Writing interrupted......

Our daily updates had been interrupted by a little bugger called the flu..... and its taken me a few days to recover and Thien has been busy taking care of me. But after a "jump-start" acupuncture treatment at the Institute of Traditional Medicine I was able to get back on my feet within a couple of days. It is great to have the option of traditional medicince with western practice in this city. I must warn however, that the Acu-Impulse treatment is quite literally, a jump-start! Not for the delicate nor the faint of heart! The needles are thick, they go in deep, and the electrical current that is pumped through them is enough to run a small motor... they do not kid around! But it got me up and running within 24 hours, along with some prescribed chinese herbs and tonics. All (needles, diagnosis, herbs and torture) for under $20 usd! Wish I had some pics to show....but some things are best left to the volatile recollection of memory......

We will post some more pics from our Can Tho / Mekong trip and finish up that story later.

Trip to Can Tho

Wednesday, February 20th
6:00am: rise to alarm, stumble down 5 floors spiral stairs not because the hotel lacks an elevator, but because it's decendance is in pace with the awakening of the brain and the re-enterreing of the soul into the body. The body craves the morning jolt of our ca phe sua da(Vietnamese coffee), so Thien wakes the overnight staff, our coffee is freshly dripped and we wait for our morning bowl of hieu tiu, probably the next best thing to a really good bowl of pho at Pho 24 or a savory breakfast of bun bo hue at Mon Hue.
7:30am: We rush to the speed boat doc and load into a 25 seater ride, and off to Can Tho we go!
11:00am Upon arrival we reflect upon our 3 1/2 hour zip up the Mekong and through many of its tributaries. The landscape drastically changes as the city, and its surrounding mega-shipping industries, are trailed behind and transcend into a rural tone as we pass by less sophisticated boats hauling dirt, gravel, clay tiles.... all signs of the incredible pace of growth this country is in the midst of. We are witnessing history in the making.
Can Tho surprises us with its size and metropolitan vibe. We find ourselves walking lazily in a humid 22 deg. c . late morning to our Hotel Saigon Can Tho (on which we will comment later), just a few blocks away. Signs of tents and stands indicate some sort of festival about take place. We learn from the signage that it is the day before the Mekong-Can Tho Festival. We look forward to seeing the festival develop during our short stay.

Read and you'll find out...

Breakfast above: Banh Tet ( New Year's Cake). Not really a "cake" but more like a rice and-other-unknown ingredients fried pancake that can lean to either side on the sweet-salty scale. (We both preffered a small amount of sprinkled sugar). Brought to our room by a concerned staff, we were politely pleaded to eat, fearing the quality of our Luck for 2008. Now we can be ensured that the Rat will be smiling upon us for the rest of the year!

About our evening last night....

It's all about taking Karaoke to the next level! The cover bands at Acoustic were phenomenal! Everything from Pink Floyd ( they really like Pink Floyd) to Britney Spears, Sting to Goo Goo Dolls! And the audience was 98% Vietnamese hipsters - only about 4 or 5 of us expat / foreigners there. No cover, but $40,000 dn for a Tiger (apx. $2.50; still cheap but 2x more than average), but cool & intimate atmosphere. Definetely a good time for anyone who wants to get away from the all-expat white-y bars. Tomorrow we're checking out Yoko, a "showcase for undiscovered Vietnamese music talent...ranging from Jazz to Rock". Next time we go out we'll lug the Pentax around so we have pics to show! Oh yeah, we also had some dinner at K Cafe, a tiny French-style "bistro" in the backpacker district. Not too much to say about the Steak Frites Salade nor the Steak au Poivre, that was more like "Cream au Poivre", but at $7 US what can you ask for? Even though it was stated on the Specials chalkboard that the beef was "imported"...mmmm.....But they make a good Mojito......


However, for those of you reading who may be visiting sometime in the near future, definitley pick up a free copy of THE WORD magazine in any cafe in or around Q1. It just launched and looks very promising - it's really got it all - cool layout, great articles, and listings for just about anything any foreign resident or traveller could possibly need or want. Today we'll be checking out a brand new multi-story mall that's supposed to be to the likes of the foo-foo malls in Bangkok.....we'll comment on that later. -D.

