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	<title>Stop Having a Boring Life &#187; Ho Chi Minh City</title>
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		<title>Feeling Spontaneous in Vietnam</title>
		<link>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/feeling-spontaneous-in-vietnam/</link>
		<comments>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/feeling-spontaneous-in-vietnam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:42:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hanoi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ho Chi Minh City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hoi An]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sapa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://stophavingaboringlife.com/?p=2467</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Abracadabra wholy sh~t it&#8217;s Gazoo, I`m feeling spontaneous, how about you?!?!! My friend is going north tomorrow. I love Vietnam and I&#8217;m extending my visa and would like to have some work done here. The ladies we have been hanging out with left today and it&#8217;s been raining for eons. That said, tomorrow maybe nice [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://exiledonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/3837865507_2f79603bfb.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>Abracadabra wholy sh~t it&#8217;s Gazoo, I`m feeling spontaneous, how about you?!?!!</p>
<p>My friend is going north tomorrow. I love Vietnam and I&#8217;m extending my visa and would like to have some work done here. The ladies we have been hanging out with left today and it&#8217;s been raining for eons. That said, tomorrow maybe nice but today was depresso(sic) to the extent of give me another espresso and make it strong.</p>
<p>I met some grand ladies and gents in Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon. I also plan on returning there to hang out with some new friends at some point before catching a flight to the Philippines. My friend came up with a most brilliant idea &#8220;Hey, Rob, why don&#8217;t you go north, all the way to Sapa, do Hue, Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa. When you&#8217;re done, return to Hue (to meet a friend of cousins) and do business in Hoi An?&#8221; Then go to Dalat (never been) and Mui Ne (never been). Hmmm, most interesting,yes?</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been traveling with this gent since the Mekong and it makes economic cents to split a room the way up as I&#8217;m going there regardless and it will be a good time. I am still all over the map as to what I am going to create.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I spoke with the gent I wish to work with for the website I&#8217;d be making. He is obviously swamped until next weekend as his work is impeccable. That is what I gathered from his informative yet brief message that he wrote from the back of a speeding rickshaw. Why not use that time and travel up north and do some &#8220;thinking&#8221;!?</p>
<p>Therefor, I will pack all my belongings and tomorrow at  6am when the alarm goes, should I wish to leave, I may. Should I wish to stay, I will. I&#8217;m still torn but I&#8217;m in a spontaneous mood, uh oh, spaghettios. I think that is from a commercial but I have not heard it said or seen it written in at least 2 decades.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://astuteo.com/images/interface/404-error.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>I digress.</p>
<p>Needless to say who knows what will happen, what else is new!?</p>
<p>Today I just walked around for hours in the rain exploring Hoi An and getting quotes for the work I wanted done. I heard $X, I heard x-10%, I heard x-25%, then out of nowhere this little lady said I&#8217;ll do it for x-55%! Hmmm. Either her work is garbage OR the others are trying to fleece me of my hard earned coin. I told her I wanted quality and double stitching. Making mens clothes aka cargo pants for mysterious men is not like a dress for a woman, it&#8217;s a 1 size fits all sorta deal.</p>
<p>Furthermore, should we run into the ladies who left, I can continue to pick the brain of the &#8220;fashionista&#8221; of the group who I think would make a great business woman. I can see her telling off a boardroom and firing people who under perform with great vigor and zeal, while maintaining class, of course.</p>
<p>So here we are and there we go, maybe going North tomorrow. Thing is, I hate back tracking with a passion. The flip side of this coin is should I stay here, would be a good time to practice the 3 R&#8217;s: researching, relaxing and rummaging.</p>
<p>What to do, what to do. We shall see, won&#8217;t we?</p>
<p>I do believe it will be Monday for you soon, have a great week at work and remember this. <a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-14-trillion-spent-annually-on-trying-to-loo,17125/">Most people in North America spend RIDICULOUS amounts of money to try and &#8220;look cool&#8221; while failing miserably.</a>The coolest thing out there is not giving a F#$# what other people think and &#8220;just doing you&#8221;.</p>
<p>Remember that or your financial health will suffer which will lead to stress and distress, this may result in you being one of the poor souls who end up here through search queries like &#8220;How to cope with a boring life&#8221;. Trust me, we get lots of traffic from people like that. By &#8220;we&#8221;, I mean &#8220;I&#8221;.</p>
