Ho Chi Minh City Feb 8-12

2006-03-23T00:21:00.000-08:00

So, Vietnam. It takes me 2 days to get from the south of Cambodia to HCMC in Vietnam, however having already been to Phnom Penh makes the time there very easy - know how much the motorcycle taxis cost, where to find a room, how to get to the bus station. Mostly all I'm thinking about is seeing Jett in 2 days. I get a room that we can both stay in comfortably - don't want Jett's introduction to backpacking to be too traumatic but also want him to get into the spirit of things. I spend the 2 days just hanging out, checking on what there is to do in town that Jett would like and watching movies - waiting, waiting.

On the 10th, I catch the bus to the airport and wait at the exit gate. It feels like forever, but after a short wait Jett and Jamie come out and I get my first hug for 3 months. Neither of us want to let go. We all have dinner but Jett falls asleep at the table so we go to our room for him to sleep off the jetlag. It feels so good to have him here. The next day he's up at 5am, we walk the local park and watch the early risers do tai chi so i do yoga while Jett practices his kung fu. Jett has his first pho (vietnamese noodle soup) for breakfast and likes it. We go to the travel agent and buy our open bus ticket which lets us travel to Hanoi in the north getting on and off as we like. We spend the day at the Dam Sen Waterpark catching slides and rides, and then go to the Dam Sen Amusement Park - like Luna Park, and ride on a dinosaur ride and see amazing ice sculptures - check the photos.

We have an early bus the next morning to Mui Ne, a coastal bech resort town. We get supplies, get to the bus station at 7, and wait for almost 2 hours for the bus. There are a few people I have travelled with before waiting for the bus so we cross the road to the park and play hackydart. Do you remember hackydart? It is from Cambodia and I bought lots of them, hope to import them into Australia. They look like a dart with real feathers at one end and a stack of curved plastic disks instead of a point at the other, which makes them spring. The disks rebound off your foot or whatever you hit it with and the feathers keep it steady on the way down. It's great fun and Jett and I and many others played it at most bus, train and plane stations while waiting. Jett has brought one back and would love to play if you want to. Anyway, the bus arrives and we begin our first journey in Vietnam - to Mui Ne. On the bus there are a couple of kids, one about Jetts age, one younger, sitting together and talking. I introduce Jett to them and they spend the 4 hours playing together. Jett is chatting up his first Danish blonde backpacker and he's been in the country 2 days. The kid has a better score rate than I ever did :-). We get to Mui Ne and the lovebirds split up to our separate bungalows, hoping to see each other on the beach in the next few days. Ah, holiday romance.

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