Stressed

---

Arghh.. Ive run out of money in my bank account and Mike has lost his ATM card and has no pin number for his credit card... Arghh stressed trying to figure out what to do here.

On a brighter note the last couple of days have been good.. Went to a REAL Vietnamese restaurant where the locals eat, were no other tourists there and everyone seemed happy to see us. Its quite funny in restaurants here sometimes all there is, is little plastic kids chairs and tables you'd find somewhere like kmart and other people sitting on the floor.. you get that on the side of the road too with people who have chilli bins full of beer or soft drinks for sale... anyway back to the restaurant.. MENU - DOG!! It was actually quite good. It came in 3 different styles.. first one was kinda like cold lamb - it was quite fatty and I didnt like it much.. THen a dog kinda strew came out and that was ok.. The best though was bbqd dog legs.. that was actually really nice.

After that Me and Mike ended up getting taken by the guy to what we thought would be a bar to play pool with him.. but was a kind of brothel.. Its not legal over here though so the way it works is a bit of a mission. I wasnt really keen on that though, and neither was Mike.. so we left. The night before we'd met a local girl working in a bar who said shed take us to a nightclub... So we went and waited for her at the local club/restaurant called "2GO". While waiting I started flirting with one of the waitresses who was cute.. She seemed pretty keen but I blew it later in the night (kind of) - but Ill get to that later..

Off we went to the club "Apocolypse Now" which is quite famous here and I have to say it definitly goes off! Theres a good mix of locals and tourists so is good vibes. When we got there we met some of the girls friends and some other tourists from Switzerland who were good value.. Mike started dancing with these 3 hot as local girls and I just kept getting drunker haha.. Although so was he (this is the night we lost his ATM card)....

I was kinda doing my own thing, chatting to a few randoms and the Swiss people when I spied this girl who was really getting into it and had a really nice smile. She seemed kinda shy but at the same time really friendly.. So I had a bit of a dance off with her then she cruised off with her friends.. Went over to her and her friends later and hung out and danced with them for ages.. Mike cruised with these 3 girls he was dancing with (found out later though he just went home lol) and I stayed with with this chic (Phuong is her name who Ill now refer to her as lol)... There was me, her a couple of her friends and 2 americans and 1 canadian.. We walked round Saigon for awhile and then decided to go to GO2 bar ... which is one of the late night clubs here. Saw the girl from earlier (the one I said Id explain why I blew it with) and she saw me with Phuong so that was the end of that.. Me and Phuong were hitting it off and decided to leave. The rules here are strict as tho man!! They wouldnt let her into my hotel.. We think they probably thought she was a prostitue.. So we got a taxi and the driver found us a dodgy hotel so to speak that wouldnt ask me for my passport and would let me in with her (apparently here a european and a vietnamese is not allowed in a hotel room together unless they are married) ..

The next day I went to the Cu Chi tunnels (very sleep deprived and hungover) ... Was very cool! THe Vietnamese are very smart people and can see how they won the war! I tried to go through the tunnels (which have been made wider for westeners haha) but got a bit claustrophobic so went back. When I was there I got to shoot an M16 and a AK47.. (very loud) the AK47 was the best but didnt have many bullets so was pretty short lived.

Last night I went to go meet Phuong again.. Not for boom boom though. We ended up having a date.. Was really cool, although at one stage cause I was overtired I got a bit grumpy with the communication barrier and cruised off but we called each other and met up againI went home at about 11.30 and I met her again this morning for breakfast.. She took me to have noodle soup (really good) and introduced me to her best friend who was nice but started to make jokes about how big I am haha.. But in a friendly way.. Im meeting her after she finishes work tonight and we're gonna go clubbing again. I quite like her. Shes from the Mekong which is a poor country area and she has only been in Saigon 6 months. She told me she gets lonely as she only knows a couple of people and misses her family. Shes 22, turning 23 this month. Having a kind of girl friend (or dating a Vietnamese girl) is different. They are very traditional, I pay for the meal - which is ok cause thats what I would do back home too, but they serve me first and wait till I start eating before they do.. Although she slept with me the first night we met, she said that, she hasnt had a boyfriend in 2 years and was a bit drunk. I was kinda glad I just went home last night instead of going to her house cause I like her. Dont want it to be just like the other girls.

So Im off to Cambodia tomorrow and Im stressed the fuk out with me and Mike having no access to money and being down to our last 2,000,000 dong so I better go work something out.

Next instalment... Angkor Wat!!!!! Or early flight back to Australia :o( haha.

---