<p>Tips hat, peddling as fast as possible on a penny farthing with coat tails flapping in the wind with a mysteriously mischievous grin.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.infinitecycles.com/wp/uploads/media/2009/11/penny-farthing-crash.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">P.S Part of this decision is based on my life motto that I found the only time I ever opened my &#8220;student planner&#8221; in senior year of high school while looking for a yearbook quote. &#8220;Security is NOT the meaning of life, GREAT opportunities are worth the risk.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Night Bus to Nha Trang, Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon</title>
		<link>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/night-bus-to-nha-trang-vietnam-from-ho-chi-minh-city-aka-saigon/</link>
		<comments>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/night-bus-to-nha-trang-vietnam-from-ho-chi-minh-city-aka-saigon/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:50:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Beaches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ho Chi Minh City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nha Trang]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saigon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://stophavingaboringlife.com/?p=2354</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Greetings, Below the line below is what I wrote for the update, went out for breakfast and holy sh~t, this place is heaven on earth. One of the most beautiful setups I&#8217;ve seen in ages. This place is sweet! I&#8217;ll let the photos I added do the talking, and to think, I can stay here, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/night_bus_sleeper_vietnam.jpg" alt="night sleeper bus in vietnam from saigon" /></p>
<p>Greetings,</p>
<p>Below the line below is what I wrote for the update, went out for breakfast and holy sh~t, this place is heaven on earth. One of the most beautiful setups I&#8217;ve seen in ages. This place is sweet! I&#8217;ll let the photos I added do the talking, and to think, I can stay here, in a hotel for ~$10US a night. Split it with someone, that&#8217;s $5 a night or $150US a month, sick, yes?</p>
<p>It&#8217;s still early so most &#8220;party people&#8221; aren&#8217;t even up yet, I wouldn&#8217;t be had I not taken the night bus, I can&#8217;t wait to see this beach in full swing and supposedly the nightlife here is excellent.</p>
<p>&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;</p>
<p>I will take a moment from running up the wall and doing tweaked out backflips from one bed to the other in my new hotel room in Nha Trang, Vietnam. I caught a night bus yesterday and &#8220;VOILA, je suis ici&#8221;. We bought a 4 or 5 stop open ticket from Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi. It cost us $30US each and each bus is a sleeper bus, pimp. I passed out most of the evening, only waking up at each stop to shovel food in my face.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/nha_trang_beach_vietnam.jpg" alt="nha trang beaches in vietnam" /></p>
<p>I&#8217;m traveling with one of the gents from the Mekong Delta and just checked into a nice 3 person hotel room for $12US a night. They wanted $15US but I wasn&#8217;t having it. This way I have an &#8220;extra bed&#8221; for my couch aka electronics.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/nha_trang_coconut_vietnam.jpg" alt="getting coconuts ready for nha trang beaches in vietnam" /></p>
<p>We were going to look for other hotels but decided &#8220;fogettabout it&#8221;. My friend spotted a goddess of a woman and I went to talk to her. She told us where she was staying but said her camera got stolen with some money. I&#8217;ll pay an extra few $$$ a night to hope that doesn&#8217;t happen.</p>
<p>I digress.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/cute_dog_vietnam.jpg" alt="cute dog in nha trang vietnam" /></p>
<p>The bus ride is ~12 hours and it was good times. Met some people along the way. The plan? REST UP and do nothing all day and hit this town like it stole from us to night. There are many clubs supposedly &#8220;Sailor&#8221; something is the main &#8220;go to&#8221;. We&#8217;ll have to see.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/nha_trang_vietnam_beaches.jpg" alt="beaches in nha trang vietnam" /></p>
<p>The scenery here is out of this world, do I regret this trip? HAHAHAHAAHHAHA NO! Do I want to go home for the summer? ! HAHAHAHAHAH NO!? Seriously, the more I think about my life, Asia, North America, everything&#8230; My heart just isn&#8217;t in North America anymore, it&#8217;s boring and vanilla. I like excitement and chunky monkey, if that makes sense to you. That said, I do have some &#8220;things&#8221; I need to wrap up back home, so who knows.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/nha_trang_beaches_vietnam.jpg" alt="beautiful beaches in nha trang vietnam" /></p>
<p>Met some cool people living in Saigon, may revisit them. Also, I got my teeth cleaned for $5us yesterday at a nice place. It was $10us for a clean + polish. She said my teeth are good so just a polish will do. $5US that&#8217;s like the price of a crappy 6&#8243; subway sub back home. Also, I bought the same camera I broke for $200us.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/nha_trang_vietnam_hotel.jpg" alt="beautiful hotels in nha trang vietnam" /></p>
