You can rent a chair for like $1.25, quite a deal indeed. This sleepy beach town is cheap, it has good internet and a crazy nightlife. Last night was much of the same and now it’s 2:35AM and I just recently awoke. It’s not that there are that many people, it’s mainly that they sell buckets of vodka redbull for criminally low price of $1.50US.

Was supposed to meet people for dinner at 7:30PM but somehow I went to bed at 6:45 and here we are, I do believe it’s time to venture into the seedy late night streets in search of nourishment before once more going into an extended slumber.

You’ve just read the shortest and least inspired update this blog has ever produced, pat yourself on the back and go do something fun tonight.

lazily tips hat,

Hello there,

This will be brief as I have better things to do than blog right now. Well not really but ok ya, sorta. Spent the day lounging with my friend, swimming in massive waves and eating cheap food.

Went on a leisurely jaunt to take photos of the clubs to write a “Nha Trang Nightlife” update but I only got as far as the photos. Asked some lovely ladies for a light and hung out the rest of the afternoon.

Now, I must shower and meet these said ladies at their hotel for cocktails and gawd knows whatever else follows when you mix crazy people with a penchant for partying and pleasure together.

I could go on forever but I won’t as I need to “get moving” aka “get er done” aka “get down on it” in a most significant style. I hate the shower in this hotel, only drawback. The pressure is non existent and the “hot water” isn’t so hot, horrible!

Anyways, enjoy your day, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing.

Tips hat,

P.S: The lobster below was rank, glad I bargained her from $5 to $4us, haha. They have those nice ones on display and give you some scrawny ones, THE NERVE!

P.P.S: Met some local guys on the beach drinking a 24 and had a few, then they gave me some of shellfish they were eating, delicious. They want to meet up and party later, we’ll see if I run into them again, they were cool but I’m take it or leave it. I hate plans, but you already know that, yes?

Good day, top of the morning!

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, go drink egregious quantities of green beer and slap strangers on the back over jokes you only heard half of while stuffing your face with fatty foods.

Today marks 6 months that I’ve been traveling. I left my home on September 16th 2009, now it’s March 16th, 2010 and I’m in Nha Trang, Vietnam I will say that time truly does fly when you’re having fun. Half a year used to crawl when I’d force myself to crawl into my car every morning before going to a job that paid the bills but gave me no thrills.

I’ve done more and grown more in the last 6 months then I did in the last 6 years, I would not change it for the world, if you’re thinking of doing something like this, I urge you to just go for it. I have not met one person in in my travels who regrets doing it, not one. In fact, everyone agrees it’s the best move they ever made.

How are ya? I hope you’re doing well, better than I. It’s midnight and I’m just getting out of bed, what a night last night was, this place DOES GO OFF THE HOOK AT NIGHT. However, there are definitely some undercurrents here, let me elaborate.

First, if you swim after the bar at ~3am with a crew, don’t go too deep, you can feel it pulling you. Enough about that though, also watch your stuff. Check this, remember how I complained a few times about losing my ipod and not really caring about the ipod but mainly the contacts it held? Well I ran into one of the “missed contacts” last night.

It’s time to stop worrying people, what is meant to be in life will be so and you will never know until it happens, but it will, if it’s meant to be so. Crazy how things work out.

After the swim we went to an afterhours at some new Swedish friends place. After that I helped escort this fine lady home, unfortunately she had her wallet and camera stolen last night while swimming. Also, the gent I am traveling with, he had his wallet stolen from the bar.

Like I said, there are some undercurrents here. We joshed with a street vendor who warned us before we went out that lots of theft happens here and it’s a problem, only late at night though.

Could not find this ladies hotel to drop her off so we wandered the city streets eating baguettes, drinking ice coffee and some pho for good measure.

As it is 6 months, I will do a fast recap for those of you just tuning in or who are somewhat new to this here website. I went from Ottawa – Vancouver – Las Vegas – Los Angeles – Thailand – Malaysia – Singapore – Indonesia (Bali & Java) – Back to Thailand – Laos – Cambodia and now I’m in Vietnam. Dare I say, Vietnam is definitely tops, if not extremely close. Where next? I have a few ideas but as you know, I’m not much of a planner or organizer for that matter.

It’s midnight, I haven’t eaten anything and I just woke up. Time to grab some pub food and have a celebratory green beer while saying “cheers” and making meaningless banter with total strangers on topics which probably aren’t of particular interest to either of us.

Tips hat,

P.S: All these photos are from my hotel rooftop, indeed.

