The Unicorn of my SE Asia Trip

So Southern Vietnam has been pretty awesome.  Lynn got in on the 9th so I've been travelling with her around Saigon and Nha Trang the past few days and it's been refreshing to have another traveler to talk to and share stories with as well reminisce about past trips.  Since Lynn has been in we've done all the sites around Vietnam.  Its been a weird and somewhat somber experience at times, as Vietnam now has a bit of a different perspective on the Vietnam war.  The war museum, which use to be called the museum of American war crimes and was changed for obvious tourism reasons, depicted on the tragedies that happened to the North Vietnamese, while true and unbelievably horrible, it gave no real insight into the other side of the story.  While somewhat one-sided, it was interesting, nonetheless to see everything.  The horrible things that agent orange did to people of that generation as well as future generation was horrible.  This chemical, thought to be safe to spray around humans, was used as a defoilaging agent in the jungle, to basically make jungle warfare less jungle and more towards the way the Americans know how to battle.  We went to the cu chi tunnels yesterday, and that was also pretty crazy. The cu chi tunnels were tunnels in the south where the communist vietnamese held control and the Americans and Southern Vietnamese wanted to take, but never could, because the Northern Vietnamese were so good at jungle warfare.  the entire time being bombed by american planes, these Northern Vietnamese lived in a series of extremely small tunnels up to 10 meters under ground.  The tunnels were complex, tiny, and smart, as they even had rooms with smoke chambers for cooking so by the time the smoke made it to the surface, it wouldn't be seen in the air.  But the ways they showed jungle warfare was insane, the traps and ways they killed American soldiers was horrible and some of the people who talked about it made them sound like a proud thing they came up with, as they gave awards for most Americans killed.  Just a bit of a trip, coming from America, being an American, but at the same time, being of Vietnamese descent.  Definitely gave me a different perspective, but at the same time, made me appreciate that we do have freedom of speech and the freedom to hear both sides.

On a brighter note, we also made it to Nha Trang, a small beach community just a bit NE of Saigon.  The city and beach was beautiful, and definitely a welcome change of pace as it was not nearly as insanely crowded and not as humid.  It was awesome to chill on the beach and be lazy.  We also walked by a lady who had a few mopeds for rent, and found out we could rent mopeds for the entire day for 5 bucks!  No insurance, no license required, no leaving paperwork or deposit, just pay 5 bucks, and go.  It was rad riding along the cost and being able to experience a bit of the Vietnamese traffic.  All in all, Nha trang was really nice little break, and even got to try some Vietnamese brewed beer at a brewery, which wasn't half bad.

So on the social side of things, I got to meet up with some friends I made in Hanoi last night in Saigon.  It was awesome to see them and they actually brought a few other friends from their hometown they ran into on the trip.  It was a fun time, the usual drinking and story telling, the club/bar we were at had the most random assortment of music, from playing Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer, a must for em, to playing mmm bop.  ha.  A good time of talking about traveling through Vietnam and definitely am glad to have met them, and actually heard I might get a visit or a couch surf in a bit when they are headed to the states, which always is a fun time.  So another person I met on the trip that seemed.....well....amazing was this girl on the same tour as me and Lynn to the Cu Chi Tunnels.  So we get on the bus, and these two Aussies walk on, a guy and a woman....if that word is good enough to call her.  She was super super cute, and so I had to start talking to her.  We talk for a bit and she seems super nice, and super sweet, and just really awesome as well as astoundingly hot.  She tells me she's actually in actress and her mate traveling with her is just a coworker, a make up artist.  SO we get on the tour and some people start asking for pictures with her and start saying they love her, apparently she is a pretty big deal.  She's a big name actress in the UK and Australia, works on a big soap opera, and also has been on dancing with the stars and has a successful modelling career.  So I obviously have to flirt more, which was good, and she even seemed into it, despite what Lynn says, she has to admit, it was a good sign when she asked her friend to switch seats so she could talk to me.  Oh yea.  But alas, so is the life of a Unicorn, the mythical creature of beauty you see once but then remains forever just a dream.  ha.  So yea, she was pretty hot.  Oh well, onto Cambodia tonight! Just at the airport getting ready to go for 3 days to Siem Reap and Angor Wat!  Should be awesome to get out of the big city life and onto a cultural landmark.  Then onto some great adventures in Thailand and Laos, I finally got my trip a bit planned and have plans to do a 3 day trek with local hill tribes in northern Thailand, then go rock climbing in a popular spot there for a day, then head to Laos for the Gibbon Experience where you stay in treehouses 40m high and go from house to house via zipline, then back to another Northern Town in Thailand for a few days of hiking, and then finally on to Bangkok for last minute debauchery and trouble before heading home to my amazing friends and family, cousins count as both, whom I miss dearly and think about often!  Signing out!  Check in later in Cambodia!