Flat tire doesn't mean discount

Sai Gon is a place where you can get a lot for a little, and even less if you can bargain! We all tried our hand in it and in some cases we'd win and in others we would, well just not win. Never really losing considering that the little trinkets they have for sale is all things we could live without ever purchasing. Most of the time the vendors will have settle just to make the sale, but here is a case where the offer was just "too ridiculous"

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More... More... And still some more

The beer of choice!



Now I pronounce you husband and commie!




I didn't quite understand, but I made sure not to bounce any tennis balls around the toilet while I stayed in this hotel!






Apparently, Dr. Fish is only allowed to practice medicine in Asia because he has offices all over! That's Nick and Cat. I put just my finger in there and it was way to tickley!



You probably can't read the text, but this is an introduction on how to order snake for meals.




????



Proof of over population!

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Location:Asia

A few last things before I leave

Southern Vietnam was a blast! The next couple of posts are just a few of the many adventures we had. Some require some explaining, some are pretty straight forward, and others beats the hell out of me too!

So how'd you ring in the new year? Bet it wasn't with the Australian Sensation sweeping the Social Republic!

Boo hoo at the zoo.

We did call it the crying zoo after all!

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Location:Hàng Bông,Hanoi,Vietnam

So as I was saying... Drama on the Mekong

Okay so the last post did not exactly match it's title. This was no mistake we did get into an altercation. But the day began with a very calm day on the delta. Our itinerary included a trip to the floating markets to take a looksie at the day-to-day transactions of the local people selling produce to other locals. Weaving in and out of the markets is like trying to shop at the grocery store when everyone gets off of work. It's super busy. Lots of commotion. The boats indicate what they're selling by attaching their produce to what would otherwise be used as a flagpole located near the bow of the boat.



It was really fun to watch. As we started making our way out of the traffic of the markets, I had my attention turned towards the opposite direction to take my last shots of the floating markets, when I heard a bang followed by a splash. It turns out our boat hit the propeller of another boat, usually the propeller engine unit is attached to the boat to prevent losing an the motor, but this guy's wasn't and the splash was the guy's whole engine contraption. Of course this turned the entire markets attention to our boat. At that moment we were the center of the Mekong. Yelling and confusion did of course ensue. People hopped on our boat others jumped on. I only caught the end. And I don't know how the kid got there.

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Location:Center of attention

Drama on the Mekong

The Mekong Delta was beautiful! The tour was really awesome! We set out for the Mekong from Sai Gon, which took a couple hours to get to. We took a large boat to a coconut candy making factory coconuts are everywhere on the Delta.



and a bee keeping farm where we had a taste of some type of delicious honey tea. The bees where everywhere. Not to mention the butterflies! Huge, a flap of their wings will blow your hair back! Well maybe not that big but, big enough to scare the crap out of me. Although throughout this trip I must say that I have built up somewhat of a tolerance. Anyhow, our adventure was not just by boat, but we also took this rickety contraption to a smaller boat in order to go through the smaller channels of the delta.



The ride was a bit bumpy!

We then took these boats, the Australian family in this picture got hats with their boat. Where's are hats, boat driver. I guess I'll have to "find" one of my own (foreshadow)

The boat took us to a family restaurant, by family restaurant, I do mean we floated up to someone's front yard they had converted into an eating area. The way many family businesses are kept in Vietnam. We ate this delicious guy!


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Cu chi tunnel

Our first tour consisted of a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground city that the Vietcong used to hide from the American Soldiers. The whole place was really cool! I would recommend it to anyone visiting the area. Hidden amidst the jungle lay these trails where certain sections would show you examples of trapping techniques used to "catch" American fighters. One called the souvenir trap consisted of a pit and two planks of wood where once stepped on would impale the soldiers limb from all ends so that the only way to escape would mean leaving your leg behind. Others would were even more gruesome! While walking the trails we would hear the sound of gunfire, included in the tour we had the option of shooting a number of weapons in the ground's firing range. For an extra cost you can fire a grenade launcher. I chose not to, based on my experience with the lack of instruction that the Vietnamese seem to provide. Toward the end of the tour we were allowed to go through 100 meters of the tunnels. With no room to stand fully erect your only option is to crouch or crawl. These tunnels were widened a few centimeters to allow tourist to fit better. But for Nick who is the size of a small giant, must have had the experience of a true Vietcong. Jane, the smallest member of our group couldn't hang and chose to take the fist exit out! Thank goodness her family was from the south, because she could never have lived in the tunnels for two years like Charlie!



