Joe Lee's Blog

Friday, 21 March 2014

Bike sold - market time!

With an engine in need of replacement the bike went for an embarrassing amount, at least I got a good photo chucked in!

A free massage was on offer so why not?! It turned out this was a massage by a blind man, definatly something new...

Time to spend that bike moular, bubble tea and sushi yes please...

This sushi restaurant was ranked 1 of 2,300 on tripadvisor and could safely say this is the best sushi I've ever had...

Prawn tempura, wasabi beef, tuna sashimi, rice and miso soup for a fiver!

Spicy tuna rolls

Oysters and caviar

The suply of gypsy pants was running low and most boxers get nicked in the wash so it was time to seal some deals and return to the hostel.

Sky bars - Ho Chi Min City by night! Street bars and markets...

Once the rushhour had passed it was time to sample what Ho Chi Min's night life had to offer.

There were no chairs at the street bars, for some reason the police will take them away; and you are certainly not allowed to stand up. It's an authority thing, too many drunk tall westerners standing up could over power the bar! However, the police encourage people to plant drugs on tourists who will then be grassed on, only for the police to then share the fine. The police have their priorities and punishments on an incomparable scale here. With a cop earning more than their usual $500 monthly salary in bribes alone!

Ever seen a kid put a snake up his nose?

You have now.

A few buckets later it was time to sample what the streets had to offer. The only rule: you have to buy whatever is on offer from every vendor or stool that passes....

First up, BBQ corner.

In Harrods you can buy excreted coffee from a beetle which has a higher value than gold. Why not try the Wiesel version instead?

How about turning your scooter into a mobile kitchen? Dried squid, refried on salad can make a great snack that will linger in your mouth for days.

The prawns are a bit small here...

If you have a smaller appetite go for the finger snails on seafood corner.

After buying several bracelets, money clips and brewskis it was time to get scrubbed up....

It felt bad paying someone to clean your treads but being informed that this bloke was one of the districts worse pick-pockets eased the guilt. Districts by the way...the city is split up into ten or so areas, backpackers, the wealthy, the designer area etc.

Andre, a French Jamaican put our atire to shame...

Now that's a shirt! With Andre's encouragement it was time to get "suited and flip-flopped" for a beer up the famous sky bar on the AB tower to admire the city skyline...

Bumped into this "famous" dj who was very hospitable...

The time was up with DJ Stanley, time to go even higher, to the Bitexo financial tower, the shard equivelant where the Dong a Dong Dong Dong is made!

unfortunately the photos don't do it justice, this was 70 floors up, a window seat will scatter the hell out of you!!

To ease the nerves it was time to get behind the bar and show them how to make a proper cocktail...

Before setting off from the heli-pad with DJ Stanley Knive

On the Delta tour we were informed that in the South people are more nice to you because they want your money. Being a bit sceptical about this generalised comment until things went down....

Nikon had a private party on the balcony at the first sky bar so we were informed we could come back for another beer later to enjoy the view properly. On arrival we were informed you could not enter after 12 unless you buy bottles of D.P champagne. This did not go down well with a big group of lads, with many of them being from the northern region.

After trying to politely explain the situation with the manager and seeing swarms of wasted Asians leave who had obviously never had a WKD before we still had no luck. 'The Boys' were called. Ten or so Vietnamese mafia ish men in black suits tried to remove the group with force. Rude? With the suits removed their weedy guns were out! This is all on film by the way, Louis Theroux style. A couple of fake punches from the group and 'da boizz' stood back. Problem solved. It's quite evident that having a couple of foot advantage really helps out here!

On a casual stop for a late night sarny we were greeted with this sign...

They say chocolate is a way to a woman's heart!

Before crashing out it was time to take part in some late night recreation. After purchasing an item that resembled a shuttle cock the game commenced. Poor mans badminton, using a foot instead of a racket!

This could catch on at home!

Talking of feet how about a blind foot massage??

Goodnight Ho Chi Min and goodbye Vietnam, next stop Bali....

Eat, sleep, prey, repeat - an eye opener...temples, war tunnels and AK47s

Eat

Sleep

Pray

Repeat.

The temple above is home to Vietnam's latest religion, a mix of Islam, Christianity and Hindu. And it seems that all these guys do is EAT, SLEEP, PRAY, REPEAT! The people pictured live in a secluded village and participate in a one hour service five times a day.

The next mode of transport was by Elephant to the famous tunnels...

The poor elephants were a bit slow and tired so the next mode of transport, the Austrich911...

On arrival we were greeted by some official soldiers offering a quick pop at some targets, bit better than your local Laser Quaser...

The fun was over and now it was time to learn about how the Vietnam war was brought to an end by the Geurilla tunnels. No matter what your view is and on who's side you were on it can be said that the Americans destroyed this beautif country and to this day have left many scared people behind.

The U.S spent a lot on this war, $676bn in fact, dropping 14.3mn tonnes of bombs. When you compare this to the $341bn and 5mn tonnes in WWII.

Even of these figures were exaggerated for propaganda purposes, you still can not escape what these sick and disgraceful people did to destroy the land and it's people. This was about these least gruesome image available.

The U.S sprayed the land with agent orange...

A chemical that to this day still pollutes rivers and affects the lives of thousands of poor people.

These peoe are unable to work. However they have developed an incredible artistic skill, the art of egg shell paintings. Egg shell is carefully arranged and painted.

The Vietnam war would not have ended if it wasn't for the inspiring Geurilla fighters who built and lived in the tunnel network for months at a time.

Once underground the people would do everything from ther washing to cooking

Above is one of the biggest tunnels widened for westerners

These clever people developed ways of doing anything whilst being undiscovered. Cooking was carried out in the early hours whils the morning mist would rise. Any steam would escape through tiny bamboo pipes hidden by termite mounds...

The tunnels were even designed in a bottle neck structure so that the American soldiers could not fit through. At night the fighters would rise, building traps to reduce the resistance.