The heat is on in Saigon

From Phnom Penh we took a bus across the boarder to Saigon. The border crossing was pretty straight forward, particularly because the Vietnamese make you get your VISA in advance so there is very little hassle at the border itself. We were still traveling with Jaylene and Travis so the four of us got to share the bus ride experience. Well sort of, Jay and Travis are champions of Valium bus travel so the ride was definitely more enjoyable for them than it was for us. Saigon is only about 5 or 6 hours from PP so we had a day trip and got into Ho Chi Minh City by early afternoon. As usual we had to go through the usual headache of getting accomodation and settling in. By the time we were showered and ready to hit the town a storm was coming on so we hightailed it to the Rex Hotel to have a rooftop drink and celebrate our arrival in Vietnam.

This is a big deal for Justin and me because it is basically the last country we are traveling to before we go to Beijing to visit my parents, and then heading home. As of arriving in Vietnam we are entering the last hurrah of our whirlwind trip. It is pretty unfathomable. These past 6 months have been super exciting and they feel like they have flown by so fast. It is hard to believe that we will be home in a month.

Anyway, I digress, we arrived at the Rex at the exact right moment because within minutes of our being there the sky openned up and a huge storm hit Saigon. Monsoon level storm. We have been seeing quite a lot of rain the last couple of weeks. It has been good though because usually everyday is so hot and humid that we are practically begging for rain. We sat under the sunroof of the Rex rooftop patio and drank our outrageously priced drinks marvelling at the bustling and frantic city bellow us. ASnd the storm. While there someone had the brilliant idea (probably Justin) that this would be perfect movie weather and that Saigon probably had a movie theatre with English movies. So we asked the waiters for some advice and made a hasty depature to the nearest Galaxy theatre. The only thing playing at a convenient time was The Book of Eli so we went to see that. What a strange movie to be showing in a Communist country with Buddist roots and a healthy skeptisim of Christianity. But it was entertaining at least.

After the movie we went for dinner at the central market and then made our way home in a sort of semi-lost, round-a-bout kind of way. We didn't have a big night because we had plans to go to Southeast Asia's most famous waterpark at Dam Sen Lake, in the morning. And, let me tell you, the water park did not disappoint.

You may think it is lame to go to water park in Saigon, when we could have been out going to temples and war muesums etc etc. But actually we were practically the only foreigners there, so it was a cultural experience. I of course rate cultural experiences by how many other white people are there. The fewer the white people the more cultural it is. It was awesome to see all the locals with their families and huge picnics. And boy do they picnic right. I mean whole lobsters at the water park, now that is amazing. We had an absolute blast, and for the first half of the day there was practically nobody there so we didn't have to wait in any lines. But by about 2 we were spent and decided to head for home.

After a mild night out in Saigon, in which I failed to piss off no less than four gap yahs, by of course referring to them as gap yahs, and playing one absolutely dismal game of pool, we spent the next day searching for and being horrified by the War Remnants Museum. It is difficult to say which was worse the killing fields in Cambodia or the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. But knowing that America had a direct hand in the reality of both definitely didn't help matters. The War Remnants Museum, which was formerly and perhaps more aptly known as the American War Crimes Museum, is chilling. Many of the images of the war were familiar to me. But there were plenty of things there I hadn't seen before. I found the pictures of children born with birth defects from exposure to Agent Orange particularly sobering and in many cases difficult to look at.

We all left feeling pretty unsettled, and it took a while for us to recover from the days activities. But Since Justin and I had a bus to catch latter in the evening we tried to make the most of the rest of the day. The four of us went out for a nice dinner together and said our goodbyes. And Jay and Travis even gave us a parting gift. Valium! For the bus ride. And then we were off to Nha Trang. Just Justin and I, alone again to continue the last of our adventures....