Vietnam!

I just returned from a week in Vietnam; this has immediately become one of my favorite places in the world. We started our journey in Saigon (officially named Ho Chi Minh City - renamed in honor of Mr. Minh after the North took control of the country in the late 70's). The traffic in this city of 9 million+ makes rush hour in New York look like open road in Nebraska. It's interesting because most of the vehicles on the road are motorbikes and bicycles although cars & trucks are becoming more popular.

Our introduction to the country came via a visit to the War Remnants Museum; it was a remembrance of the American War (as they refer to it in Vietnam). This was a depressing and eye opening experience; the information provided in the museum was most definitely dictated by the government and was quite slanted in North Vietnam's favor but some of the images and facts were indisputably disturbing.
In an attempt to lighten the mood our hosts arranged a cyclo ride through the city to lunch. Cyclo is the Vietnamese term for a rigshaw. It was lots of fun and an interesting way to see the city and traffic.

At our first lunch I grabbed one of the most widely distributed publications in Vietnam, a monthly magazine similar to Metro or AM New York in NY. Within it's pages I found this:

I know - WOW!

Throughout my recap of Vietnam you'll see photos of woman in the traditional, stereotypical dress doing the things Vietnamese women have been doing for years (not suckie suckie, love you long time you sick fucks; I mean working at the market and transporting things by pretty primitive means).

I tried to fit in:

The only time I really went out out was in Saigon. We went to a few different bars. The first one was a rooftop bar overlooking the city where drinks were about $10 each; it felt like New York only there were a lot more Asians. We ended the night at a popular bar called Apocalypse Now; where beers were $1.50. There was awesome 80's & 90's music playing throughout the night and a great mix of humanity - businessmen in suits, backpackers in flip flops & ripped shorts, Western girls, and plenty of 'working girls' that would love you long time... for a nominal fee