Thought you might be interested in some pics from my recent Vietnam holiday.
One of the highlights was attending a traditional Vietnamese cooking lesson and learning how to make our own feast of banana flower salad and claypot pork with ginger rice. Yum!
One of the lowpoints Natalie and I experienced was witnessing a dog-napping in Cholon (Chinatown District of Saigon). I'll never forget the screams of the dog as the dog-nappers stuffed it into a hessian bag and made for a quick getaway on a motorbike.
Speaking of which, there are literally hundreds of thousands of motorbikes in the city, which makes for fun trying to cross the road!
I went on a sampan boat in the beautiful Mekong Delta, held a python around my neck (it tried to strangle me!) and crawled through the famous Cu Chi tunnels on my hands and knees.
Rani and I became Sand Dune demons, sliding on sand sleds in Mui Ne. The sand dunes are spectacular!
I also ate the most wonderful Vietnamese food everyday (avoiding chicken at all costs).
We stayed at a beautiful resort in Mui Ne, and made friends with a sweet Vietnamese waitress named Huong.
On my final day, a taxi driver attempted to seduce me by playing "sexy" songs on his cd player - he bombarded me with songs like "Let's Get It Started", "Pretty Boy" and "I Am A Creature of the Night". My virtue remained intact :)
Most people thought I was Vietnamese, which made me feel even more guilty holidaying there as a "rich tourist". Vietnam is certainly not a wealthy nation. On a daily basis I encountered beggers on the street, some were children. Each time I tried to negotiate a better price at the various markets, I had to remind myself that I was haggling over at the most a few dollars :(
