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September 12th 2006

Published: September 12th 2006

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whewdoggy

Mmm...mmm Cambells should bring this soup to the U.S.

This gelatenous monstrosity- or delicassy consists of crabs meat and pigs brain...

Back at the Go2 bar- sippin on a Saigon...

My guide book referred to Saigon as quaint- and I'm not so sure-
I have an incling to refer to this city as crazy or bipolar- which come up severely short- The best word I can conjure is adolescent- I will save you the barfy stages of life metaphor- suffice it to say-(I haven't met a teen that I could refer to as quaint)

This city is every bit as involved in the business of brothels and the like- (as Cambodia and Thailand) except it is a lot less open and admitting of the fact- until you get in a taxi-

Driving in Saigon

This is incredibly disorienting- as there is no change in elevation-and every street has buildings four to five stories- so it all blurs together- You also merge into these globs of motorcycles- 100 bikes thick- and must drive with utter precision- so that you don't wind up in a tour de france accidente.

Eating in Saigon

While neither Sam nor I could bring ourselves to eat Ox Penis with Chinese medicinal herbs- we did sample some crabmeat soup with pigbrain- We also

Church

Catholic church on a Sunday-

ordered something that after asking the waiter what it was he drew a picture of a Cat...next up dog and horse-

We've also been frequenting this sweet coffee shop called Bobby Coffee- It has a movie theatre on the third floor- free with any purchase-

Things accomplished thus far

Things on the docket

A note of clarification my publisher (Penguin) insisted I include-

Asking to go to the nearest danceclub and showing the taxi drivers an example of

mas soup

dancing- even naming the location- can easily be misunderstood to mean brothel. Its not like they get commission for dropping people off there...

A note from the author

Drinking a beer at a bar that is clearly a front for another business yields some highly entertaining people watching.

Postepilogue afterword

I referred earlier in a blog to the Vietnamese as a culture as less friendly- and would like to clarify- They don't return smiles- at least it is a huge rarity- whereas in Cambodia or Vietnam- its tough to beat the passerbuy in this task. Yesterday- in our complete and utter failure at navigating the streets of Saigon back to our hotel- we asked a stranger on the street if they knew where 'The New World Hotel' was (a landmark- owned by whom conspiracists....)

Not only did he know- he hopped on his bike and motorcaded us back to the hotel- a good 20 minute ride (past an angry cop- which by the way- we aren't technically allowed to drive in Saigon without an international motorcycle license) So I think it is fair to say- as well as with some less writable acts- that the