Human Frogger

I've only been in Ho Chi Minh City for a few hours now but it is definitely an observationalist's (is that a word? No? Ok, I just made it one.) dream come true. Here are some things that have stood out thus far-

1. Everyone wears those pointy straw hats. It's not just a stereotype.
2. What Smith is to Anglos, Nguyen must be to Vietnamese.
3. In the markets, the touch barriers are broken. Those ladies will grab you, pull you, and tug you into their shop. True story, I had one woman pulling each arm in the middle of the crowded market. And these were hard pulls, too. They were even digging into the ground for leverage against the other. I felt as if I needed Solomon as my arbiter.
4. I have never seen so many motorbikes in my life. They must outnumber cars 10-1. So it makes it a little difficult in crossing streets since there are no traffic lights. It is truly like playing human frogger. I have discovered the secret, though, and that is to just walk out into traffic, maintain a slow and steady pace and all the cars, buses and motorbikes will dodge you. It's a little scary at first, but you get used to it.
5. You can instantly tell that HCMC is more Westernized than Cambodia. Definitely doesn't seem as backward. Plus I've already seen a couple KFCs. Phnom Penh just got its first last month.

Many of you have contacted me about what happened in India. I appreciate your thoughts and my plan is to still continue to the country on Wednesday. I really see no reason not to go. The bombings were a long way from Delhi. I realized that doesn't mean too much, but with the country on a little higher alert, I feel that it should be fine. I'm still concerned the most about Syria, but that's a whole 'nother blog.

Tomorrow I will try to soak up a little history. To be frank, I don't know too much about the Vietnam War (or the American War as it's called here), so I will go to the museums and such that they have and try to glean a little better understanding of what really went down.

Until next time...