The name of my hotel in Ho Chi Minh city, was "Madam Cuc." It was run by five good looking women in their late 20's. No, it's not a brothel. But the girls that ran it were great. After showing me to my room the girl asked, "everything okay?" "Great" I said. They right before she walked out of the room she turned around. "Oh, one more thing," she paused, "what is this on your shirt?" I looked down and BAM! she did the finger to the nose thing. They seemed to enjoy messing with all of the customers, and they were good at it.
I got there late at night so the next morning I got up early to explore the city. I went down for my free breakfast where I ran into an Australian named Paul. He was solo too so together we headed out to walk around the city. HCMC is a pretty crazy place. Beautiful women stand in the doorway of stores and restaurants calling you in. "Hey you, come here please!" I know better than to be fooled by them, I wasn't so sure about Paul, though.
We took the first day easy. Walked around, went through the markets, enjoyed a few beers while it rained in the afternoon. At night we decided to get a few at a bar. We walked passed an American themes bar named "Seventeen Saloon" It was shaped like a log cabin. On the inside the waitresses wore shirts that exposed their stomachs with the Texas flag on it. It was too much for me but Paul seemed to like the waitresses, so we stuck around.
The next day we took a bus to Cu Chi, the site of some of the tunnels which had been left over from the Vietnam war. We had a tour guide who was a Vietnamese war vet. He worked as a translator for the US army. "I wanted to be a priest, but after all of the things I saw in the war I changed my views on things, now I have a family." He told us that we would learn a lot about the Vietnam War, and that most of it was produced by the government. "In the war museum you will see many things that the US did. It is terrible. But is only one perspective. I remember seeing people buried alike in Hue during the Tet offensive. Those pictures aren't in the museum." He always threw in something deep, usually between jokes.
On the bus we met another Aussie who was just finishing up a 5 month trip. He saw New York, South America, and most of South East Asia. He was a rugby player and my age, we got along great. The three of us went through the tunnels all the while patiently waiting for what we were really there for, and eventually it came. For whatever reason the parl also has a shooting range, in which one can shoot automatic weapons. "I want to shoot the biggest thing you got." "Ah, ahaha, okay. Yes. M60 then." Paul shot an m16 and an AK 47, and so did James, the other Aussie.
That night we went out for some BBQ and a few beers. We sat on a roof and talked about rugby and music, women and traveling. We ended the night early. The next day James had an early flight to a small city on the beach for scuba lessons, something I hope to do at the end of my trip. Paul was going to stick around for another day, and I was going to the Mekong Delta. There were very touristy packages that I could have taken to get there, but I opted for the local buses. A decision I'm not yet sure of. I guess I hoped it would be more enriching that it really was. Had I gone the touristy route at least I would have probably found a new travel partner. But there is still more to come as tomorrow I go to the Cambodia-Vietnam border.
The three of us stood outside last night shaking hands and exchanging E-mail addresses, wishing each other safe journeys. This morning I ran into Paul at the hotel. He was booking a beach resort for the next day. We shook hands and he seemed nervous. He didn't seem too sure of himself. I wasn't sure if I liked him. He was nice, but a wimp. He should not have been traveling alone. "Safe journeys man" he said. I could tell that he wanted me to go with him. I had a great time in HCMC, but it was time to move on. There is always more and I may be alone for the rest of this journey, or I might not. There's always more everything in the next city.
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