<p>Vietnam is truly one of my favorite countries this far. People will ask and I always say &#8220;I don&#8217;t know, that&#8217;s too hard&#8221;, not anymore. Vietnam has everything and look how much coast line. This place is beyond beautiful and I think they have a golf course.</p>
<p>After this, we&#8217;re going to Hoi An*(sp?), Hue, Hanoi then Halon Bay. After that? Who knows. Of the people I met yesterday, one girl from the US is moving back to Hanoi, exchanged phone numbers, always cool to chill with someone who lives there.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/tourist_loving_beaches_nha_trang_vietnam.jpg" alt="tourists loving beaches in nha trang vietnam" /></p>
<p>I just got here, I have much to do so this is it, for now.</p>
<p>Tips hat,</p>
<p>P.S: Ice coffee in Vietnam is out of this world and what is with people saying the local people aren&#8217;t friendly? You want them to do handsprings and somersaults while rolling out a red carpet for you? Try going to say Ottawa and saying &#8220;hello&#8221; to random strangers on the street, they will look right through you, trust me.</p>
<p>Update: Went out for breakfast, took these photos. This place is heaven, more to come.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Mekong Delta Tour in Vietnam</title>
		<link>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/mekong-delta-tour-in-vietnam/</link>
		<comments>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/mekong-delta-tour-in-vietnam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:58:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ho Chi Minh City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mekong Delta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saigon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://stophavingaboringlife.com/?p=2345</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Good day, Not feeling bloggy, this will be brief but hopefully loaded with photos. I went on a private tour of the Mekong Delta and had an amazing time. Here is a brief outline of how it went down and whatnot. If you have not already read this, I suggest you read it first. We [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: left;"><img class="aligncenter" src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_river_boat.jpg" alt="boats on the mekong delta in vietnam" /><br />
Good day,</p>
<p>Not feeling bloggy, this will be brief but hopefully loaded with photos. I went on a private tour of the Mekong Delta and had an amazing time. Here is a brief outline of how it went down and whatnot. If you have not already <a href="http://stophavingaboringlife.com/past-midnight-mekong-delta-madness/">read this</a>, I suggest you read it first.</p>
<p>We got picked up near our hotel at 10am and made our way by moto to the Mekong Delta. Once arriving went on a boat ride through the tight lanes and visited many places from small villages to candy shops to places where they make all sorts of whiskey. Sample everything and move on. Best part of a private tour? You can leave whenever you&#8217;re ready.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_band.jpg" alt="traditional mekong delta band" /></p>
<p>After that check out the small village, some fish farms and hang out at night to see the large volume of fireflies. For dinner we decided to eat King Cobra. They caught it in front of us, prepared it and then we eat it. It&#8217;s an honor to eat it&#8217;s heart while it&#8217;s still pumping and it&#8217;s liver as well. I eat both and felt like more of a man, or something like that.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_king_kobra.jpg" alt="eating king cobra snake on the mekong delta drinking blood" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_king_cobra_snake_blood.jpg" alt="draining a king cobra snake mekong delta drinking blood" /></p>
<p>The snaked turned into an amazing curry and for dessert, we drank it&#8217;s blood. Supposedly it helps your eye sight, I think it worked. I have LOTS of video of this entire process which I will update, one day, when I&#8217;m bored. That said, more you travel harder it is but stay tuned. At one point, the cobra spat on one of my friends arms, he immediately rinsed. Supposedly it is &#8220;ok&#8221; but if you have a small opening or you start scratching later, not so good.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_floating_market.jpg" alt="floating market mekong delta" /></p>
<p>The next day we took off to the floating market, that was pretty cool but not what I expected, saw more people making candy and whatnot, eat some good food, drank some good coffee and just  cruised. Spent a good portion of day just driving around in the boat going places. Lots of small lanes that are like side streets and people live right on the river. The market didn&#8217;t have &#8220;that much&#8221;, mainly just people selling ridiculous amounts of pineapple and other things of that nature.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_houses.jpg" alt="houses along the side of the mekong in vietnam" /></p>
<p>I should have added photos to last update, it was quite thorough, looking back. On the way home ~1 hour or so we stopped at a local market and bought some rats. The guide said he liked rat more than chicken so we thought &#8220;sure&#8221;. The process of them killing and preparing the rat on the side of the street is also on video and will be shared at another time.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_rat.jpg" alt="eating rat in the mekong delta vietnam" /></p>