P.P.S: I will have lots of “back in Nam” stories.

Update: Went out for some food and made my way to the “Sailor’s Club” which is the happening night club, ran into some friends and chilled, then hit up “Why Not” which is the “afterhours club”. For some reason it looked more like a high school dance, a pathetic one at that. Random strangers sucking face and dancing to horrendous music, snore.

On the way home, some moto pickpockets approached me, it’s women almost always women here, you have to tell them to “get lost” in more or less words a few times before they get close. Supposedly they are all over you for like 1 minute being all “friendly” then take off. You’ve been warned.

Furthermore, I spoke with more people and more people had things stolen. I will say this, if you’re in a jam packed crazy club, ALWAYS BE MOVING. If you’re dancing, dance like you mean it, none of this 2 step crap. A moving target is always more difficult and will probably be avoided.

]]> http://stophavingaboringlife.com/happy-st-patricks-day-6-month-travel-anniversary-in-nha-trang-vietnam/feed/ 2 http://stophavingaboringlife.com/night-bus-to-nha-trang-vietnam-from-ho-chi-minh-city-aka-saigon/ http://stophavingaboringlife.com/night-bus-to-nha-trang-vietnam-from-ho-chi-minh-city-aka-saigon/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:50:41 +0000 Rob http://stophavingaboringlife.com/?p=2354

Greetings,

Below the line below is what I wrote for the update, went out for breakfast and holy sh~t, this place is heaven on earth. One of the most beautiful setups I’ve seen in ages. This place is sweet! I’ll let the photos I added do the talking, and to think, I can stay here, in a hotel for ~$10US a night. Split it with someone, that’s $5 a night or $150US a month, sick, yes?

It’s still early so most “party people” aren’t even up yet, I wouldn’t be had I not taken the night bus, I can’t wait to see this beach in full swing and supposedly the nightlife here is excellent.

——————————————————————————————–

I will take a moment from running up the wall and doing tweaked out backflips from one bed to the other in my new hotel room in Nha Trang, Vietnam. I caught a night bus yesterday and “VOILA, je suis ici”. We bought a 4 or 5 stop open ticket from Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. It cost us $30US each and each bus is a sleeper bus, pimp. I passed out most of the evening, only waking up at each stop to shovel food in my face.

I’m traveling with one of the gents from the Mekong Delta and just checked into a nice 3 person hotel room for $12US a night. They wanted $15US but I wasn’t having it. This way I have an “extra bed” for my couch aka electronics.

We were going to look for other hotels but decided “fogettabout it”. My friend spotted a goddess of a woman and I went to talk to her. She told us where she was staying but said her camera got stolen with some money. I’ll pay an extra few $$$ a night to hope that doesn’t happen.

I digress.

The bus ride is ~12 hours and it was good times. Met some people along the way. The plan? REST UP and do nothing all day and hit this town like it stole from us to night. There are many clubs supposedly “Sailor” something is the main “go to”. We’ll have to see.

The scenery here is out of this world, do I regret this trip? HAHAHAHAAHHAHA NO! Do I want to go home for the summer? ! HAHAHAHAHAH NO!? Seriously, the more I think about my life, Asia, North America, everything… My heart just isn’t in North America anymore, it’s boring and vanilla. I like excitement and chunky monkey, if that makes sense to you. That said, I do have some “things” I need to wrap up back home, so who knows.

Met some cool people living in Saigon, may revisit them. Also, I got my teeth cleaned for $5us yesterday at a nice place. It was $10us for a clean + polish. She said my teeth are good so just a polish will do. $5US that’s like the price of a crappy 6″ subway sub back home. Also, I bought the same camera I broke for $200us.

Vietnam is truly one of my favorite countries this far. People will ask and I always say “I don’t know, that’s too hard”, not anymore. Vietnam has everything and look how much coast line. This place is beyond beautiful and I think they have a golf course.

After this, we’re going to Hoi An*(sp?), Hue, Hanoi then Halon Bay. After that? Who knows. Of the people I met yesterday, one girl from the US is moving back to Hanoi, exchanged phone numbers, always cool to chill with someone who lives there.

I just got here, I have much to do so this is it, for now.

Tips hat,

P.S: Ice coffee in Vietnam is out of this world and what is with people saying the local people aren’t friendly? You want them to do handsprings and somersaults while rolling out a red carpet for you? Try going to say Ottawa and saying “hello” to random strangers on the street, they will look right through you, trust me.

Update: Went out for breakfast, took these photos. This place is heaven, more to come.

