Gooooood Morniiiing VietNAAAAAM!

Our Vietnam holiday nearly ended before it started. We had barely made it onto our flight, what with Incheon International Airport being as busy as it was on Buddha's Birthday/Children's Day long weekend holiday.

"It's because it's a long weekend and eeeeveryone's flying." Nate, the Canadian, speculated right after he'd gotten over his take-off jitters, "I can't wait to find ourselves a couple of motorbikes."

The Wednesday morning flight over to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, was smooth. The lunch-hour traffic just outside the airport was heaty. Simply put, it was (and is) orgnanised chaos. Motorbikes everywhere. It was like an un-environmentally friendly version of Amsterdam. In destitution, we gave up on the bikes and took a taxi the rest of the way to our resort. Nevertheless, we had arrived and it was irresistible to give a little....

good_morning_vietnam_1987_dj_adrian_cronauer_by_ent2pri9se-d5a2v0s.jpg (900×606)

(Pretty much said this every hour on the hour)

We headed down to the very south of Can Gio, a district on the south side of Ho Chi Minh, which included a ride on the Pha Binh Khanh ferry and plenty of tall mangrove forests. We checked in to Can Gio Resort, went for a swim in the pool and then went for a walk on the plastic-littered beach. We accepted a proposition from a restaurateur to eat at his beachside joint. The fish steaks and beef stir fry (can't remember the actual name) were fantastic, each meal pairing bloody nicely with the $0.75 (VND 15,000 +/-) beverages. We headed back to the resort and sipped on the pricier resort booze. $1.25 (VND 25,000 +/-) a pop. Absolute highway robbery.

Thursday rolled around and we caught Bus 90 to a nearby village, basically to be tourists. We got a few stares and quickly realised that foreigners don't frequent those parts of Can Gio very often. We started by walking around an outdoor market which was filled with everything from octopus flesh to plastic octagon toys. While walking around the rest of the village, we were approached by two entrepreneurs who offered to give us a lift on their motorbikes. We didn't know what they were saying or where they would be taking us but I just said "yes, we're in". These guys drove us around the south-east side of the island for about half an hour.

We then took a public transit bus back to south side of the Pha Binh Khanh ferry. While strolling along the back alleys we were invited to join a family's lunch-time meal. There was only one lady there who spoke English and she stuffed us with spicy seafood and vegetables. She made an offer for us to buy a Vietnamese property valued at VND 700, 000, 000. She also wanted to show us a picture of one of her nieces (or 'nieces', I wasn't sure what to make of it) and said that 'she could be ready for me in about an hour'. I still have that niece's number punched into my cellular device. Hmmmm... After about 57 more minutes of beer drinking, eating and (being on the receiving end of some sly) saleswomanship we left. We took the ferry back to the Ho Chi Minh side of the river and did some exploring. Whilst on our self-guided sight-seeing, we were greeted 'hello' by a local, and so we sat down and joined the bugger for a beer. What a pleasure. One beer later we were on our way. By chance, we bumped into a fellow South African, Tamsyn Nicholson, and she opened up her home to us. Luck was on our side for this trip, tell you whaaaat!

The next two days blurred past. We did a lot of chilling at the pool, consistently consuming beer, and generally talking shit about life. We fitted in a visit to the Independence Palace and a night out in Ho Chi Minh with Tamsyn and her mates. I bought two coconut juices from a street entrepreneur for VND 150, 000. Honestly, the oak had such a great sales pitch that I couldn't refuse, plus the stuff inside tasted golden. I had learned the hard way, though. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice..."

In the end we managed to go on a motorbike tour of Can Gio's side routes (half of which was done in a downpour - moist as hell!). My Canadian co-explorer had never ridden a motorised bicycle before.

"How hard can it be?" he chortled, "Especially since it's automatic."

No look, I really did want him to fall off at least once, but for half a Sunday's riding he did exceptionally well to avoid any and all traffic scuffles and kerfuffles. Good on you, Nate.

On the whole, Vietnam is an entrepreneurial place. 10 out of 10 for helping me maximise utility and gratification out of US$250 pocket money.

Here's some amateur photography for the buggers: