Mekong Delta (June 24)

We went to the Mekong Delta yesterday which was really cool and will post some pics about it. We are so lucky to live in Canada, we cannot believe how some people live over here. We have never loved our country so much after the things we saw yesterday. Primitive living and poverty. We took a 2.5h speedboat ride back to HCM city and feel like we saw the entire Mekong river which is massive. And Jodi didn't even get sick! We'll tell you more about it later, just trying to kill time. We did meet up with Andy and Adam, our Aussie friends (met them in Naples) and it was wicked. The four of us did the tour together and then went for an amazing Vietnamese supper.

Tawnya saw 4 cockroaches and 1 large rat last night (outside). It is time to leave the big city and get back to beach life!!

Pictures below:
- Getting on one of many boats
- Sights along the river
- Unicorn island and a bunch of cocks
- The island medical center (seriously)
- Baby in a hammock (the mother had a string attached to her toe that rocked the baby while she worked)
- Tawnya and Jodi with a cuddly python (very strong)
- Drinking banana wine, honey tea and local candies
- Adam drinking snake wine (yes, out of the jar to the right)
- Local fruit which we sampled while listening to a traditional Vietnamese band
- Jodi experiencing mekong life
- Another boat trip through the island canals
- Back to the Mekong River
- The 'houses' on the river coming into Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam (June 22 - 25)

Wow, this place is crazy. We have just arrived and took a taxi from the airport which cost us 75,000 Dong ($5 US) which is expensive for here. These are pics along the way to our hotel. Absolute mayhem, and the pollution from vehicles that would never be allowed near the road in Canada, is stifling. As you can see these people will put anything on the back of a bike, motorized or otherwise. We are trying to track down our aussie buds to create a posse and to revel in conversation about what we miss at home. The people seem very nice so far and the tiny gecko inhabiting our room seems alright too. Jodi inspected all corners of the room with her maglite and seems satisfied (so far). The 4th last pic (beside the temple thing) is the "road" our "hotel" is on. Looks pretty sketchy but is recomended by lonely planet and is not too bad ($20 US/night). The street is called Mini-hotel alley. Not much of a view from our room though hey!? At least they have free internet, although it would only be $0.40/hr anyway! Gotta watch that budget closely. We hope to get massages tomorrow from blind masseurs (at a reputable massage institute) for 45,000 Dong/hour, or $3. Sick.

Disclaimer #2

Basically an FYI, from Jodi:
So before arriving here in Ho Chi, I spoke to mom on the phone. It appears in our post from Bangkok, we became lost in our sarcasm and failed to mention some small, but very important, details on what we were doing with our passports. I re-read the blog, and to to your credit mom and dad, and other concerned family members; it does sound as though we just gave our passports to some random guy on the street named Pop. We do sometimes leave out details in order to simplify things; and try to add some good ol' fashioned Canadian sarcasm... for all our fans out there (as well as us too)! Pop was actually a certified travel agent with a shop attached to our hotel. We understand that we should never leave our passport with anyone. However, we knew we would have to do this in order to get our Vietnam visas. Beforehand we had spoken to many people (at home and other travellers we've met along the way) about this and were assured this was a logical option. Indentity theft? I guess you can never know for sure? Risky? absolutely. But really, as with anything you do here, there is an element of risk involved. So, what do we do? We shop around, check out all our options, talk to people etc. Then, together we made the BEST decision, we feel. The Vietnamese embassy.. also an option, but really? If we got there without being kidnapped or struck by a wild tuk-tuk, that place could've ended up being just as illegitimate. Same-same. We really do appreciate your concerns and comments, and I am glad that they were very nice. Please, next time you are confused or baffled by what we are doing or not doing, please ask first before you assume we have made the worst possible decision. We are not perfect, but we are doing the best we can and are never careless. We love you all very much and know it is your job to be concerned about us. We actually found the whole thing really sweet and kinda funny, but I felt compelled to explain anyways. In the future we will try to be more specific when it comes to important situations such as this. And, just so you're aware, this was the first and the last time we felt it necessary to put our passports in someone else's hands. Love you! G'night! XOXOXO

Bangkok, Thailand (June 18 - 22nd)

So we arrived in Bangkok 2 days ago on a 6 hr red eye flight from Dubai. It was pissing rain and got dropped near Khao san rd to find accomodation and luckily the place we wanted (Rambuttri Village Inn) is huge and had availability (and A/C). That was about 3pm. We slept until noon the next day. After dizzily (very hypoglycemic) wandering through Soi Rambuttri (for those who know) we found food and the dodgy bowels began.

