I am sitting here in lea lai park across from my hotel , waiting for the rest of my jet legged party to wake up and begin discovering ho chi minh city, a.k.a Saigon.
Woke up early as usual, so I decided to check out this little park. Put on short pants and a T shirt, and stepped outside, just like I do at home (yea right, I wish). I had to cross a street filled with buses and moped, but the chaos of traffic seems orderly. HCMC at first glance seems like Tel Aviv, lots of low level building with shops upfront a midst new built high rises.
The Vietnamese at first glance are industrious, this park on a Monday morning is filled with people working out in outdoor gym facilities and doing various other starches and perhaps tai chi or something similar. Lots of walkers and joggers and people playing badminton. This park has lots of grass and lots of trees oh a kind I don't see up north. Need to find out which trees these are. In the main squares there are lots of small palm trees as well. I took some photon of this lovely nature island surrounded by a sea of mopeds.
The sky is blue with very few clouds and it is getting nice and warm. The travel section here was not without issues as expected…
2 days ago, Alla woke me up after checking her email and getting a notice that my plane has maintenance issues, flight delayed and that meant missing my connection. After a quick check with United, I got a different flight there, and I had less than 40 minutes to leave the house. Rush rush rush, lucky I packed before, but I did forget my Vietnam book..
I left a slightly snowy Cleveland, got my new tickets and lucky they had non middle sit, that would have been a night mare. 1st leg to Denver, 4 hours in which I finished a book I had been slowly reading for over a month. This is one of the aspects of travel I like, being able to read in quiet. Book one over (sacrificial rooster in free translation), I need to unload it somewhere. And moved to book 2. Naked swimming, a murder mystery type book. Enjoyed a Cleveland airport breakfast and quick cantina lunch in Denver, then began the long flight to Tokyo. We flew along the Rockies, into Canada, with Lovely Mountains and lakes view till the ocean took over. This is my 1st time flying over the pacific and I think I have finally flew around the world, if you combine previous trips. This plane was new and comfy (the cle-Den was not) these new seats that also recline the bottom part are nice and the windows don't have a screen to hide the sun, but a dimmer. I don't know how its done, but you can dim the window itself. And the best thing, lots of new movies. I am out of shape as far as movies goes and this was a great catch up session. The mocking jay was a good opener. Wild hinted me to go explore, the hobbit was ok, and night at the museum was fun. I saw another which I don't recall + 2 chapters of girls,
A fogy landing in Tokyo made me almost miss a seemingly beautiful country. In the little time I had between the clouds I saw a very green country, a nice river with rice fields and lots and lots of cherry trees in full bloom. Love at 1st sight. But at this point I am just using Tokyo as a hub. I deplaned and walked the airport with its many duty free stores and everywhere has lines. The airport was warm and I gladly exchanged some money and purchased some water. There Tokyo bar has several sub restaurants inside and I sample the goods. As I was waiting some items were sold out. The shrimp with don, was the one I had in mind. The shrimp tempura with noodles, the small shrimp tempura with noodles, and a few other dish that are all a combination of shrimp tempura and rice or noodles. So I left the place, walked back and forth, skipped Shushi place with a 15 min waiting period then returned to the Tokyo bar , where is found a hot Shrimp tempura with rice still available, then I saw a mini shrimp tempura with rice and noodles… don't ask me how some was sold out and some was not, it didn't make sense to me, and the Shrimp were very good. Not the panko covering crap they sell here. The rice was the sushi sticky kind and even the chicken broth that surrounded the somewhat tasteless sobo noodles was good and refreshing. In the bath room, I saw a new thing, they had sits for babies to hang on while you do your business. Very useful, never seen that before.
After a while the last 6 hour flight to Vietnam began. I found a back sit with 2 seat unused and tried my best to sleep, putting my bodies in positions not known to experience yoga people. In both Japan and in here I seem to be taller than most, not used to that.
At the airport, while waiting for the visa, a Vietnamese American kept arguing with the border police about his entry visa in very loud voices. Apparently, he entered the country a while ago without a photo and now was required to provide one (and pay for it) this argument was in Vietnamese. But after minutes of arguing, he talks to me as a fellow American and complains. What does he expect me to do? To say "hey buddy, we are Americans, therefore we should come in without a passport photo. If not we will bring the American army and conquer your country and …. "all I wanted was not to be mixed in with an argument with the local police. At some point the border cop talks to me as well, saying if I follow the process and filled the form, I say yes, and he says, see this guy doesn't want to follow the process. Hey people, leave me out of this…
A few minutes later I get my visa, leave the guy still arguing and get my bag. Soon I am in a taxi not sure if I am ripped off or not and enjoy the ride to HCMC. I arrive close to midnight, very tiered, take a shower and go to sleep in a comfy bed
Well it's time to go back to the hotel have breakfast and go exploring
Good morning Vietnam.
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