Saigon Stuff

One of the things that I've been kind of struggling with is finding time to write on my blog. Usually, if I have to time to write, usually that means I have nothing to write about. Lately, I've had a good deal to write about, and I end up having to write these entries that are much longer than I'd like, since I have to put several days worth of stuff into them. Even today, I felt like I had time, and yet, there's always something coming up.

Rest of the Mekong Delta trip was fine. Our one night we spent there was in a town called Vinh Long, where Hien knew a friend, a pastor at a Christian Church. He took us out to dinner, seafood hotpot. After, me, Hien and Le Anne walked around Vinh Long in search of something to do. We couldn't find any karaoke, but did find a place called "Disco No. 1," which I tried unsuccessfully to sell to the girls. Not much a club guy, but something about a bright shiny building in the middle of nowhere always seems like a safe bet for an interesting time. We ended up just grabbing some beers and seafood at a place right next to our hotel. We woke up early the next morning, and rented a boat that took us around the river. This was just some guy we met off the street, as opposed to an official tour, which was in many ways better. He's not as pushy to maintain a schedule, and seemed pretty gung-ho when I casually asked about finding a row boat that will let me row down the river. I actually did OK on with the rowboat, which you had to stand to use, making it awkward for me since the oars are designed for a shorter person. We also visited the floating market, which is really a floating town on the massive sized Mekong River. After that, we lumbered home to Saigon, making the 120 km journey in about 5 hours (Hien likes to drive very, very safe)

That night, I went out with some of Hien's friends from her English school, including Chad, and these two British guys Paul and Jeb (?). Eric and Margaux, who I met at New Years, were there too, as was Chad's friend Polly. We went to the Boston Sports Bar, which had absolutely nothing to do with Boston; it was showing British Premier League Soccer, and it's logo was the Canadian flag for some reason. Went bar hopping after, had these really disgusting "buckets' of different boozes mixed with soda, got hammered, went home.

Yesterday was kind of a great day. Found a place that could let me charge my credit card as a purchase to get cash, which was a huge relief. Later I met up with Phi, Thieu, Huong, Bich and Hien (Bich's sister) for dinner. I brought along Le Anne as well. We went for beef hot pot, which even Phi admitted wasn't the best. There, I got the surprise of my life, when Phi gave me a present, which was a giant picture of me she took, made into a jigsaw puzzle, and of course framed. I only knew Phi for a relatively short period of time, but she already knew that giant pictures of me make an awesome gift. After that, we all went to Bich's apartment, where we played Monopoly.(Bich won) Later, on the ride home, I ended up convincing Le Anne to come out to karaoke. I know that she had work at 6:30 in the morning, and was really impressed that she agreed. We ended up going to Hien's, where Le Anne decided to try to prank her by putting my giant framed jigsaw picture in front of her door, ringing the doorbell, then hiding. It didn't really work as planned, since Hien kind of saw us before, but Hien did get puzzled (no pun intended) at the picture being there when she opened the door nonetheless. We convinced Hien to come out with us for karaoke, and found a place nearby. Hien actually did a great job, doing only English language songs, which of course is not her native language. We got pretty into it, and was especially surprised at how enthusiastic Le Anne was about it all. Got home a little late, and felt kind of bad since I knew Le Anne had to wake up in about four hours, but she didn't seem to be as concerned about it when I dropped her off.

Today was spent trying to get a present for Phi and Hien. I was trying to find a place that sells Jenga, since Phi like board games, but couldn't find anything. Not sure what I'm gonna get Hien; it's always stressful getting gifts for people in general, and this is magnified when you're in a foreign country. Had lunch today with Hien and some of her friends, who invited me out to "Ladies Night" at a local night club. We'll see how that goes.