Not feeling bloggy, this will be brief but hopefully loaded with photos. I went on a private tour of the Mekong Delta and had an amazing time. Here is a brief outline of how it went down and whatnot. If you have not already read this, I suggest you read it first.

We got picked up near our hotel at 10am and made our way by moto to the Mekong Delta. Once arriving went on a boat ride through the tight lanes and visited many places from small villages to candy shops to places where they make all sorts of whiskey. Sample everything and move on. Best part of a private tour? You can leave whenever you’re ready.

After that check out the small village, some fish farms and hang out at night to see the large volume of fireflies. For dinner we decided to eat King Cobra. They caught it in front of us, prepared it and then we eat it. It’s an honor to eat it’s heart while it’s still pumping and it’s liver as well. I eat both and felt like more of a man, or something like that.

The snaked turned into an amazing curry and for dessert, we drank it’s blood. Supposedly it helps your eye sight, I think it worked. I have LOTS of video of this entire process which I will update, one day, when I’m bored. That said, more you travel harder it is but stay tuned. At one point, the cobra spat on one of my friends arms, he immediately rinsed. Supposedly it is “ok” but if you have a small opening or you start scratching later, not so good.

The next day we took off to the floating market, that was pretty cool but not what I expected, saw more people making candy and whatnot, eat some good food, drank some good coffee and just cruised. Spent a good portion of day just driving around in the boat going places. Lots of small lanes that are like side streets and people live right on the river. The market didn’t have “that much”, mainly just people selling ridiculous amounts of pineapple and other things of that nature.

I should have added photos to last update, it was quite thorough, looking back. On the way home ~1 hour or so we stopped at a local market and bought some rats. The guide said he liked rat more than chicken so we thought “sure”. The process of them killing and preparing the rat on the side of the street is also on video and will be shared at another time.

The rat tasted gamy to say the least, I won’t be eating rat again. One of the gents we were with quite liked it actually. I’d much rather eat cobra than rat any day. Then again cobras eat rats so that kinda makes sense. This market had everything and everything was alive. It’s insane how back home people are so removed from the process of killing something to eat it. We just buy these neatly packaged portions like you’re buying a back of chips, quite the opposite over here.

Final day, did a bit of fishing then we checked out the snake museum which also was an anti-venom hospital for locals, soldiers, etc… Actually it was more of a zoo than anything. It was a good time and then we made our way home before checking out the Chinese Pagoda, 250 years old.

On the way, we saw a guy with a basket on the back of his moto stuffed with dogs for the market. Saw the same with pigs the other day, these dogs look like they came from someones couch. It’s odd how we feel for dogs but have total disregard for whatever else shows up on our plate each day.

The trip was good, 3 days was plenty. Our guides where knowledgeable and quite nice. I never once got the vibe that anything sinister was going on. It’s good money for them and a great experience for us, it’s collaboration at it’s finest, ladies and gents.

Since being in HCMC I’ve just been relaxing, except for the night I wrote the last update, making a move soon. I recommend visiting the Mekong Delta if you are in the neighborhood. Private guide was cool, we could do whatever we wanted out there, literally.

If you are a friend of mine and want our private guides number, just ask. I will make a video blog out of the eating rat and king cobra experience that will be shared at a later date, hopefully not too much later.

Cordially yours,

Hello, Bonjour, Hola, Sin Jaue!?(sp),

Greetings from Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in Vietnam. I just got back from a private tour of the Mekong Delta with a taxi moto driver. What’s cool is that after going on it, everything everyone ever wrote was true AND MORE. At the end, I even left a note and obvious a link to this here website.

Let’s just say it was something you’d never get on some hotel / tour office / whatever vendor. There was 4 of us, it was the the “Commonwealth” to as it had a few major players such as Canada (~1/3 it’s total land), Australia (Up there as well), England (Obvious). Ironically when you hear “Commonwealth” the largest player in terms of citizens is actually India with an extremely insane 1,000,000,000+.

Considering most of Canada is totally uninhabitable for most who are still enslaved to the old paradigm of labor for cash. As the the volume of those who earn exclusively from some mechanism that is totally devoid of time and space expands, demand for places that typically would seem “unthinkable” will begin to look QUITE desirable.

Digressing into an unknown tangent of real estate. I’m curious if you can purchase blocks of property that include a lake and it’s actual spring source drilled to whatever level is required legal to be “on your land”. After that, build a cottage and sell EXCLUSIVELY to extremely interesting people who have a means of arriving there. The most likely method would be a plane to some airport, another to a smaller than a float plane.

