Better late than never!

Okay so there is a lot of catching up to do. First off sorry for no posts the first 72 hours or so. Apparently WordPress is blocked via DNS here. That combined with no cell service and forgetting to get the wifi code from our very kind hosts meant no posting. Fortunately, the show will go on, good thing we have an IT guy with us 🙂

So let’s recap: We packed making sure not to forget an “anti-hangry kit” for me.

Mandatory Selfie in Chicago

5 weeks worth of stuff

1 anti-hangry kit for Ryan

After a 15 hour flight to Incheon South Korea, a 3 hour layover and another 5 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City we arrived, still alive too.

• Goals for Vietnam: Arrive Alive (DONE)

Jayson was very kind and met us at the airport and helped us get a taxi to where we were staying, thank you Jay.

So 2 things that smacked me in the face when I walked out the airport:
1- It is absolutely as humid and warm as I thought. It was night time and only 77F and I was still pouring sweat when we got to the apartment. Thank you HexArmor and Todd, it took me all of 1 hour to bust open the Cool Rush Du Rag #LifeSavingEquipment
(I guess the photo was censored due to excessive sweat lol)

2- From the moment I walked out of the Airport there is just people Hundreds and Hundreds of people. There were metal gates like they use at Cedar Point to corral them while they waited for their guests arriving. When you get to the road its the same thing they are just whooshing by on bikes or in cars.
We slept very well in our friend’s beautiful apartment in Korea Town (Saigon) and it has an elevator!

I managed to snap a photo of the Harley Davidson Company as we flew by. Greg Davenport this photo is for you.

DAY 2
We started our day off with a cup of coffee, there are some simple luxuries to enjoy.

Then we were off to District 1, downtown!
Uber and Grab are very popular apps and offer cars and motor-bikes. Since there is a “helmet law” now, we hopped on the bikes and zoomed downtown.

If you want an Amazing Terrifying Eye-Opening trip to downtown look no further! Motor bikes fill even the smallest of openings on the road, like sand in a crack. The best part was the left turn in a busy intersection, Left Arrow? Yea right! He just turns, and traffic moves just enough. The amazing part is, it all works. I love it! Finally we arrived at the jeweler, best place to exchange money.

If any of you ever need a confidence boost, exchange $1,000 USD to Đông, Instant Millionaire!
CONTEST – 1st person to comment with the total amount of Đông you get for $1,000 USD will win a PRIZE when we get back!!! (if you live in VN you don’t get to play. Sorry not sorry :P)   –Comment below

After Lunch we wandered the shops and negotiated for some gifts. So it’s only my 1st day but I think we are off to a good start. By the end of the trip I want to be fully convinced that being over charged $0.05 for being an American with money is a total rip-off and talk my way out of it 🙂
We each purchased 18GB 4G sim cards using Mobifone, I talked her down 20,000d (only later did I find out we also need to buy minutes, we’ll be able to text you all on our new number tomorrow after I buy some minutes.)
Then we wanted souvenirs but they were priced very high (natives let me know how good I did) I paid him only 250,000d instead of 370,000d for our 10 items.

We found a bull-dozer, a Hostel, a pet fat cat who likes to eat fish, and a cool skate-shop.

Hostel FTW!

Cool ‘Walking Street’ sign

We were glad to see this Fat guy is a pet- he likes fish.

Skate Shop -Bam was cool

Okay well it is 4:30am I should sleep, Leah’s post will be incoming.
Tune in next time. Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.

I leave you with 1 last photo