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Published: September 27th 2006
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Chau Doc and Saigon
Nunny gets to the other side. Well, after a wonderful introduction to Vietnam thanks to Sun and the crew from Mekong Tours we've hit the big smoke and have been partying in Saigion (Ho Chi Minh City) since the 24th.
After continuing on with the crazy German, Thomas, and Austrian, Karl (who has been confused as an Australian the entire time, namely because noone has heard of Austria before - I mean, what have they done really ? 😉), the four of us have made it our duty to check out the nightlife of Saigon making sure to include bartering with the locals on every single item possible - be it chewing gum, cigarettes, photocopied versions of Lonely planet, or roses, the boys have done it all. But definitely some of the best victories have come from Paper, Rock Scissor competitions. Beating 8 year olds is oh so sweet.
While in Saigon we've checked out the markets - soooooo much better organised than anywhere else so far - and wandered the streets of the city, trying to liven up our lives every time we cross the road. The traffic here is NUTS!!!!! Coming from someone who's been hit by a car, and recently thrown from a
Chau Doc and Saigon
The bustling city of Chau Doc from the Mekong tuk tuk, it's a leap of faith everytime you've got to get to the other side.
The city itself though is very pretty, with lots of tree lined streets and gardens which I've come to the conclusion can make or break a city. You've got to have trees.
Oh, and have I mentioned the shopping?
HIGHLIGHTS
:
25th September: Ran into Cam and Lars from Sydney here on their honeymoon. Weird huh? Congrats again guys, and hope you enjoy Cambodia and Thailand.
Met Thomas and Karl after they indulged in a dinner of Duck Tongues and Bull Penis. As you can imagine, the cock jokes flew round for most of the night till we hit the nightclub "Apocolypse Now" and could then make jokes about the very attractive girls that would freely dance with you as long as you continue to buy them drinks. But I'm sure in Karl's case it really was love at first sight 😉
27th September: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINNY!
Well, apart from being my sister's b'day today we rose early to head out the the Co Chi tunnels, the headquarters of the Viet Cong. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Chau Doc and Saigon
The view back over Cambodia and the Mekong Delta from Mt Sam The tunnel system is amazing, and the ingenuity of the VC was incredible. I think the fact that they've still got a live firing range on site where you can pay per bullet to pick up a gun only adds to the atmosphere when you duck underground or walk through the forest to the sound of live AK47's. Fark the war must have been crazy.
Richards had a few tight squeezes but made it through, while I got inspired to push on through to the extra tracks. It may sound sadistic, but I was really enjoying being underground. We only travelled about 120m, and the whole system is 250km long!!!! And I have to admit, that the sections that we entered have been widened for "fat western asses".
Following this, we headed out to Dan Sem fun park. What a nutty nut bar place this is. Picture Australia's Wonderland, Vietnamese style, crossed with Cartman Land from SouthPark where Cartman builds his own Themepark but won't let anyone else in. It was kind of like that.
The place was entirely deserted and Andrew and I wandered round (unfortunately in the monsoonal rain) and could pick what ever ride we
Chau Doc and Saigon
Stuff Nunny took a picture of. would like to jump on - electricity and rain pending the decision. So so so surreal. The place must pump on the weekends, but being a Wednesday evening after 6pm when we arrived, it was empty.
I think the entrance area should have let us know what we were getting into when we were greeted by giant figurines made entirely out of cermaic dinner sets, and lit up by didgy lighting that had a number of bare wires sparking and smoking in the rain. mmmm.. trashy theme park.
The only thing that could top it off was the on-site restaurant that we attended (bit more pricey than we were expecting) but also catered for weddings of which we had two to choose from. The extravagence was incredible as ballroom dancers opened the show, followed by a troupe of 8 ballet dancers that then built up the crowd into a frenzy for the entrance of the Bride and Groom, complete with glitter falling from the ceiling and basic pyrotechniques. (Kate and Lach, I hope you're getting some inspiration)
Who couldn't gush at such a spectacle?
Conclusion Saigon is tops. Really really enjoyed it here and could possible consider
Chau Doc and Saigon
Ricko using some standover tactics with the cat fish at the fish farm in Chau Doc. spending more time here apart from the rate of cash we're going through. Off to a National park tomorrow, so hopefully that will curb our spending habits.
Rock on Vietnam 😊
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swampy
non-member comment
yeah nice
Nice blogs guys, but maybe next time you could think about the readers and split them up a bit, like maybe a couple a week, that might take 10 minutes each to read, rather than 400 blogs at once which takes a good couple of days to read!!! So if you can keep that in mind, that'd be great. Fukinell Mark Finell! Loved the "Say hello to my little friend"!!! But can't believe you turned down the opportunity to blow up a cow with rocket launcher! Freeeeeesssssshhhhhh steak!! PS: Very sad to see Rope Head has left us. When will she be back? And who has Nunny been burning cd's with? Levi might be a bit jealous.