Elephant Tales: 2 Motorbikes, 2 Girlfriends....Vietnam.

Gooooood Morning Vietnam!

Well...it was more like 'Good Afternoon' after a 7 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. Luckily, our border crossing experience was MUCH more enjoyable and hassle free than our previous one. So far, so good. Having already experienced some of Central Vietnam, I was more than a little excited to see some more of the country. And really, with its culture, its parks, its food and its baller hats, how could it disappoint?

Stop 3: Vietnam. (Ho Chi Minh City)

Highlights:

*Twitter: As we prepared to embark on our journey from Suphan, Sarah was pleasantly surprised by an email declaring she had won a contest on Twitter. She was the lucky recipient of a gift voucher to a hotel booking website. And luckily for us, not being completely organized, had yet to book a place for HCMC. So just like that, we went from nothing to a sweet hotel in the middle of the city. Free breakfast, complimentary towels, soft mattresses and Star World? Thanks James!

*Pho Noodles! We obviously had to have some of the famous Vietnamese dish, so we almost immediately scouted out a good spot. I really hope we didn't creep anyone out while we discreetly observed/hardcore stared and took notes on how to eat the noodles. Despite a few splashes and slurps, I think it was a success!

*Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. Mmm. Mmmm. Mmm.

*The city. I felt a little spoiled walking around HCMC on sidewalks (what are those?), through parks and into museums and little cafes. I almost forgot I was in SE Asia until I stumbled over a tiny Vietnamese woman, rice paddy hat in tact, squatting roadside, selling questionable items out of a basket. That's right...I'm still in Asia.

*Markets. More specifically, the Ben Thanh market, the biggest in the city. It had everything you could possibly think of and it treated us well. Megh even went all out and got some custom clothes made. Our bartering skills were definitely put to use here. Good thing I'm well-trained (Thank you very much, Thailand).

*Rice Paddy Hats. It's unbelievable how many people actually rock these in the middle of the city. And by golly, do they rock 'em.

*The Dong. The Vietnamese dollar is called the dong. I mean...that's awesome. And it inspired the 'Dong Song' (think- Sisqo's 'Thong Song.' Don't judge me). I don't know if it's great or just sad, but 22,000 dong is equal to 1 USD. Yikes. Needless to say, I did not spend too many USD in Vietnam.

*Classy dining. As with every city, we ate verrry well. In Vietnam, however, we were able to eat at "classier" places and feel like 'real' people (as if backpackers aren't real). We sat rooftop at The Rex Hotel while sipping on some fancy cocktails. We grabbed a spot at the swanky Windows Cafe for lunch one day, which was overflowing with hip locals on their lunch break, rocking out to a DJ (in the middle of the day?!) and overlooking a beautiful park. By suggestion, we found a hidden cafe, where we indulged in some mighty delicious cupcakes. Each day we delighted our palettes without killing the wallet. I can't complain about that.

*Cyclos. AKA Vietnam's version of a tuk-tuk, which resembles a wheelchair being pushed by a unicycle. On our day of touring around the city, we took a break from walking and each of us hopped into a cyclo and enjoyed the chaotic streets of HCMC in the "safety" of our wheelchair. Good times had by all.

*People/Backpackers. I think one of the main reasons I love to travel is because of the people you meet. It's completely likely that you'll like fellow backpackers because you obviously share one major thing in common- the love of travel and the love of exploration. In Vietnam, we happened to meet some really cool people that made the trip that much more enjoyable. So 'Cheers' to those cool cats.

*The Mekong. We decided it would be fun to do a day-long excursion along the Mekong River, so we booked a full day tour and had ourselves a blast. The tour included a long tail boat ride, a trip to a coconut mill "factory" where we enjoyed some coconut candies, a wander through a village where we got to interact with the locals, a canoe ride (with rice paddy hats on!) down a quiet, serene river, and some other stops around some local spots. We snacked on fresh tropical fruit and tea with honey from the beehive while listening to traditional Vietnamese music being played. Along the way, we spotted some water buffalo, completely submerged in the water except for his snout and horns, and also thought it would be adventurous to wrap a GIANT boa constrictor around our shoulders. Let's just say Sarah and I handled that muuuch better than Megh did :) All in all, it was a very enjoyable day, made better by the fellow tourists and our tourguide, Kwang. Kwang let us in on the secret that if you get a motorbike, you'll get a girlfriend. So if you have two motorbikes, you'll have two girlfriends. Such a ladykiller, Kwang!

Not so highlights:

*Traffic. HCMC has the highest number of motorbikes on the road and let me tell you...IT. IS. TERRIFYING. Okay- Im being overdramatic, but only a little bit. There are barely any traffic lights or lanes, and there are really no crosswalks, so the flow of traffic is at a constant and it is just a mess. To get across the street you have to just look straight, walk right into the traffic and assume they will drive around you. I was such a pansy at first, running back to safety before sucking it up, but by the end I was a pro, holding my hand out to signal to the cars/bikes that they better slow down and not hit me. We also perfected the art of getting personal escorts across the street. Find a local and do as they do. Sometimes they could see the fear in our eyes and they would simply grab our arms and bring us to the other side.

*War Remnants Museum. This was obviously something we had to check out since it is a huge piece of American and Vietnamese history. The museum definitely gave a good insight into the war, but I couldn't help but lower my head in shame. The museum had no mercy in the way they depicted Americans. Seeing it through their eyes was interesting but a little extreme.

*Backstreet Boys. For those of you who know me...even if its just a wee bit, you know I have a deep, deep love for the Backstreet Boys. Well, about a month prior to our trip, while I stalked out their tour (for no apparent reason) I was a bit excited when I saw that they would be performing in Vietnam during my time there. I would have died if I saw them in a foreign country. But, unluckily for me, they left HCMC two days before we arrived to head up north to Hanoi. DAGGER TO THE HEART.

Vietnam clearly showed us a good time with its sights, its people, its food and its scary motorbikes. It was now time to say a temporary goodbye to SE Asia as we packed up our bags and headed to Hong Kong. Boo-la-ka-shan.