saigon

After a bloody day and half of traveling, we finally made it to Ho Chi Minh City, where sunny smiling Jen was waiting for us at the airport.  Thank god for Jen and Siheng, because without them we would be so lost in Vietnam.  It is absolutely chaotic here, and I can’t even describe the dance that the motorcycles do as they jostle for position on the streets (we’ve taken video).  On any given intersection at any given moment, you’ll find:  one million motorcycles and motorbikes, a few dozen bicycles, a long green bus, a dozen taxicabs, a food cart or two being pushed by a really really old person, and perhaps ten pedestrians inching their way through the madness to get to the other side of the street.  It’s chaotic and exhilarating.  It’s also about a thousand degrees here.  Thanks to Jen and Siheng, we have:

• Eaten pho…. it came with a GIANT bowl of fresh greens, and the broth and meat were delicious.  I may never have pho again back at home.

• Ridden on the back of a moto in the death dance that is the streets of Ho Chi Minh City.  They have motorcycle taxis, where you haggle for the fare to get to your destination, and then you hop on the back of the guy’s moto and he takes you there.  It’s actually tons of fun and completely exhilarating to see the streets this way.  Siheng warned us to hold the handle behind our butts, and not try to hug the guy.

• Gotten a Crumpler camera bag for $12USD, thanks to Siheng’s haggling skills.  Retails for ~$120USD.  Score!

• Gotten a foot/full body/hot rocks/thai/someone-is-walking-on-my-back massage.  This girl destroyed me with her hands, feet and even her knees (um… she must be really flexible).  Completely PG-rated, I assure you.  Not fully G, because at one point all four of us (Jen, Si, Doug, and myself) were semi-naked in the room together, but we were all face down and could not see one another .  It must have taken at least 90 minutes total, and was cheap as all get out.  The girls were fascinated with Doug’s giant feet and hairy chest.  Well… the girl who was assigned to him did a little sigh when she saw him   Big feet = hard work!

• Had delicious Vietnamese “street food”, but in sanitized conditions — I begged Jen to take us somewhere clean and she knew just the place.  Forthcoming pictures will show that this was to DIE for.  PS – did you know that the wrapper of summer rolls is actually similar to a piece of paper (ie, hard and foldable?)  It doesn’t become the sticky soft version we are familiar with until you put the noodles in.  Perhaps my Vietnamese friends already knew this… I did not!

• Have not gotten sick (knock on wood!)

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