Hello Ho Chi Minh

1 Family - 5 Countries - 13 Days

One incredible task that we're sure will make for incredible memories.  Me and my family are hitting the holidays quick and hard this year, making this one of the better christmas seasons for us in recent memory.  Our small ratpack is taking on Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, or at least we're going to do our best to try.  The hardest part I am foreseeing is keeping it all lighthearted through out the trip.  Especially when the heroes for this adventure are Old Faithful, Little Bigfoot, and The Beast of Burden.

Anyway first stop on the trip, Ho Chi Minh City, this leg of the trip was my mom's kind of bakers dozen thing, the "pakapin" or throw in to the whole trip.  Basically it is the jump of to get to Siem Reap and Cambodia which this whole side trip is centered upon.  Side trip really because the main purpose is for us to attend my aunt's wedding in Bangkok in a weeks time.  Also by flying into Vietnam instead of straight to Cambodia for the same price we pretty much get a two day extension on our trip for pretty much the same dough we would have had to cough up if we flew in straight.

Not Everything Needs to Change 

The first day of our trip was relatively straight forward by holiday standards, mom planned well for this trip just as she always does and so we made the best of our day by making the next two even easier.  We just booked our Cyclotour, planned our foot routes, and reserved our bus transfer to Cambodia.  The three of us have never been to Vietnam but after one day we are in agreement that we feel like we are in an turn of the century Asian movie filmed by a French director with a forbidden love story between two adolescents from the families Mo Ped and Ves Pa.

Cycles

Corny? Though seriously we have never seen this many cycles in one place, EVER!  Add to that the whole organized chaos that anyone would notice during the first five minutes you spend on the road and I am sure you would be dumb struck too.  One its not something most people would be used to, two how come the local law enforcement allows them to do what they do (like taxis swerve in to the opposite side of the road to pick up a fare), and three there aren't more accidents that occur. (knock on wood)

Another aspect that comes to mind when walking around is the amount of influence the French really had on the local flare.  The most of obvious of which is definitely mode of transportation but for me the more important one and the one I'm looking forward to trying is the food.  Truth be told, I have a list of eats that I HAVE to have while I'm here in Vietnam, on the short list are local dishes like the Banh Mi, a french baguette stuffed with local shiznit and of course being the noodle freak that I am a whole lot of Pho!  Wherever I can get it!

Ben Thanh Market at night

Haha, so I'm definitely looking forward to more food tomorrow especially after the dinner we just had which mom says was high end hawker food (say what?!) and of course the touring we'll be doing.  So this was definitely a good start to the trip, cheers on you guys, Bonne Nuit!

333 - Good & Light