<p>The rat tasted gamy to say the least, I won&#8217;t be eating rat again. One of the gents we were with quite liked it actually. I&#8217;d much rather eat cobra than rat any day. Then again cobras eat rats so that kinda makes sense. This market had everything and everything was alive. It&#8217;s insane how back home people are so removed from the process of killing something to eat it. We just buy these neatly packaged portions like you&#8217;re buying a back of chips, quite the opposite over here.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_black_panther.jpg" alt="black panther in the snake museum in mekong delta vietnam" /></p>
<p>Final day, did a bit of fishing then we checked out the snake museum which also was an anti-venom hospital for locals, soldiers, etc&#8230; Actually it was more of a zoo than anything. It was a good time and then we made our way home before checking out the Chinese Pagoda, 250 years old. </p>
<p>On the way, we saw a guy with a basket on the back of his moto stuffed with dogs for the market. Saw the same with pigs the other day, these dogs look like they came from someones couch. It&#8217;s odd how we feel for dogs but have total disregard for whatever else shows up on our plate each day.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/mekong_delta_eating_dog_vietnam.jpg" alt="eating dog in mekong delta vietnam" /></p>
<p>The trip was good, 3 days was plenty. Our guides where knowledgeable and quite nice. I never once got the vibe that anything sinister was going on. It&#8217;s good money for them and a great experience for us, it&#8217;s collaboration at it&#8217;s finest, ladies and gents.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img class="aligncenter" src="/images/mar10/hcmc_moto_taxi_traffic.jpg" alt="moto taxi driver in hcmc traffic, vietnam" /></p>
<p> Since being in HCMC I&#8217;ve just been relaxing, except for the night I wrote the last update, making a move soon. I recommend visiting the Mekong Delta if you are in the neighborhood. Private guide was cool, we could do whatever we wanted out there, literally.</p>
<p>If you are a friend of mine and want our private guides number, just ask. I will make a video blog out of the eating rat and king cobra experience that will be shared at a later date, hopefully not too much later.</p>
<p>Cordially yours,</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Camera Craziness and Motorcycle Madness in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam</title>
		<link>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/camera-craziness-and-motorcycle-madness-in-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam/</link>
		<comments>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/camera-craziness-and-motorcycle-madness-in-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:33:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ho Chi Minh City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mekong Delta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://stophavingaboringlife.com/?p=2310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Good day to you kind whatever you consider yourself, Let&#8217;s talk about some craziness involving my camera situation and madness that can only ensue when you jump on the back of a smiling motorcycle taxi dude in the craziest traffic I&#8217;ve ever seen, pure madness, man I love this stuff. First, I drink waaaaaayyyy to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/hcmc_moto_driver.jpg" alt="cool moto taxi driver in ho chi minh city vietnam" /></p>
<p>Good day to you kind whatever you consider yourself,</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s talk about some craziness involving my camera situation and madness that can only ensue when you jump on the back of a smiling motorcycle taxi dude in the craziest traffic I&#8217;ve ever seen, pure madness, man I love this stuff.</p>
<p>First, I drink waaaaaayyyy to much of this cough syrup last night. It is supposed to last 5 days, I just chugged it to &#8220;speed up the process&#8221;, mistake. After like I dunno 30 minutes I did not feel well, at all. I start reading the label and taking to much is a bad thing, why am I telling you this? Simply because I&#8217;m DJ EXHAUSTO and if I didn&#8217;t update this shiz everyday, I&#8217;d be sleeping or or laying face down on a filthy guest house bathroom floor.</p>
<p>I passed out last night at 4am and at 9am, this dude was fixing his motorcycle aka revving it like crazy non stop, (there is a gecko crawling near my screen, I love geckos) while another guy was nailing these spikes into steel or something, so loud, non stop. Then again, there IS a curfew here, when in Rome, whatever. The cough syrup and ridiculous amounts of raw ginger did the trick though, sorta.</p>
<p>~flicks ash in old coke can~</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/hcmc_street_ho_chi_minh_city.jpg" alt="ho chi minh city streets vietnam" /></p>
<p>Wake up like a zombie, but I have stuff to do. I&#8217;m so NON ROUTINIZED that the fact I have a trip tomorrow, it is bothering me. I hate having things organized whatsoever. I mean it&#8217;s almost a drag. Anyways I get up and meet Mr. X, we drink coffee and call my Aussie friend about the Mekong Delta Trip, &#8220;he&#8217;s in&#8221;.</p>
<p>Blah blah blah, find a nice Canon camera for 270US and I&#8217;m like ok, all my old cards fit, all my spare battery packs fit, this is good. Go next door, find it cheaper, even better. Buy it with great vigor and zeal and Mr. X drops me off. I offer to pay him, he says &#8220;no problem&#8221;. He takes off, into the messy traffic.</p>
<p><img src="/images/mar10/hcmc_insane_intersection.jpg" alt="crazy traffic intersection in ho chi minh city vietnam" /></p>