Here is one of the several entrances into the tunnels. The only way to enter is with my arms up.



That's me entering the second lower level of the tunnel. By the way this picture was taken with flash. It is almost completely dark the whole way!

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My Vietnamese Family

I can't began to express how grateful I am for the welcoming hospitality that Jane's dad Paul has provided. From the very beginning he and Go Hoa (his lady friend) made me feel at home. Being the first time I had the chance to travel abroad it was comforting to stay in a home where family is their number one priority. They were excited to share their culture and history with both Jane and I. It was evident from the moment that we stepped off the plane. They bought us both helmets of our own to so scooter riding. Paul insisted that I pay for nothing other than my hotel stay when we were traveling, which averaged out to be around 8 dollars a night. Go Hoa would no let me buy anything with out starting a bidding war between the market vendors, she did all of our laundry, she also cooked a homemade dinner that consisted of my new rib dish. Every sight we visited Paul would explain anything to me that I didn't quite understand. Along with that Paul introduced me to something so grand, the taste of the Orient if you will. A dish called French Bread and Cheese Whiz. It's delicious! To add to the awesomeness in the house, there are the twins who were super Adorable! I named them wrist and bracelet for he reason that these twins are so identical that on has to wear a bracelet in order for everyone to tell them apart.

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Location:Sivatha Rd,Siem Reap,Cambodia

Cat and Nick come to Saigon

Catherine and Nick are friends of ours who are on a month into a world trip. We were fortunate enough to arrange our trip to allow Jane and I to meet up with them in Sai Gon, and journey with them to Cambodia. They were only able to spend a couple of days in Sai Gon with us but since we were now familiar with the city we showed them around some and were able to play scooter bingo, a game like slug bug, only instead of searching for VWs we were trying to top each other by being the first on to spot the most random or many things on their scooters. Some top finds included, for people on one scooter, the Heineken beer guy, the picture is in one of my other posts. The guy with a refrigerator strapped to his scooter and so many others! Scooter watching is just one of the many things that makes this city so great! Here are a few random, yet happy, special, smiley sights we saw while in Sai Gon.



A mini van smaller than a mini cooper.



Their communication system



A foil manger?!? These things are everywhere. At least its comforting to know our lord and savior is surrounded by fire retardant material.




Rain. No problem, just cover your self and your scooter with you rain poncho!

Cats at the crying zoo.


This guy sells shoes and broken kiddie rides.




Last but not least, Cat has seem to have been inspired by the Hollywood trend to find her own developing nation baby to love and hold. I hope you can make out the words, posters of white babies like this are everywhere!
Oh Sai Gon, you've stolen my heart with your tacky ways!
But here are some of my favorite not so tacky things...












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Dalat ta ta tat make your neck snap back!

Dalat is a town located inland in south central Vietnam. The air is cool and clear of the hazy smog that surrounds Sia Gon. It is known for it's strawberries, wine a destination for honeymooners. While there we visited a place called Flower Park. A theme park with no other attraction besides painted statues of fairy tails and flowers. It was super kitchy, but super cute at the same time.



Along with flower park we also visited some awesome temples that were placed to overlook the river! It was breathtaking



Our last stop before heading back to Saigon there were some waterfalls that we heard about and we decided to check out. We were told that the only way to view them is by Ariel tram, but that didn't seem to be the case instead we were told that the only way to get down to the falls is to take a sort of toboggan thiny which the breaks were controlled only by the passengers riding them.

