Dic Star Vung Tau

So after the first week of unexpected hard work, 9 of us decided to head to the closest beach we could find....which happened to be 4 hours drive away....in australian counditions it would probably take you 2 hours, but the bus/motorbike/car will rarely go over 80kph in the hectic traffic...good thing is you never see road rage. Even ambo's have trouble...our bus driver didnt pull over for the ambo behind us, at one point we overtook it ...

... each) and water (60 cents A for 1.5 litre) we came to the 'Peoples Park' just over from the markets. Hundreds of people there - the young guys playing kick catch with this funny looking ball thing (very accurate and clever) and girls and women doing what looks like Tai Chi to modern music - they were loving it - worth a look if your in the city. We are leaving for Dalat at 7.15 in the morning, so hopefully in for some cooler weather.

... beautiful sea and good foods in the company of my happy sister/brother and other nice peopl e. We had dinner before heading back to the city. By the time we got home from the studio, it was around 9pm. As Vietnam opens its door to the world, businesses of all kinds have emerged and been growing exponentially. Many over-sea Vietnamese now come back home (for quite some years now) to take studio pictures for their wedding ...

... dans ce quartier appeler routard (pourles jeunes a sac a dos) et on y mange generallement a 2, biere comprise, pour 10$ de tres bon met vietnamien. Comme on sattendait, le traffic est vraiment intense.Il y a des moto partout et apres trois jours, on comprend toujours pas pourquoi on a pas vue daccident. Le systeme ferait des heureux au quebec,aucune police pour la circulation automobile, on couduit au feeling, et cest rock and roll. On s est balade en ...

... what it was like for the Viet-Kong. The tunnels were tiny even though they had been enlarged, Shaun's head was scraping the ceiling the whole way and his shoulders were against both walls in the amazing heat and humidity the tunnels contain. After our tunnel tour, we got dropped off at the War Remnants Museum in HCMC. This place was a huge eye-opener for us as they had incredibly graphic photo images of the Vietnam War ...

... After a full day of driving and walking these streets, neither my person nor my tour bus are scathed. Both walked away (or drove, depending) unharmed. I did fear that we hit a person on a bike at one point, because of the sudden jolt in our big bus, but if we did it wasn't an issue because we continued on our way through streets that reminded me so much of SoHo in New York. People on motorcycles and bicycles flood the streets, which are lined with shops ...

... us rides in old 1960's french red convertibles in mui ne, and a great old u.s. military jeep in dalat! we left alot of stuff here after we lost that war. bob got to have his dream come true in mui ne. he got 5 hours of private kiteboarding lessons, and got up on his first try! his instructor was this super energetic aussie named anthony. i think he was just as excited as bob when he got up! we fell in ...

... previously occupied as easily as picking up the keys again. Perfect. We checked out Borat in the evening at the free cinema, but the power to the road 'blew up' so we were left in pitch black... we'd both seen the movie already so decided to leave. I posted a photo before showing how dodgy the cables are here, apparently they were actually on fire tonight but I didn't see it... Tomorrow we have an annoying day as the 5 hour bus to our next beach leaves at 8pm... Grrr.

... boats called junks were surrounding our ship in the early morning daylight to get a better look at one of the only cruise liners that transits the Saigon River. Little kids and women would wave at us and we would wave back - all the while the conversation on the deck was quiet but filled with wonder and excitement at the fact that we were sailing through rice paddies and jungle instead of into a concrete playground. I had a huge rush of excitement in me, which was nice because I ...

... watching your every steep, it feels a lot like a third-world awards ceremony. If I lived here, I'd probably spend Friday night at the airport too. I think that the first thing one has to notice about Saigon is that EVERYONE rides a scooter. The roadways are completely packed with locals, young and old, shooting through self imposed traffic, with little regard for any sense of road safety. Even though there is a 30% rate of accident, very few, if any ...