Ok, now that that’s done, you could sell water forever if you owned it. I had this idea about a half decade ago or more. Someone told me legally in Canada you cannot own a spring or something of that nature. That said, I have not looked it up or even thought it for a near half decade before typing this, here.

Back to a trip to the Mekong Delta in the Vietnam… First it’s really dirty, so dirty you wouldn’t want to swim in it unless your boat capsized and you had no other choice but to go in the water at last possible moment. People do everything in there from the most basic daily needs to a “boat & moto” shop on the side that has a floor covered black with oil that just drips. Garbage is definitely plentiful but not overwhelming. The smell is alright for the most part but at times you’d be smelling something rancid.

Going down the Mekong river is cool, the floating market in Bai Kai (sp?) is worth checking out. It’s a market but not really, just lots of people who sell egregious quantities of pineapple at rock bottom prices. Loving pineapple, this was alright. You check out all sorts of stuff along the way from coconut everything candy to snakes you hang out with. They also have this authentic old school Mekong band. They have instruments not seen elsewhere and gents who master them. They play some songs and then these ladies take turn with vocals in different songs. At the end, the ladies hand you roses, you roll some cash in there ~10,000-30,000 depending on what it did for ya and pass it to them.

You check out this local village of ~200 people who live on this island in the middle. It’s quite cool and in keeping with the whole “live anywhere if you don’t have to show up to work to get paid”. The people were really friendly and had some sick flat screen TV’s. Not all but some, obviously.

This place is truly out there from the city or anywhere really. Lots of places are still inhabitable due to potentially live munitions. We went with a crew of older moto taxi gents who were ~47-55 years old. Drive fast enough to keep up, pass the laggards, even start the “school” but NO unnecessary risks considering the ridiculousness of driving around this area on a moto. Saturday at 5:15 on not even a seriously main artery of the city was some crazy stuff a gent on the trip caught. I mean it’s just pure bedlam, drive and avoid.

A lady friend of mine was driving in Phnom Penh, It was quite insane. When she returns to Canada, people criticize her of driving slow.  Germany has the autobahn and in Canada we have ~100 speed limit where ~120 is an often pace of traffic and people may go over that to pass part of the school moving, at a decent rate.  Back home, people see a green light and JUST GO. I mean, running a red is consider “no mans land, bad news, no good, whatever.” Many places here, it’s just no mans land. People who are used to driving here automatically drive slower and are usually cautious at intersections.  It’s really congested, extremely congested, those arteries are clogged.

What I do like is the fact that they have roundabouts, what drives me nuts and makes my mind want to explode while my blood boils(I don’t really care at all) is the fact that we have almost none. Ottawa has at most a handful of roundabouts, none more ridiculous than the one center of town. Anyways, it’s a 3 way in and a yield… Being used to the “regular roundabouts” if I should even have to qualify what one is. Anyways, I used to honk at people aggressively going around there and just flow like I owned the place. This one time, I honked this person to h3ll and it turned out this be this lady who freaked out point at the sign, last time I honked there.

I unplugged my battery hoping that miraculously this dead lousy battery is working again considering the charge said 47%, I was quite happy. Long story short it was getting low so I unplugged it hoping not to drill it to 0 again which could!? have been part of it’s demise and I lost a lot of text, let alone my train of thought.

It’s 5:17am and I’m going to bed after I push some photos on to this thing. Full Mekong Delta update to coming including but not limited to stuff that never crossed my mind until I got there. Moral of this diluted story is, if you’re going to go, get a private guide.

The other gents on the trip who had cameras and took these pics, full hat removal tip to thee.

Good day to you kind whatever you consider yourself,

Let’s talk about some craziness involving my camera situation and madness that can only ensue when you jump on the back of a smiling motorcycle taxi dude in the craziest traffic I’ve ever seen, pure madness, man I love this stuff.

First, I drink waaaaaayyyy to much of this cough syrup last night. It is supposed to last 5 days, I just chugged it to “speed up the process”, mistake. After like I dunno 30 minutes I did not feel well, at all. I start reading the label and taking to much is a bad thing, why am I telling you this? Simply because I’m DJ EXHAUSTO and if I didn’t update this shiz everyday, I’d be sleeping or or laying face down on a filthy guest house bathroom floor.

I passed out last night at 4am and at 9am, this dude was fixing his motorcycle aka revving it like crazy non stop, (there is a gecko crawling near my screen, I love geckos) while another guy was nailing these spikes into steel or something, so loud, non stop. Then again, there IS a curfew here, when in Rome, whatever. The cough syrup and ridiculous amounts of raw ginger did the trick though, sorta.

