QUOTE(PaulHamon @ May 11 2007, 04:41 PM)
How long you in the area for and where else you going???
PaulHamon
PS I can fly from BKK to Hanoi for A$200 return
.. not sure about visa??? what do you need?? And I have to leave the country on 21st for a VISA run!!
Im actually down in Ho Chi Minh City and staying around this area. I've only been to the country side where my mums side of the family live and thats about it. Been out and about but thats mainly with my folks coz I dont know my way around. Im hanging around til 21st then back home.
Its horrible. My bath is a tub of hot water coz I'm staying at my aunties. At least they have a toilet but it doesnt fraking flush and you throw all the toilet paper in the waste basket - thats with the poo attached. ARRRGGGHHHHH!!! I sleep on a matress on the floor and its not comfortable but you get used to it after a while. Its hot and humid here as well. Last few days have been a mixture of rain and blazing hot sunshine. At times it wont stop raining for a few hours.
The good stuff is the food and the BEER. So cheap. Ive been drinking quite a bit but I miss our Pale. Its cheaper to eat at the food stalls and I havent had any bad reactions to drinking the ice over here or eating chicken and stuff. The folks over here drink their beer with ice. I can understand why because not many people here can afford to buy a fridge nor a washing machine. Traffic is chaos here. People dont obey the road rules here. They drive allover the place but I have not seen one crash. Pretty fraking good in my opinion.
The division between poor, middle and rich classes of people here are pretty huge but they share two common things... FAMILY and TOGETHERNESS. When they have a meal, they dont just sit as a family but friends and neighbours come to join in the dinner. A lot of the times my dad, mum, young brother (who flew in from Japan) and I get invited to other peoples places for dinner. Everyone here is friendly. There are some people that seem a bit scabby as they want everything bought and paid for them. There are heaps of beggars here as well.
I've given away quite a bit of money as the family here are quite poor. I came in with my last AU$5000 and have given away and spent AU$4200 of that just on buying dinner and helping out our relatives and stuff. AU$100 will last them a month really easily but my dad and I helped them stock up on supplies like Spring water, washing powder despite them doing washing by hand, toothpaste and general stuff like installing a toilet that flushes. I'm a philanthropist
On the girls...I've met them and they are pretty average but they all...yes...
ALL have really slim bodies and really tiny. I'm the tallest and biggest Asian...well Chinese-Vietnamese they have ever seen. Actually...I'm the tallest in the population
Everyone here is so slim and short. Here's something funny...I was checking out these group of girls that were walking in front of me and I thought they looked pretty hot from the back. One of them turned around and it turned out to be my cousins.
OMFG!!! Im never doing that again. Oh yeah...I have like a shit load of relatives here that run into the 100's. I dont know what they put in the food and water but all my aunties and uncles have well over 5 kids each (I'm saying 5 as I havent seen any with less than this number) and still growing. I have in total of 18 aunties and uncles. I still havent met some of them yet as they are scattered across the globe and in some of the country which is pretty far from where I am staying. Bout 8 or 9 hours by bus.
The shopping is good but I havent bought anything. I'd rather buy the real thing that'll last ages than buy knock-off goods that last less than a month. Theres heaps nice hotels here as well as old French provincial buildings. A lot of the architecture here borrows from the French influence and its fantastic. I like building design and stuff like that. Theres an old French district that I still havent seen yet but I might do that later if I can. Theres also a genuine Louis Vuitton, Armani, Rolex and Cartier store here but it's near the Caravelle Hotel. I havent been in yet but I tempted not to. A lot of the stuff here is cheap but most electronic goods arent and can be more expensive than what we have in Australia. You cant haggle on fixed price items as I have found but you can do this in the markets like Ben Thanh, An Dong and Thoung Xa Tax. Pirate dvds are plentiful and you can buy box sets of dvds with about 9 discs and 8 films on each one. The quality is pretty good.
I wanna come back next year coz its a beautiful country but I'd like to have my mates come with me instead. I'm thinking of doing it next year round April. 2 weeks here in Vietnam but travel across the country then two weeks in Thailand. If anybody is interested, start saving. Its an awesome experience and I have yet to see the rest of the country; but it'd be more enjoyable with the crew than with my folks. Interested???????????????????????
KandiRaver
i'm dissapointed mate! 
lol... nah hope ur havin the time of ur life hey! See u when u get back!!!
