Vietnam

Arrived in Ho Chi Min City yesterday afternoon, found a hotel
(expensive one, it had cable and hot water for a massive $13 a night!) It's right in the centre of backpacker land and the only downside is that the 8 million motorcycles in the city drive past my window every morning beeping at each other furiously!! I swear to god, I have never seen so much traffic in all my life. They go any which way down the street, there doesn't seem to be any road rules. Crossing the road is like risking your life, you just have to step in and pray that the bikes and cars don't hit you!

So, I found a room, then I went for a little wonder and a beer. I saw
this Swedish guy that had been on the bus with me and we chatted for a bit, then I booked a tour and then we went for dinner. He was really nice and has been travelling around SA Asia for about 4 months so was telling me where I should go etc.

Anyway, I got up this morning and went to catch the bus to take me to
the Chu Chi tunnels that the Vietnamese built underground to fight the Americans. All very interesting. I'd been speaking to an older guy called Peter whilst we were waiting for the bus but then he took a different bus. I met him going round on the tour and we said we would meet up later.

So, on the bus coming back, an American guy sat next to me and started chatting. He was actually a Jewish bloke, born in South Africa, lived in a Kibbutz in Israel and then moved to the USA. So he was telling me a bit about his job, then he made a call (to what I assumed his wife/partner/girlfriend) and then turned round to me and said "Life is really complicated" Well, I didn't disagree but said mine was quite hassle free at the moment!

Then, he starts telling me his life story, starting out with the fact
that he'd just fallen in love. Ah nice!! Until he tells me that he's 50, already married, with 3 grown up sons, he's a vice president of a university and he's just fallen in love with a 26 year old girl that used to be one of his students and is now planning to give up everything for her!!! It was so weird, he just blurted it all out and the 2 guys he was travelling with on business didn't even know about it!!!!

Anyway, we discuss the merits of falling in love (well, he discussed, I listened!) and then chatted about what was going to happen wen he told everyone. He is going to lose a lot...

It was nice chatting to him. We arrive back, he gives me his
email so that I can find out how the story progresses and then I go
off for lunch, looking to meet the other bloke that I'd spoken to
before.

I'm in the restaurant and behind me are an English couple who were on
my tour and they asked me about the story the American was telling me, as they had been sat in front of us but couldn't quite hear everything. So I start telling them and then the American guy turns up, saying that his 2 mates have sent him out to find me to invite me to lunch with them...!!!!!!!!!

So I go have lunch with them and the American wife cheater starts
talking about all the big stars that have married younger women and
yet not saying anything about his own life but just giving me knowing
looks and then laughing his head off! And they bought me lunch!!!
awesome!

Quite an unusual day for me! When I go to America he says I have to
go to Michigan to visit him and his new girlfriend!!!!

My time at the beach had to come to an end sometime but it was hard tearing myself away, I could easily have stayed there another 7 weeks!

I got the bus back up to Phnom Penh and stayed by the lake in the same guest house as before (I think this time I had the company of bed bugs but for $3 a night you can't complain!). Took another whirl around the city on a motorcycle to the market where I bargained hard for a small wooden buddha, some silk cushion covers and a hat. To be truthful I found it really hard to bargain as it's all so cheap anyway... I think in my head what the price I want and am willing to pay is, then I ask how much it is and they always say either the price that I am thinking or a lower price - doh! So I ask for a dollar off what they say and go on my merry way!!

Up early to catch the bus to Ho Chi Min City. A little bumpy but nothing compared to the Poipet to Siem Reap road. We got stopped on the way because the Prime Minister was opening a school so the road was blocked for about an hour. He eventually flew off in his helicopter and his assistants sped past in big Lexus 4x4, there was about 30 of these cars so he obviously needs a lot of assistance!!

The border crossing was OK. I had to pay a man $1 to fill out my form and another guy 1000 riel for him to staple my 2 forms together, the joys of bureaucracy!

A man with massive shoulders sat next to me for the rest of the trip which was a little uncomfortable. (These little things are all important parts of my day!)

Arrived in Ho Chi Min and no word of a lie (!) I have never seen so many motorcycles in all my life, driving at immense speed in all directions. This city is mental! The traffic never stops and, as everyone advises, if you want to cross the road you really do just have to step right into the traffic, slowly walk aross the road and hope for the best! I find closing my eyes whilst doing this helps!

So here I am, going to book a few trips around the city and then head for the beach (again) before everything shuts down for the Chinese New Year.