~flicks ash in old coke can~

Wake up like a zombie, but I have stuff to do. I’m so NON ROUTINIZED that the fact I have a trip tomorrow, it is bothering me. I hate having things organized whatsoever. I mean it’s almost a drag. Anyways I get up and meet Mr. X, we drink coffee and call my Aussie friend about the Mekong Delta Trip, “he’s in”.

Blah blah blah, find a nice Canon camera for 270US and I’m like ok, all my old cards fit, all my spare battery packs fit, this is good. Go next door, find it cheaper, even better. Buy it with great vigor and zeal and Mr. X drops me off. I offer to pay him, he says “no problem”. He takes off, into the messy traffic.

Take all these photos, I’m dedicated to this blog, despite the fact that NONE OF YOU ever comment, you lazy sacks, I know you come here. Then again, most other travel blogs only get comments from other travel bloggers like some big travel blogger circle …. hah, I just derailed my train of thought.

~flicks ash~

At 3:30 I meet the Aussie and he is with the British Blokes, 1 guy is 100% in, other is maybe. I call Mr. X and he comes to meet us, after meeting Mr. X the last guy is like “I’m in”. I’m sure I could have bargained more but if we’re trusting our life with this guy and it’s cheaper anyways, why not let Mr. X be thrilled about the deal and treat us proper.  3 days 2 nights on our own boat with hotel and 2 guides in a boat that fits 20 people in the Mekong Delta, hahaha.

Anyways the camera is crap, half the time I take a photo of stuff moving it’s blurry and the video has like a line in the middle. I’m mad, upset and annoyed. It’s getting dark and stores are closing soon so I do a backflip down the center of the stair case and land in a fish bowl before drying my feet off and sprinting through the streets to find a trusty “moto man”. I come to this big gang and says “WHO WANTS TO DRIVE ME 10 minutes for 30,000dong ($1.50us) all these dudes wake up, smile and jockey. This one guy caught my eye (not like that) as he was first up and I take him.

~pitches smoke out window~

We get there, explain to the guys I can’t have this camera… It’s not good enough.  My old one was like $500US before tax in 2007, it’s so dope. It’s a first gen flip cam, it’s like a James Bond cam. These point and shoot are vanilla like working for a crappy corporation and getting a fake watch before you leave.

Anyways, they don’t want it back. I just stand there like a kid selling cookies until finally he takes his calculator and offers me $210 for the camera, I take the calculator and punch in $220, he looks at me, I look at him with a smile and say “you just made $10 for nothing man” he gives me the cash we bounce. Get back give him the 30,000 and we have a a big laugh as I thank him for helping me ditch that crap.

I went to the canon dealer and they MAY be able to back order me a new one of this discontinued model. The lcd screen flips around every which way, so I can be on the back of a moto fliming intense traffic, I can walk through crowds with the camera low while keeping an eye on the LCD, it’s hands down coolest camera I’ve ever seen. Those big ones are for dorks haha. Like, what next, am I going to carry a god d@mn purse? How do you club with one of those, it has to fit in your pocket.

On a side note, reading Canadian news makes me want to slit my wrists with a plastic airplane knife. In Canada, some dude drown going to his ice fishing hut and now some “not sure what to call them” are saying “we should ban ice fishing in huts on that river”. Really? These dudes know what they’re getting into. Ask any other fisherman and they’ll tell you where to go.  On that note, in Britain, they have this law where a kid seat is needed until 12 … Reason? It “could” strangle the kid if they get in an accident. Here? You have kids with no helmets sitting on their moms lap on a moped next to a bus. Many countries need to relax a bit, I believe.

If you’re taught that everything is dangerous and everything is bad, won’t you be scared of everything? Then again, won’t you also be a complacent worker who will probably live a really boring life? Hmmm, never thought of that did ya? Neither did I, actually.

Tips hat,

P.S I love all the alleys here, so much life off the main roads, it’s awesome. So far, I’m loving Vietnam.

P.P.S: These are the decent photos, 50% of the photos that involved movement were so blurry, I don’t care about much but it was so bad that it even bothered me.

~lights smoke – coughs up a lung~

Where were we? I’ve been hanging out in Ho Chi Minh City today doing this and that and got some bad news. My ipod is dead 100% and my camera will cost half the original cost to fix, screw that. Tomorrow I will go shopping for electronics, Vietnamese style.