<p>Take all these photos, I&#8217;m dedicated to this blog, despite the fact that NONE OF YOU ever comment, you lazy sacks, I know you come here. Then again, most other travel blogs only get comments from other travel bloggers like some big travel blogger circle &#8230;. hah, I just derailed my train of thought.</p>
<p>~flicks ash~</p>
<p>At 3:30 I meet the Aussie and he is with the British Blokes, 1 guy is 100% in, other is maybe. I call Mr. X and he comes to meet us, after meeting Mr. X the last guy is like &#8220;I&#8217;m in&#8221;. I&#8217;m sure I could have bargained more but if we&#8217;re trusting our life with this guy and it&#8217;s cheaper anyways, why not let Mr. X be thrilled about the deal and treat us proper.  3 days 2 nights on our own boat with hotel and 2 guides in a boat that fits 20 people in the Mekong Delta, hahaha. <img src="/images/mar10/hcmc_traffic_ho_chi_minh_city.jpg" alt="hcmc traffic ho chi minh city vietnam" /></p>
<p>Anyways the camera is crap, half the time I take a photo of stuff moving it&#8217;s blurry and the video has like a line in the middle. I&#8217;m mad, upset and annoyed. It&#8217;s getting dark and stores are closing soon so I do a backflip down the center of the stair case and land in a fish bowl before drying my feet off and sprinting through the streets to find a trusty &#8220;moto man&#8221;. I come to this big gang and says &#8220;WHO WANTS TO DRIVE ME 10 minutes for 30,000dong ($1.50us) all these dudes wake up, smile and jockey. This one guy caught my eye (not like that) as he was first up and I take him.</p>
<p>~pitches smoke out window~</p>
<p>We get there, explain to the guys I can&#8217;t have this camera&#8230; It&#8217;s not good enough.  My old one was like $500US before tax in 2007, it&#8217;s so dope. It&#8217;s a first gen flip cam, it&#8217;s like a James Bond cam. These point and shoot are vanilla like working for a crappy corporation and getting a fake watch before you leave.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/hcmc_view.jpg" alt="ho chi minh city view " /></p>
<p>Anyways, they don&#8217;t want it back. I just stand there like a kid selling cookies until finally he takes his calculator and offers me $210 for the camera, I take the calculator and punch in $220, he looks at me, I look at him with a smile and say &#8220;you just made $10 for nothing man&#8221; he gives me the cash we bounce. Get back give him the 30,000 and we have a a big laugh as I thank him for helping me ditch that crap.</p>
<p>I went to the canon dealer and they MAY be able to back order me a new one of this discontinued model. The lcd screen flips around every which way, so I can be on the back of a moto fliming intense traffic, I can walk through crowds with the camera low while keeping an eye on the LCD, it&#8217;s hands down coolest camera I&#8217;ve ever seen. Those big ones are for dorks haha. Like, what next, am I going to carry a god d@mn purse? How do you club with one of those, it has to fit in your pocket.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.itechnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/Canon-PowerShot-TX1-hd-camcorder-3.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">On a side note, reading Canadian news makes me want to slit my wrists with a plastic airplane knife. In Canada, some dude drown going to his ice fishing hut and now some &#8220;not sure what to call them&#8221; are saying &#8220;we should ban ice fishing in huts on that river&#8221;. Really? These dudes know what they&#8217;re getting into. Ask any other fisherman and they&#8217;ll tell you where to go.  On that note, in Britain, they have this law where a kid seat is needed until 12 &#8230; Reason? It &#8220;could&#8221; strangle the kid if they get in an accident. Here? You have kids with no helmets sitting on their moms lap on a moped next to a bus. Many countries need to relax a bit, I believe.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/traffic_ho_chi_minh_city_hcmc_vietnam.jpg" alt="crazy traffic in ho chi minh city vietnam no seat belt here" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">If you&#8217;re taught that everything is dangerous and everything is bad, won&#8217;t you be scared of everything? Then again, won&#8217;t you also be a complacent worker who will probably live a really boring life? Hmmm, never thought of that did ya? Neither did I, actually.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Tips hat,</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">P.S I love all the alleys here, so much life off the main roads, it&#8217;s awesome. So far, I&#8217;m loving Vietnam.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">P.P.S: These are the decent photos, 50% of the photos that involved movement were so blurry, I don&#8217;t care about much but it was so bad that it even bothered me.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/mar10/hcmc_alleyway.jpg" alt="alley ways with life in ho chi minh city vietnam" /></p>
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		<title>Hanging out in Ho Chi Minh City</title>
		<link>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/hanging-out-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam/</link>
