Vietnam Post Number Mot

Flight was long, but uneventful, not much to say. Terrible movies. Second flight was better since I had three seats to myself. I think it was 7ish hours, making for about 19 hours of flight time, 24 overall. The HCMC airport is pretty nice and getting through immigration was very quick and easy, a bit surprising. Leaving customs I saw a crush of people waiting for family and friends, hundreds pressed up against the fence. Fortunately I had Linh's tennis racket and she picked me out pretty easily. A 20 minute ride and we were at my hotel. Room is very clean and plenty big, a good deal for 20/night. After not sleeping much, I got up and walked out onto the street around 9 am the next day. Not much of a plan in mind, just to go out and see what's around. I learned very quickly that motorbikes are the only way to get around - every person is either riding one, fixing one, or sitting on one along the sidewalks. They are everywhere. A not very pushy bike/taxi guy convinced me that is the best way to get around and I agreed. No price was set ('its up to you') and we headed for reunification palace. The palace was the headquarters for the government of the south during the war (built in 1966). It is one of the places that tanks crashed through the gates in 1975 as the VC took control of HCMC. It has been used sparingly since then and the entire building is like a time warp back to the 60s and 70s, both in architecture and furnishings. The basement has a bomb shelter where they operated that looks fairly close to the structure that Winston Churchill used in WW II. After that, we went for lunch, seafood with noodles and two beers each for us - all for about 5 dollars. He then suggested a massage, and I was skeptical, but he seemed like a good guy and had many handwritten recommendations from all over the world. When I got there they quickly offered me a 'lowlob' for 70 dollars and tried to take off my pants right away...I declined and knew this was getting a little strange. The massage wasn't that great, I don't think they do that as much as offer other services. Afterwards we stopped by my hotel and had some drinks and squid with his fellow cycle/taxi buddies. All were very nice and to my surprise really like Americans (I suppose its related to money, but they seemed sincere). Things were fine until their loan shark mafia boss(?) showed up. It was a woman wearing lots of gold jewelry. She loans them money when things are down, several men at the table owed her 1-2 million dong (70-150 dollars). I asked my driver to take me back and I gave him a very, very generous amount, but he was under the impression I was going to give him the full amount of his debt - which I didn't have even if I wanted to. It was kind of a weird ending, he hugged me and took off. After a nap, met up with Linh and had dinner in an open market area, definitely a little more low-key then earlier in the day. Pictures and videos forthcoming...

Test

Espana Part Siete

On Wednesday I went to the Vignette breakfast and saw a few sessions, but the whole thing was over pretty quickly, around noon. Stayed for lunch and then took off to find the train station, which was conveniently located very close to the hotel. The subway here is pretty cheap and very easy to navigate. A 10 minute ride, and then walked to the hostel. First time seeing the actual city, lots of narrow streets and Gothic-y architecture. Tons of small bar/restaurants, and other shops, brick streets, etc. Checked in, it's a very clean, and pretty cheap place, but not close to the major attractions, but they reached quickly via train. Took a siesta and then went out to eat and have a few cervesaas. Pretty decent taste and price, but everyone smokes like crazy so there is a constant smell of stale cigarettes. Finally slept somewhat normally. Got up today and went to 'Las Ramblas' which is the main drag. Lots of tourists. Walked all the way down to the Columbus statue and port. There was a huge student rally, not sure exactly what they were upset about, but some were waving Soviet flags. Really, that is who they look up to? Soviet era Russia? May want to rethink that. Bunch of dreadlocked hippies.

Espana part Seis

Yesterday was boring. Went to a few sessions. Missed lunch because I took a nap, and it wasn't buffet style, so I didn't want to sit down 45 minutes into the meal. Afterwards, went to the gym, a little sauna time and back to the room. Woke up at 4 am and watched CNN for a while. There are 5 stations in the hotel that broadcast in Arabic. Two in English. I find that odd. Had a $25 tuna sandwich for dinner. Love the WiFi feature on my phone, I can get email and text while connecting to the Vignette wireless broadcast. Didn't think it would come in handy, but already used it quite a bit. Found a hostel to stay at too.

Espana Part Cinco

Arrived in Barcelona at 7ish in the morning on Monday. Airport security seemed lax, I don't think my passport was looked at for more than two seconds. Took a while, but I found an ATM with the loudest buttons ever to get some Euros. My meager $40 only got me 25 after exchanging. Cab ride to the hotel was about 15, better than I thought. I noticed very quickly that the cab and hotel had an ever present smell of stale smoke because every person in Europe smokes a pack a day. Got cleaned up, took a nap and went to the conference not noticing that the opening remarks were at 2 pm. I guess they are serious about the whole things happening late in Spain. Unfortunately, I was still pretty tired and after lunch and talking to a guy from Turkey and an Australian who works in Dubai, I went back to the hotel for another nap, and missed all the sessions. Oops. The Turkish guy works for Turcel(?) the largest cell carrier in Turkey. I think that might be his name as well. Has a hacked iPhone. Is only 25, probably the youngest person here. The woman works for some waterfront project in Dubai which is going to be the home to 2 million people by 2020. I heard they are spending a billion dollars a month. Obviously it was no surprise that head of products for the vendor ate dinner with her, she said money is no object, they can throw as many resources as required at the project. The gala dinner was pretty good, nice steak even though I asked for vegetarian. Strange entertainment. It was like the bucket boys from Chicago or New York, but they were English. Banging on crates and shopping carts. Ended around midnight and buses took us back. Sweet hotel by the way, equestrian field, bidet, the whole works.

Espana Part Cuatro

Made a really dumb mistake Sunday. I had received an email stating that my flight had been changed to a 2 pm departure instead of the original time - 5:55 pm. So I left from Angie's, went back to Linda's, got ready super fast and took a car service to JFK. When I got there there were no representatives from Iberia. Hmm. So i called the airline, it was the return flight that was moved. They flip the month/day so I saw 11 and thought it was the day of the changed flight instead of the 18, which I should have paid attention to since there is no 18th month. Anyway, had to stay at the airport for 4 extra hours and missed lots of football. Not good. One small upside was changing my flight to Delta for a direct flight to Barcelona. There were lots of empty seats and although not comfortable, I wasn't squeezed in either. Mr Bean's Holiday is not recommended rental material. My phone was able to play music the entire flight, so that was pretty cool. Spending over $12 for two slices of pizza and a Diet Coke was not cool.

Espana Part Tres

Saturday night. Linda was not feeling well, so I went out with Angie and two friends of her for Vietnamese food in China town. Food was really good, especially the appetizer. It was similar to very tender pot roast in gravy and they give French bread for dipping. Main dish was a typical noodle with beef dish (not eating meat is going poorly). Too much tripe for my liking. Then went to pick up Angie's dog, and the couple went home. We went to a bar near her house, where they let the dog in and for some reason, is full of British people. Maybe because NYC is cheap now? Or is it that it's really not too long of a haul. Anyway, they seem to like the fact that bars are open past 11 unlike London. Had quite a bit to drink, and ended up staying at Angie's instead of going back to Brooklyn.