It is very hot and humid here, but Dubai was at least 10 degrees hotter so we were not that shell shocked by the heat. Although here you spend more time outside air conditioned buidings than in Dubai. It is not as dirty and sketchy as Naples (Italy) believe it or not, so we were also pleasantly surprised and almost comfortable with it. We also learned how to cross the street in Naples where no one yields to pedestrians trying to navigate across 6 lanes of crazy italian drivers, half unpredictably weaving all over on motorcycles. Thailand same-same as they say. And Naples was equally dirty and smelly (if not more so, seriously). So we didn't really have much of a culture shock (yet) except for going through the food markets which some of you know can be a test of mental and physical strength especially when the only thing you want to eat is pepto bismol. Where are our philipinos now?! Coulda helped with identifying some things! In saying that, we are more likely to step outside the box and not be afraid as our late night smorgs on 31 taught us to try first and ask questions later (we love you guys!). We have found that this city is difficult if you have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (like Tawnya) as there is just way too much stimulus at all times. So it will be nice to see other hopefully more relaxing places.

So that brings us to our next plan. The rest of Thailand will have to wait for a few weeks as we are off to Vietnam on the 22nd!!! We gave our passports to Pop, yes his name, the guy outside of our hotel who apparently "1 million percent" guarantee will have our visas ready for us tomorrow night. Cheers Pop. He also got us a good deal on a flight and gave us real tickets tonight which ups our confidence in him. So if and when we get to Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) we are possibly meeting up with our aussie pals Andy and Adam with whom we had a dance party in Naples when we were all too afraid to go outside at night. And then, Tawn's friend from way back Adrienne, will be in Nha Trang a few days later where we join her to do a 3 day dive certification course! How cool. We hope it all works out and that we get special price.

For those who have been following the saga, we have a digital camera now which we received on loan from Jode's mom in Dubai. So more pics will be coming if we can get it together. We also hope to finish the Europe posts from long ago that we're sure you are all desperate to see. If not, it needs to be finished for our own piece of mind. We started this damn it, and we will finish it!!
P.S. It is actually 2045h here not 0645h, did you think we would actually be up that early?!

Health Care City, Dubai

We drove through here today, it will be a very cool place. An entire village of Hospitals and health care facilities. We've not even been to NZ yet and are already looking at jobs in Dubai!! (Don't worry Moms, you can visit!). We saw a sign on a brand new building, "Dubai Health Care City Apartments, Now Leasing." The place is still under massive construction with some facilities already in use. Nothing like the Royal Alex thats for sure!! (Van Boom, we could be neighbors).

Dubai, U.A.E. (June 14 - 18)

So Dubai.... it is literally the future. It is amazing! There is so much money here and all they are doing is building. Building whatever they want because they can and they have the money and cheap labor (thousands of workers from India, Pakistan etc. living in camps) to do it. They have the tallest buildings, the nicest malls, anything you can get in Canada, you can get here plus more. Basically if you have money, you live very comfortablty here. There is Bur Dubai ("Old Dubai"), which is like the nitty gritty not-so-nice part of Dubai and New Dubai where all the growing is going is happening. We are staying in New Dubai with Billy Kamleh (for those of you who dont know him, we went to High School together). They have a maid and their apartment feels like a 5 star resort, it is so nice. Pics below of the pool and view of the pool from Billy's 14th floor balcony, top right is also Billy's apartment complex. Also pics of the World's tallest building from the balcony, and us eating at some great Lebanese retaurants. There also a few from inside the Mall of the Emirates (you thought Vegas had good shopping) ,including their indoor ski hill (hilarious!)

...more to come but its late so we'll fix up this post of this crazy cool place later!!