		<comments>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/hanging-out-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:17:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ho Chi Minh City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://stophavingaboringlife.com/?p=2299</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yawn, ~lights smoke &#8211; coughs up a lung~ Where were we? I&#8217;ve been hanging out in Ho Chi Minh City today doing this and that and got some bad news. My ipod is dead 100% and my camera will cost half the original cost to fix, screw that. Tomorrow I will go shopping for electronics, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yawn,</p>
<p>~lights smoke &#8211; coughs up a lung~</p>
<p>Where were we? I&#8217;ve been hanging out in Ho Chi Minh City today doing this and that and got some bad news. My ipod is dead 100% and my camera will cost half the original cost to fix, screw that. Tomorrow I will go shopping for electronics, Vietnamese style.</p>
<p>~flicks ash out window~</p>
<p>Ran into Mr. X again today, we joked, laughed, smoke cigs and drank really strong coffee that I paid for at local price, oh yeah. For dinner, we hit up this street vendor I saw people eating at earlier. Turns out he&#8217;s on the cover of some big magazine in Ho Chi Minh City, his name is Mr. Lam, he makes great eats. Also, he charges $0.50 or 10,000 dong for a beer. Most other places charge like 25-35,000. Let&#8217;s say myself and my British friends left a large case of bottles at such discounted prices. Be a champ and drink &#8220;Saigon&#8221; which is a hefty 455ml a bottle.</p>
<p>~clears throat, Asian style~</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not feeling so well, I need to rest. Also, I recruited some guys for the Mekong Delta Tour. Four people are definitely in, myself, an Aussie guy and 2 blokes from Britain. My 2 British friends may be in as well. Tomorrow I will wake up and clear enough phlegm from throat to give some bald guy a green hair do. Following that, I will call Mr. X and get him to take me camera shopping. He knows all the places and he&#8217;ll bargain for me, tooth and nail.</p>
<p>I actually saw him before going into camera shop, he was like, they call me and tell me how much, he said way too much, you should buy new camera. Mr. X is correct, AS ALWAYS! Now that I think of it, maybe he was waiting there for me? No, it&#8217;s a moto hang out.</p>
<p>~flicks ash in cough syrup box~  &#8211; how ironic</p>
<p>It&#8217;s weird as I sat here, looking at $1000 worth of digital equipment that is now only useful for paper weights&#8230; You don&#8217;t know what you have until it&#8217;s gone. I didn&#8217;t treat this stuff with respect and this is what I got. Hey, I met a guy who had been on the road 10 months, he said he went through 3 cameras, I feel much better now, yes I&#8217;ll admit it.</p>
<p>Ok, it&#8217;s 1:15 am, stocks are up, I&#8217;m gonna sell some stuff to lighten my load considering who knows what is going to happen next according to my &#8220;indicators&#8221; aka guys smarter than me who get paid to do this stuff for a living while I eat at Mr. Lam&#8217;s. Ok, they may not be smarter than me and I may not sell anything.  If you leave your $$$ in some bs GIC where you get 1% aka castrated for being a saver, why not throw it in the market, if you make 2% you just doubled your crappy GIC. Think Blue chips with yields, yes? </p>
<p>Look you, &#8220;security is NOT the meaning of life, great opportunities are worth the risk&#8221;. I got that from my student hand book in my final year of High School. I needed a quote for my awkward grad photo so I opened my &#8220;planner&#8221; for the first time (seriously) and it landed on that page. I live by that, so should you.</p>
<p>I have much to say, but it escapes me.</p>
<p>Tips hat,</p>
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		<title>Peace out Phnom Penh, Hello Ho Chi Minh City &amp; GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!</title>
		<link>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/peace-out-phnom-penh-hello-ho-chi-minh-city-good-morning-vietnam/</link>
		<comments>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/peace-out-phnom-penh-hello-ho-chi-minh-city-good-morning-vietnam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:57:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cambodia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ho Chi Minh City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Phnom Penh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://stophavingaboringlife.com/?p=2275</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What can I say, other than &#8230; GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!! I had a most horrific sleep of I don&#8217;t know, let&#8217;s just throw out hmm say 5 hours? I woke up, half asleep in some kind of day dream, wondering where the h3ll am I? Oh yeah, I&#8217;m in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam aka [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.viajes-vietnam.com/fckimages/trafico%20ho%20chi%20minh.jpg" alt="" /></p>
<p>What can I say, other than &#8230; GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!! I had a most horrific sleep of I don&#8217;t know, let&#8217;s just throw out hmm say 5 hours? I woke up, half asleep in some kind of day dream, wondering where the h3ll am I? Oh yeah, I&#8217;m in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam aka Saigon for you  &#8220;old schoolah&#8217;s&#8221;. Also, now when I leave Vietnam I can say things like &#8220;When I was in Nam&#8221; hahaha.</p>
