Last Part Vietnam

Last you heard, I was in Hanoi eating snake hearts and pooping. I spent a couple more days there, but mostly just walking around the city. Ho Chi Minh has his corpse mummified there, but unlike Stalin, you don't get to look at it and they have a changing of the guards every now and again in front of the mausoleum. Also, there are all the ministries - on that subject, surprise, the biggest ministry was defense. It may have been on more acreage than our Pentagon. If not, it at least looked like a resort. Those defense strategists need their spas, but don't worry it's all inclusive. Moving on, I decided to go to Sa Pa.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - This Last Week or So

This is going to be another long one. A lot of things have happened in the past week or so. I'd like to end on a positive note, so I'll start with the ugly.

Prostitutes, Trannies, and Bears Oh My

OK, no bears. Just lots of the other stuff. And they harass you a lot. I have been taking it pretty easy around here, just going on walks around the town. Oh, and seeing movies just to get out of the heat - it is hot and humid here. My clothes are constantly covered in sweat, but then so are all the other travelers. Other than that, one thing I have been needing is a massage. In fact, I probably need a few of them and an alignment (not doing that here) because I have knots in my back literally the size of fifty cent pieces and am super tight in the neck. So, I was looking around for a massage place and found one of those "seedy" ones and had the strangest massage ever.

Good Morning Vietnam

I am in Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh to be exact. Since my last update, I stayed a few days in Cairns with not much to report. I didn't dive, I just kinda hung out and got a few things out of the way before flying to Darwin and then to Vietnam. Darwin was kinda cool. I met some cool people that I hung out with while I was there. The first night I there there was a festival going on. Every Thursday night during the dry season they have a big party in a close by park. Go for sunset (the dust in the air during the dry season makes them awesome), stay for food, music, and fireworks (things that explode into flames are perfect ways to celebrate the DRY season). Lastly, I got everything I needed straightened out and even looked for books on chi/psi/qigong, but didn't find anything worthwhile.
Then, I jumped a flight and got in late last night. I shared a taxi with some old dude who got kinda clingy and wanted to hang out with me. Thankfully, it took a good long while to find a place to stay because it is apparently a national holiday weekend celebrating the end of the American War (kinda awkward). I did find a place, thanks to the help of a hotel owner who was full (I'm using their computers to type this too). I walked around a bit and grabbed some pho. Lots of prostitutes...