A Day in Cholon

Cholon is an area between Q5 & Q6(District 5&6), predominantly inhabited by Vietnamese of Chinese origin. There you find the main trading quarters of Binh Tay Market, finding anything foodstuff, from dehydrated bamboo shoots and wild medicinal mushrooms to live fish and roasted pork. Clothing and candy are in abundance as well on the 2nd floor, if you can get through the maze of boxes being carried on the backs of hard working men and

women. We rode our motobai here from Q1 early this morning, but not early enough, unable to avoid some heavy morning traffic. While Thien manned the boat, avoiding all sorts of obstacles imaginable, I navigated as best I could, improvising at detours and streets not on my list. But we arrived without a scratch and enjoyed our observation post at the Trung Nguyen coffee shop across the street, along with the local Sunday-goers, reading their papers, smoking their cigs and enjoying a potent Vietnamese coffee, chased w/ a light iced-oolong tea, as is customary. These are a few of our top un-edited pics for the day, as we try to improve our photo skills. Enjoy! -D.

Crusteaceans and Shellfish

The warmth and generosity we experience with our surrogate family at Hotel Nam De can only be described as refreshing. So far from our home in San Diego, however home is where the heart is. And for now our hearts are in Saigon. The staff have become our friends, brothers, sisters...family. Last night we experienced our "Moveable Feast" complete with bounties of the sea, laughter and genuine smiles that make the lights of this restless city seem pale in comparison.-TN

A day in the life of....

Constantly surrounded by the frenzy of organized chaos that is the constant soundtrack of our evenings, has given us the chance to capture this momentary lapse of time. As we unwind from the early rising and the all -day -going, the city re-awakens as the sun begins to settle. The night becomes like day as the river of lights begin to flow beneath the safety of our balcony. -D.

I left my mole in Ho Chi Minh...

Finally starting to settle in to the Saigon groove. T and D got their groove back. Doesn't take too long to get a feel again for the frenetic pace of things. You begin to get sucked up along with the currents of the city. Today was a day of epic proportions. A piece of myself will be forever left in this city of here today gone tomorrow. The Cindy Crawford mole on the side of my temple was incinerated in a Saigon back alley beauty salon, for 5 dolla made me holla! Farewell, my concubine. Jet lag is starting to subside and last night we were treated to a seafood feast accompanied with the Vietnamese Wedding Singer band. -TN

The scent of green....?

Hello! We are great! just wanted to say hello. we are getting used to the time - a little jet lagged, but otherwise great - we are being treated like kings! We have had the best food already - and not to mention the most delictable fruits brought to our room every few hours...mmmmmmm! Just had some creamy Durian and sweet pitaya, oh , yeah, and some pink guavas. We have a bag of Rambuttan to go through still -
Thien's mom will be here on the 3rd - we are planning a few trips for next week - Can Tho, Phu Quoc island, Angkor Watt in Cambodia, Hanoi and Sapa in the North. I think we are going to Can Tho at the end of the week to visit the floating markets. We'll be at the Victoria Hotel. Then we'll be back inSaigon to plan our next move. Lots of positive things happening already w/ potential future biz. we'll let you know as things unfold. We will be updating our blog later tonight w/ some new pics. Great view from hotel and our new zoom lens is AWESOME!!!!! can't wait to share..... hope everyone is doing great - thanks for everyone's help - and Anette, say hello to my Nina - hope she is behaving - if, not Rescue Remedy to the rescue!
love, D & T.

65 mims. to lift-off

Denise and I are patiently waiting to board and hoping that we my get lucky and get bumped up to first class. That would be the day right? Excitement starting to build and we feel really alive as of now. Let's hope we don't re-enact an episode of Lost.

1 day and counting

1 day and counting before our journey begins.  Anticipation is building along as the typical last minute glitches.