<p>First, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam has the craziest traffic I have ever seen, it has like 90 million people and I think all of them are on motor bikes at all times, seriously. I mean until you have been here, you have no idea.  NO IDEA!!! I thought Bangkok was crazy, ha, it&#8217;s nothing. That said, Phnom Penh is crazier than Bangkok. I saw things like ladies yelling at dogs and the dogs jump up on the scooter and sit behind the lady as she bombs through traffic. This place is ALIVE with lights everywhere, constantly stuff going on despite the ~midnight curfew (I know, buzz kill). Crossing the road requires aggressive patience. You have to be patient for an opening but aggressive enough to take it or you will never, ever cross the road. It&#8217;s organized mayhem, it&#8217;s majestic.</p>
<p>I took the bus yesterday, yes? I sat around until I had 25 minutes until the bus came, ran to my guest house, packed like a rabid rob and rolled down the stairs into the foyer. I buy a ticket and she says &#8220;you&#8217;re late, take a moto taxi, NOW&#8221;. I say &#8220;sure&#8221;. this moto guy was mad, I would have gotten his number, it was fun, it was a trip.</p>
<p>As I&#8217;m sitting in the bus, I &#8216;m like I DO NOT WANT to leave Phnom Penh, I love it there. It&#8217;s just&#8230; I knew exactly what I&#8217;d be doing for the next few weeks had I stayed, all my friends who have been there, you know exactly what I&#8217;d be doing. Just hanging out&#8230; It&#8217;s &#8220;all good&#8221; but I feel like moving on. THAT SAID, Phnom Penh, Cambodia is on my top 5 places to relocate for say a winter of work, cheap everything and pure chilling. I even sheepishly asked the bus driver to stop the bus haha. Ok, back to Vietnam.</p>
<p>So yeah, roll out of bed and hit downstairs, this place I&#8217;m at is pretty pimp for $10US a night, yo that&#8217;s $300US a month BEFORE negotiating a long term rate, sick, yes? Anyways the wifi blows and isn&#8217;t steady but next door is. I go next door and they are full. I pay for the next night (reserving) in exchange for their wifi, so I&#8217;m using their wifi now and move tomorrow, I&#8217;m proud of myself.</p>
<p>I find this place that fixes iphones / ipod touches, then go to this place to get my cam fixed, since it&#8217;s not a licensed whatever I figure I&#8217;ll shop around a bit. That&#8217;s when I meet &#8220;Mr or Captain X&#8221;. He&#8217;s a moto taxi guy. Let me tell you how I met the next charismatic character in this most jovial journey.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m smoking a fag and enjoying some freshly squeezed OJ for breakfast, he comes over and is like &#8220;want moto&#8221; I&#8217;m like No but kinda one of those &#8220;no but maybe?!?&#8221; so he keeps kinda hanging around and comes over&#8230; I see him chain smoking and already like the guy, then he shows me this book. THE BOOK.</p>
<p>The book was actually 3 books, with maybe 100 testimonials in different hand writing and languages that he&#8217;s legit. Most people also leave their email. Most emails say &#8220;Hey, I bet you met Captain X somewhere in Saigon, he approached you, you were hesitant, chill out it&#8217;s all good and then goes on to say what they did together&#8221;. He offers tours of the city and exclusive tours of the Mekong Delta which involve eating King Cobra, drinking snake blood, having your own boat with him and a guide for 3 days or 5 days through islands, fishing, anything you want really. He knows the area very well and I even took some of the peoples emails, but there were so many people writing stuff and the dates, I&#8217;m sold and I got a good vibe.</p>
<p>I digress,</p>
<p>After sorting out the camera by finally finding a licensed canon dealer, we sit down and drink some coffee and I read more of the book. Turns out he loves to smoke and drink coffee, I will quit one day but for now, my kinda guy. The book has countless stories all basically the same. He approaches you, you go with him, he shows you everything, he drives safe. He does drive safe, he does speak decent English and was pretty cool.</p>
<p>Since my camera was in the shop, we went to his house to borrow his camera but couldn&#8217;t get it working. I met his wife and his daughter and his grand kid. His daughter married a Welsh man, that&#8217;s pretty cool if you know my roots.</p>
<p>I sit there, have a smoke, drink ice coffee and eat dried ginger and mangos. He drives me home (doesn&#8217;t ask for anything) I take his number and tell him I will call him tomorrow. Once I get my camera I am going to go on a tour around the city with him, for sure. On a side note,  some of them were even solo women travelers. I have LOTS of respect for women who do this solo, as a guy it&#8217;s one thing, as a woman it&#8217;s definitely more intense.</p>
<p>After that ran into these 2 Brits I met on the bus, go to the War Remnants Museum. That place is creepy and some of the stuff done to Vietnam is horrendous. The US dropped 100 million litres of dioxins on the country(mainly agent orange). 85 grams of &#8220;Agent Orange&#8221; in a water supply could kill a city up to 8 million people. All the mutated kids and stuff it was sad, since going I&#8217;m noticing more and more people with defects. I recommend going, it&#8217;s not pleasant but I&#8217;m glad I went.</p>
<p>Lots of photos of just pure carnage and cruelty like dragging people behind tanks, disemboweling children, killing whole villages, marines holding beheaded people, burning people alive with napalm(photo below). This is a #!$!#$ed up world we live in, seriously. I just can&#8217;t get my head around some of the stuff that I saw. Horrendous stuff and the worst part is the number of civilians that were killed, atrocious. </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://cfs6.tistory.com/image/12/tistory/2008/04/10/13/02/47fd913b4251b" alt="" /></p>