~flicks ash out window~

Ran into Mr. X again today, we joked, laughed, smoke cigs and drank really strong coffee that I paid for at local price, oh yeah. For dinner, we hit up this street vendor I saw people eating at earlier. Turns out he’s on the cover of some big magazine in Ho Chi Minh City, his name is Mr. Lam, he makes great eats. Also, he charges $0.50 or 10,000 dong for a beer. Most other places charge like 25-35,000. Let’s say myself and my British friends left a large case of bottles at such discounted prices. Be a champ and drink “Saigon” which is a hefty 455ml a bottle.

~clears throat, Asian style~

I’m not feeling so well, I need to rest. Also, I recruited some guys for the Mekong Delta Tour. Four people are definitely in, myself, an Aussie guy and 2 blokes from Britain. My 2 British friends may be in as well. Tomorrow I will wake up and clear enough phlegm from throat to give some bald guy a green hair do. Following that, I will call Mr. X and get him to take me camera shopping. He knows all the places and he’ll bargain for me, tooth and nail.

I actually saw him before going into camera shop, he was like, they call me and tell me how much, he said way too much, you should buy new camera. Mr. X is correct, AS ALWAYS! Now that I think of it, maybe he was waiting there for me? No, it’s a moto hang out.

~flicks ash in cough syrup box~ – how ironic

It’s weird as I sat here, looking at $1000 worth of digital equipment that is now only useful for paper weights… You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. I didn’t treat this stuff with respect and this is what I got. Hey, I met a guy who had been on the road 10 months, he said he went through 3 cameras, I feel much better now, yes I’ll admit it.

Ok, it’s 1:15 am, stocks are up, I’m gonna sell some stuff to lighten my load considering who knows what is going to happen next according to my “indicators” aka guys smarter than me who get paid to do this stuff for a living while I eat at Mr. Lam’s. Ok, they may not be smarter than me and I may not sell anything. If you leave your $$$ in some bs GIC where you get 1% aka castrated for being a saver, why not throw it in the market, if you make 2% you just doubled your crappy GIC. Think Blue chips with yields, yes?

Look you, “security is NOT the meaning of life, great opportunities are worth the risk”. I got that from my student hand book in my final year of High School. I needed a quote for my awkward grad photo so I opened my “planner” for the first time (seriously) and it landed on that page. I live by that, so should you.

I have much to say, but it escapes me.

Tips hat,

What can I say, other than … GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!! I had a most horrific sleep of I don’t know, let’s just throw out hmm say 5 hours? I woke up, half asleep in some kind of day dream, wondering where the h3ll am I? Oh yeah, I’m in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam aka Saigon for you “old schoolah’s”. Also, now when I leave Vietnam I can say things like “When I was in Nam” hahaha.

First, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has the craziest traffic I have ever seen, it has like 90 million people and I think all of them are on motor bikes at all times, seriously. I mean until you have been here, you have no idea. NO IDEA!!! I thought Bangkok was crazy, ha, it’s nothing. That said, Phnom Penh is crazier than Bangkok. I saw things like ladies yelling at dogs and the dogs jump up on the scooter and sit behind the lady as she bombs through traffic. This place is ALIVE with lights everywhere, constantly stuff going on despite the ~midnight curfew (I know, buzz kill). Crossing the road requires aggressive patience. You have to be patient for an opening but aggressive enough to take it or you will never, ever cross the road. It’s organized mayhem, it’s majestic.

I took the bus yesterday, yes? I sat around until I had 25 minutes until the bus came, ran to my guest house, packed like a rabid rob and rolled down the stairs into the foyer. I buy a ticket and she says “you’re late, take a moto taxi, NOW”. I say “sure”. this moto guy was mad, I would have gotten his number, it was fun, it was a trip.

As I’m sitting in the bus, I ‘m like I DO NOT WANT to leave Phnom Penh, I love it there. It’s just… I knew exactly what I’d be doing for the next few weeks had I stayed, all my friends who have been there, you know exactly what I’d be doing. Just hanging out… It’s “all good” but I feel like moving on. THAT SAID, Phnom Penh, Cambodia is on my top 5 places to relocate for say a winter of work, cheap everything and pure chilling. I even sheepishly asked the bus driver to stop the bus haha. Ok, back to Vietnam.

So yeah, roll out of bed and hit downstairs, this place I’m at is pretty pimp for $10US a night, yo that’s $300US a month BEFORE negotiating a long term rate, sick, yes? Anyways the wifi blows and isn’t steady but next door is. I go next door and they are full. I pay for the next night (reserving) in exchange for their wifi, so I’m using their wifi now and move tomorrow, I’m proud of myself.

