Vietnam

[rogerdoger]

I was going to write something jokey about "you wernt there man you dont know" But having come from one war museum today here in Siagon. i don't see the jokes in it at all anymore. Not that any war is a joke, but what a waste and terrible crime this one was. Having seen it from the North Vietnamese side i can't see any defense for what America did here. Amazing to think it only took 20years before theyd be doing it again in iraq. interestingly its the 35th anniversary of the American withdrawal tomorrow.

Ok well Vietnam's is absolutely lovely. lovely people, lovely city Siagon. Its much more modernized than I thought it would be. I'm told it made a huge jump just in the last 2 years, which is reflected in the price of things too. Although I can't complain with my $4 dinners and $10 guest house. reading the newspaper every second article is about investments and deals with China.

When i took the flight out of K/L to Siagon I stopped in at the Air Asia offices to see Ash the girl Id met on the flight from New Zealand. How cool is that to have friends at the airport! I feel quite comfortable traveling in Asia now. On my last day in K/L I finally managed to find a guest house that could store my backpack. So now Im only traveling with my small day pack. In the airport at Siagon i saw a guy waiting with his Vietnamese girl for a taxi so asked if i could share with them. they were going to the same area, which as usual is the main tourist area of town that all travelers head for. This guy was a builder and been living here for 3 years and now has this totally hot Vietnamese girl. but then Ive seen a lot of guys here like that. they are mostly geeky nerdy guys that could never score in their western country, but they come here and get a english teaching job and the girls just come popping out of the wood work.

Not sure if the motorbike or the bicycle idea is going to work. It seems rules have changed a bit now and most places want you to leave your passport when you rent a bike. and the guest houses require you show your passport when you check in. So renting a bike and traveling might be out of the quetion. the bus service looks pretty easy though. one way or the other i'll do my trip to the north beaches and when i get back to Saigon figure out if the bike is doable.

Comments

[small-chicken.livejournal.com]

You commie pinko! J/k...really, I think the whole world had LSD in the water back then, because nothing made sense (OK, still doesn't, but at least we can all collectively pretend it does, kind of).

Can't you just leave your credit card? That's the usual rule here in Holland.

[rogerdoger.livejournal.com]

yikes, no one leaves a credit card anywhere in Asia. It would be duplicated and used in a million places within an hour!