<p>It&#8217;s also weird how back home, where nothing like this has happened&#8230; People walk around with $1000 outfits, $800 iphones and drive $50,000 cars from their $350,000 &#8220;first home&#8221; to their 5, 6 or 7 figure job with a frown on their face&#8230; Also, people don&#8217;t smile because their teeth aren&#8217;t &#8220;perfect&#8221;.  Here? You see people with very little and the worst dental  hygiene ever smiling and just being happy. I laugh more with strangers in Asia than anywhere I&#8217;ve ever been, I love laughing, so do they. Like I said last post, life is actually simple, it&#8217;s too bad as humans we&#8217;ve made it so hard for ourselves&#8230;</p>
<p>When you start to think of the cost of war, you start to realize that everyone is basically a peasant. I mean where do these hundreds of billions and trillions go? Really? Where do they end up and who or what &#8220;controls&#8221; it?!? If you go to war and a country spends 780 billion dollars on weapons, does that go to privately held weapons manufacturers? I think so, where does that money go? Also with that kind of money, what kind of &#8220;pots can you stir&#8221; to further enhance the demand for your &#8220;products&#8221;? It&#8217;s messed up, the world is like an onion with 99% of the population thinking they know it all, when in reality, they are just the skin on the outside with so many bitter layers below.</p>
<p>Now? It&#8217;s almost 8pm, I&#8217;m chilling in my guest house about to take a shower. After that I&#8217;m going to chill out until I get a knock on my door to go out and have a late night snack with my British friends.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been told it&#8217;s Monday, let&#8217;s hope the market has a most magnificent melt up, shredding the sordid scowls off the faces of those seedy short sellers, indeed.</p>
<p>Tips hat,</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Traveling from Bali to Jakarta to Vietnam</title>
		<link>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/traveling-from-bali-to-jakarta-to-vietnam/</link>
		<comments>http://stophavingaboringlife.com/traveling-from-bali-to-jakarta-to-vietnam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:26:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bali]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ho Chi Minh City]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indonesia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jakarta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Yogyakarta]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://stophavingaboringlife.com/?p=1560</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta It is boxing day, people are going out to buy over-priced junk at a &#8220;discount&#8221; where the retailer still makes a killing off the ignorance of the consumer. Buying anything retail in the developed world is akin to being mugged by men with machine guns and machetes, in broad day light. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://surauinyiak.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/prambanan-temple-hindus-temple-in-the-nigh-yogyakarta.jpg" alt="" /><br />
Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta</p>
<p>It is boxing day, people are going out to buy over-priced junk at a &#8220;discount&#8221; where the retailer still makes a killing off the ignorance of the consumer. Buying anything retail in the developed world is akin to being mugged by men with machine guns and machetes, in broad day light.</p>
<p>I digress.</p>
<p>Found a &#8220;you must me mad&#8221; deal from Air Asia from Jakarta, Indo to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The one leaving on the 4th is ~$47US and the one leaving on the 6th(the day I must leave Indo) is $69US.</p>
<p>Getting to Jakarta from Bali isn&#8217;t exactly &#8220;simple&#8221;. As a result, I&#8217;ve spent the last while looking for a way. Seems like an overnight bus / ferry to Yogyakarta and then a train to Jakarta is the best option. No clue how much the ferry and train would cost but I&#8217;m assuming negligible.</p>
<p>There are other flights to KL, Singapore or Bangkok but I&#8217;ve been there so it&#8217;s &#8220;boring&#8221; and &#8220;backtracking&#8221; something I wish to avoid at all times. Only acceptable if it is a major flight hub and go a different direction but it&#8217;s still &#8220;old hat&#8221; if you ask this gentleman.</p>
<p>Scrapped the traditional dinner yesterday, they wanted 125,000Ru ($12.50) which is once again negligible BUT no stuffing and no gravy. That was the major &#8220;draw&#8221; for me, as a result I eat the best Cordon Bleu of my life for ~$2.20, $2.70 with a coke included, indeed. Also I could eat them all week for the price of that meal. It&#8217;s nuts how when you travel your &#8220;price ranges&#8221; become localized.</p>
<p>I digress once more.</p>
<p>Listen, it&#8217;s the holidays and people have better things to do then read blogs. As a result this will be brief. The majority of all internet surfing is done during working hours, I&#8217;ll have you know.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;ve been from Bali -&gt; Jakarta, please let me know.</p>
<p>Good day,</p>
<p>P.S: Who knows if this will go down, but I must leave and this looks like a &#8220;good option&#8221;.</p>
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