I find this place that fixes iphones / ipod touches, then go to this place to get my cam fixed, since it’s not a licensed whatever I figure I’ll shop around a bit. That’s when I meet “Mr or Captain X”. He’s a moto taxi guy. Let me tell you how I met the next charismatic character in this most jovial journey.

I’m smoking a fag and enjoying some freshly squeezed OJ for breakfast, he comes over and is like “want moto” I’m like No but kinda one of those “no but maybe?!?” so he keeps kinda hanging around and comes over… I see him chain smoking and already like the guy, then he shows me this book. THE BOOK.

The book was actually 3 books, with maybe 100 testimonials in different hand writing and languages that he’s legit. Most people also leave their email. Most emails say “Hey, I bet you met Captain X somewhere in Saigon, he approached you, you were hesitant, chill out it’s all good and then goes on to say what they did together”. He offers tours of the city and exclusive tours of the Mekong Delta which involve eating King Cobra, drinking snake blood, having your own boat with him and a guide for 3 days or 5 days through islands, fishing, anything you want really. He knows the area very well and I even took some of the peoples emails, but there were so many people writing stuff and the dates, I’m sold and I got a good vibe.

I digress,

After sorting out the camera by finally finding a licensed canon dealer, we sit down and drink some coffee and I read more of the book. Turns out he loves to smoke and drink coffee, I will quit one day but for now, my kinda guy. The book has countless stories all basically the same. He approaches you, you go with him, he shows you everything, he drives safe. He does drive safe, he does speak decent English and was pretty cool.

Since my camera was in the shop, we went to his house to borrow his camera but couldn’t get it working. I met his wife and his daughter and his grand kid. His daughter married a Welsh man, that’s pretty cool if you know my roots.

I sit there, have a smoke, drink ice coffee and eat dried ginger and mangos. He drives me home (doesn’t ask for anything) I take his number and tell him I will call him tomorrow. Once I get my camera I am going to go on a tour around the city with him, for sure. On a side note, some of them were even solo women travelers. I have LOTS of respect for women who do this solo, as a guy it’s one thing, as a woman it’s definitely more intense.

After that ran into these 2 Brits I met on the bus, go to the War Remnants Museum. That place is creepy and some of the stuff done to Vietnam is horrendous. The US dropped 100 million litres of dioxins on the country(mainly agent orange). 85 grams of “Agent Orange” in a water supply could kill a city up to 8 million people. All the mutated kids and stuff it was sad, since going I’m noticing more and more people with defects. I recommend going, it’s not pleasant but I’m glad I went.

Lots of photos of just pure carnage and cruelty like dragging people behind tanks, disemboweling children, killing whole villages, marines holding beheaded people, burning people alive with napalm(photo below). This is a #!$!#$ed up world we live in, seriously. I just can’t get my head around some of the stuff that I saw. Horrendous stuff and the worst part is the number of civilians that were killed, atrocious.

It’s also weird how back home, where nothing like this has happened… People walk around with $1000 outfits, $800 iphones and drive $50,000 cars from their $350,000 “first home” to their 5, 6 or 7 figure job with a frown on their face… Also, people don’t smile because their teeth aren’t “perfect”.  Here? You see people with very little and the worst dental  hygiene ever smiling and just being happy. I laugh more with strangers in Asia than anywhere I’ve ever been, I love laughing, so do they. Like I said last post, life is actually simple, it’s too bad as humans we’ve made it so hard for ourselves…

When you start to think of the cost of war, you start to realize that everyone is basically a peasant. I mean where do these hundreds of billions and trillions go? Really? Where do they end up and who or what “controls” it?!? If you go to war and a country spends 780 billion dollars on weapons, does that go to privately held weapons manufacturers? I think so, where does that money go? Also with that kind of money, what kind of “pots can you stir” to further enhance the demand for your “products”? It’s messed up, the world is like an onion with 99% of the population thinking they know it all, when in reality, they are just the skin on the outside with so many bitter layers below.

Now? It’s almost 8pm, I’m chilling in my guest house about to take a shower. After that I’m going to chill out until I get a knock on my door to go out and have a late night snack with my British friends.

I’ve been told it’s Monday, let’s hope the market has a most magnificent melt up, shredding the sordid scowls off the faces of those seedy short sellers, indeed.

Tips hat,

I think as humans we’re kinda screwed, we’re almost too smart for the game of life which should be so simple. You see many people here, from all walks of life and all countries. Living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is an interesting place where you will meet people from around the world.

