it. chao