And here's what it was like on the ride down...

We finally made it down to this...

It was really beautiful though! And that marked another adventure in Vietnam!
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Feeling like a million dong!

On our first day back from our trip to south central Vietnam, we were able to explore the streets of Sai Gon once more. We leisurely roamed the streets where Jane's dad, Paul suggested a massage. The massage parlor was, interesting and very relaxing! An hour and a half massage for 100,000 dong, which equals 5 bucks. Once home, Go Hoa, my adopted Vietnamese mom then suggested we go get our hair washed at the local salon. For 2 American dollars we got our scalp massaged for another hour! It was awesome!


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More on Nha Trang

The next morning we woke up early to grab some coffee before we set sail on the South China Sea. Only a couple of yards from our hotel was a beautiful ocean sun rise!



That day Jane's dad, Paul rented a boat for us. We took it to one of the neighboring islands you see in the picture above. We had planed to snorkel, but when we arrived it was too windy and cold. While docked we were accosted by a number of islanders trying to get us to purchase any one of the recreations they were pedaling, from jet skiing, to parasailing they just wanted to get us to do something. Jane wasn't having any of that, but a man sailing on what I can only describe as a floating bowl, came up to our boat and asked us if we wanted to look at some coral from his "glass bottom bowl" I'm sure it has a name, but whatever.
Here's a video of our maiden voyage...

After our bowl ride we stopped at a beach resorts on one of the islands. We were told that we can only dock there if there we did one of the activities offered. So Paul asked if we would go parasailing, Jane quickly said no. I said I'd go only if someone went with me. So Paul agreed. He did try to back out once there but I wouldn't let him.

Now I have never been parasailing before so I don't really know the protocol and safety instructions involved when it's done back in the states

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On the road to Datat

We are on the road to Dalat, a town located in the highlands of south central Viet Nam. The views are breathtaking, a complete 360 from the views in the cities and coasts. It is mountainous jungle, with steep cliffs of all different colors. At one point on the side of the road there was a small group of children where perched atop of a dirt mount to wave to all the passersby. They were adorable. Soon after there was a traffic jam on the road where we got out and stretched our legs. The local children would poses for pictures and as soon as the camera was up to my face they would run. You can tell they wanted to tease us, they were so cute. There were waterfalls everywhere!



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Location:Highlands of Viet Nam

When in Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a resort town full of tourists; it's a common place for Russians to escape from the cold. For Jane, it had reminded her of Waikiki. Having only been to Maui, a laid back island void of any real hustle and bustle, I couldn't relate. When we arrived I didn't think it looked that different from Sai Gon. But it was, the storefronts looked similar, with restaurants everywhere, though being a sea side town there is mostly tubs of freshly caught marine life most of which was still alive swimming around in tubs with an air stone or two. Not being a fan of seafood this sight was unsettling.
Jane's dad asked if I like seafood, I replied honestly and said no. When it was time to eat he ordered this



And this



He said you can't order something other than seafood when you're in this kind of town. So when in Rome, I shut up and ate up!
The meal was delish! When we were done I took a photo of the damage....


By the way these tables are about a foot off the street floor.

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Taken it to the streets

Who said Asians are bad drivers?! In the morning we set out to tour the city. Jane's dad and lady friend, who I love but still can't say her name, made us Vietnamese iced coffee before we left the house. It blows away any coffee I have ever tasted back home! But I digress, Once we were done they gave us our helmets they had bought for us. And so our adventure began. Scooters dominate the streets of Sai Gon. Every type of person rides a scooter. Young, old, men or women, they all ride. Tiny girls in high heals, older ladies with their little helmets, super adorable! All beeping their horns every two seconds. Lane markers mean nothing to drivers, one way streets, no matter, people are hopping up curbs to get ahead of the traffic, the streets of Sai Gon are a beautifully choreographed dance of scooters, cars, buses, and people all managing to avoid killing one another!

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