Life here is easy, very easy and reasonably cheap. It’s not cheap if you hang out in a nice part of town with many affluent Khmer people and expats. Still cheap compared to anywhere I’ve ever lived, might I add. People around here eat $5 breakfasts, drink ~$2-4 for a beer but hang out in impressive venues.

I’ve met many expats and a wide range of occupations including but not limited to: Lawyer, Communications Managers, Teachers, Brew Masters, Reporters, Hoteliers and Entrepreneurs.

At night, in front of this monument I don’t know the name of but may have been told, great light show. This occurred last night, a Saturday night. There was this massive fountain with music like this song I should know which is really epic and involves canons or invokes the imagery of cannons being shot at pirate boats from gents with white wigs and yellow teeth. The jets were turned on and off in accordance with the music, classy stuff.

Tuk Tuk drivers or motobikers will slowly approach you from behind and say “tuk tuk or moto”. You look back say no thanks… They keep following you (not in a creepy way) and you turn around and start laughing (in a friendly way) “No, no tuk tuk” and they start a true from the core of your gut laugh back and drive off looking back one last time, JUST in case you changed your mind. I love that stuff.

Walking down the roads, you’ll be asked for many rides from many characters. If you sit in one of the countless cafes River side you will be accosted by children trying to sell you books and see some weird people. If you venture to Lake Side, you will be in the backpacker hang out. Supposedly it’ s going to have the lake filled to build condos and whatnot, may be end of an era.

If you go out at night, there are countless bars to go to. Most are within a ~$1-3 tuk tuk / cheaper for a moto. If you have lots of people in a tuk tuk, he’ll want more, it’s all about the gas consumption with these guys, time is irrelevant (within reason), I’m digressing. Pontoon was great and had a very mixed crowd of Khmer and expats from everywhere, everywhere. The bar setting was different, floating on Mekong, long walk way to get there. There is security who will search you at the front, more of a “pat down” really.

Not many dogs in this city but lots of cats, not even that many cats really. I have a few guesses why but I’m not sure. Also, there has to be plenty of rats but I have yet to see one, I’ve seen some movement but that’s it. In Kuala Lumpur I saw armies of them and even bigger armies of cockroaches.

Not much street food out and about right now and the carts are much inferior to say Thailand, also the wares look much less appealing. Lots of mini stores though, sadly, this place is very poor.

You see people selling old fruits and what not, sitting in a slightly shaded area off a main street. There children are in a makeshift hammock attached to an electricity pole and a grid iron fence. In contrast to this, you see some of the nicest cars in Asia, driving around in abundance. Lots of Benz’s here and I’m not talking C or E series. I’d say 70% of all the mercs on the road are higher end of the S class.

Lots of interesting monuments in the middle of major arteries and interesting architecture. Lots of barbwire and gated fences everywhere, of course. Also I do believe that “security is one of the big employers here. The traffic here is so “whatever” that most places even have an attendant simply to stop traffic for patrons to get out of fancy boutiques or other places of business from say a law office to a restaurant.

If you ever were to give money to someone in one of these countries, I’d give it to a kid who picks up cans. They are already starting a trade. Even more importantly, they aren’t begging. They aren’t scared to work and took the best opportunity they could. I know it’s not a lucrative one but there isn’t a lot of money circulating here, lots of money but not much circulating if that makes sense to you.

Lots of NGO’s here, tones tones tones. Maybe I should start one… PCS4People? You organize with like minded individuals who control different aspects of the operation and get all those old gov and institutional PC’s and send them here. Then hire people to teach them basic computer usage. Once that skill is in place it opens a door for so many possible occupations from data entry to programming.

Lots of gambling here, it’s really big, like almost everyone does it. You always see people sitting on online gaming sites. Sometimes, go into a cafe later at night and like 5-10 local dudes all playing next to each other. Many expats play as well.

There is a strong sense of disorder which oddly enough mutates into a new form of order. I’m not sure which form of order is best in the short or long term. I will note that I believe North America babies their citizens like they are total morons. So many restrictions on so many things that there really shouldn’t be.

It’s 11:32, I need to check out by noon and catch a 1Pm bus to Ho Chi Minh city. That said, if I go tomorrow it’s no big deal. Every day I spend here, I feel like leaving in the afternoon but keen to stay in the morning. Each day something new which is interesting occurs.

Tips hat,

P.S: My ipod is dead, gone. My digi cam has a lens error and my pc’s battery is dead. This sucks.