“Hey, this isn’t a test, this is rock and roll!” I’ve landed in the country by which Robin Williams made Adrian Cronauer the most popular DJ for a time in the late 1980s, and the exchange rate is approximately 24,000 dongs to the dollar. I’m sure you can come up with your own jokes here, so I’ll refrain from my own.
Although I did have a good time overall in KL, and on my last night met a great couple from Switzerland that I shared beers and dinner with (Hi Luc and Tatjana!), I was ready to move on to where beer was freely available, and inexpensive – both things that are not true in KL. I think it’s due to the Muslim culture.
Although I did have a good time overall in KL, and on my last night met a great couple from Switzerland that I shared beers and dinner with (Hi Luc and Tatjana!), I was ready to move on to where beer was freely available, and inexpensive – both things that are not true in KL. I think it’s due to the Muslim culture.
I landed in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) at 2:30 and after an interminable time getting through Immigration, I grabbed some cash (getting over a million of any currency out of an ATM is weird to me) and met my shuttle driver to get to the hotel. Despite Google Fi claiming to work here, although I showed I had a signal, I couldn’t access the data network. Kind of annoying, but not terrible. A SIM card cost about $10 for 6 GB of data. I’ll be trying my Google chip again, but I have something, and WiFi is pretty ubiquitous. I don’t need cell service except for maps.
I had previously arranged for a motorbike food tour, and I met my “driver” and guide Cici outside the hotel at 5:30. It was pissing down rain, so she gave me a poncho, told me how to ride on the back of a motorbike (first of many firsts that night), and we were off. Let me say that traffic is totes cray-cray (to use the vernacular of some other time) in this place. Traffic control, lights, and direction flow are all merely suggestions that are ignored as often as they are not. It's kind of a free for all. I’m kind of surprised there aren’t bodies splattered and scattered across the roadways, but since everyone participates in the group insanity, it works. I think anyone who wasn’t certifiable on a motorbike would cause a problem.
I had previously arranged for a motorbike food tour, and I met my “driver” and guide Cici outside the hotel at 5:30. It was pissing down rain, so she gave me a poncho, told me how to ride on the back of a motorbike (first of many firsts that night), and we were off. Let me say that traffic is totes cray-cray (to use the vernacular of some other time) in this place. Traffic control, lights, and direction flow are all merely suggestions that are ignored as often as they are not. It's kind of a free for all. I’m kind of surprised there aren’t bodies splattered and scattered across the roadways, but since everyone participates in the group insanity, it works. I think anyone who wasn’t certifiable on a motorbike would cause a problem.
The food trip was one of the best tours I’ve ever done. Saigon Kiss is the operator. We started with a Coconut water & pineapple jelly iced drink. Great start, and we met a Indian beauty pageant winner there. Of course photos were involved. She’s got 120K followers on Insta, so natch.
After that was a beef noodle place. Similar to pho, but from a different part of the country: Hue. Good, good, good. After that was Bahn Xeo. It’s kind of a build your own spring roll with various leaves and a rice-flour fried pancake with a filling. I tried it with shrimp and beef. It was amazeballs. After that was several different kinds of snails, balut (look it up) and grilled chili prawns. After the almost calm ride back to the hotel, I stuck with my dinner companions, Rickey and Jan for a beer or three. They are both originally from the Czech Republic, but Jan’s been in Perth for a while, and Rickey lives in Singapore. We compared travel notes and chatted way past my usual bedtime.
It’s time to do some exploring on foot. Wish me luck crossing streets. The way to do it is to walk slowly, let the cars go by, and allow the motorbikes to flow around you. As they say, whoever hesitates, forever remains on one side of the street.
After that was a beef noodle place. Similar to pho, but from a different part of the country: Hue. Good, good, good. After that was Bahn Xeo. It’s kind of a build your own spring roll with various leaves and a rice-flour fried pancake with a filling. I tried it with shrimp and beef. It was amazeballs. After that was several different kinds of snails, balut (look it up) and grilled chili prawns. After the almost calm ride back to the hotel, I stuck with my dinner companions, Rickey and Jan for a beer or three. They are both originally from the Czech Republic, but Jan’s been in Perth for a while, and Rickey lives in Singapore. We compared travel notes and chatted way past my usual bedtime.
It’s time to do some exploring on foot. Wish me luck crossing streets. The way to do it is to walk slowly, let the cars go by, and allow the motorbikes to flow around you. As they say, whoever hesitates, forever remains on one side of the street.
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