We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) today on a Pacific Airways flight from Danang. When confronted with a choice between a 17-hour $39 train ride and a 57-minute $55 plane flight, we plunked down our credit card about as fast as we could.
In our last update, I noted that while I was [...]
This morning I was standing on the banks of the Mekong River in Vietnam, looking at the rising morning sun and listening to chanted Buddhist hymns. It wasn’t a show; just a local working towards enlightenment. The red sun was initially covered by clouds but had broken free and felt warm on my [...]
Sitting in the Danang Airport I saw a tourist sign that said, “Vietnam- The Hidden Charm.” I thought to myself, “It’s so hidden I have yet to find it.” As Brian has already mentioned, I thoroughly disliked Vietnam. After our experience in Halong Bay, and all the trash and pollution everywhere, and [...]
Brian didn’t mention that our Vietnamese guide said this to me as I tried to get my passport from her before we crossed the border into Cambodia. When I got on the phone, the guy on the other end would say hello, and I would say hello back, and we’d go on and on [...]
Before heading up to Siem Reap, we went to the US embassy in Phnom Penh to have some pages added to our passports. I’ve never been to a US embassy but what I pictured in my mind was a building with a huge American flag in front, some American soldiers standing guard at the [...]