Oh Saigon

Our teppanyaki chef pulled out a Michael Jackson routine

Johnny and a giant ball

Johnny is their target market

We met up with Angel!

Fancy oysters at The Deck

There's no doubt this blog has been a tad quiet. We've been busy with lots of trips, visitors and crazy work situations (okay Johnny at least). There's alot to catch-up on and the OCD in me feels the need to backtrack and post about everything separately, and in order.  So first up, Saigon.

It's been about 2 years since I packed up and left the city to go back to Australia. I often listen to other CBA people working here talk about how great they think it is and how it's so much better- so much more modern and cleaner they say. I asked my friend Kate who lives there about this and she said it was still crap.

So we went down. I was excited. How much had it really changed? Well, alot. It DID seem more modern and cleaner. When I was living there is was a dirty town full of construction. All that has now been turned in modern buildings with shops and restaurants that you can spend lots of money on. Well, in comparison to Hanoi anyway (and yes, we did spend lots of money).

Key points:
:: Saigon is totally the cliche Sydney (loud, brash, crazy) of Vietnam, and Hanoi the cliche Melbourne...or Canberra (quieter, cultural, a bit more refined).


:: Saigon made me feel really claustrophobic- something I was glad to come across because that's exactly how I felt when I was there before. Hanoi isn't as built up and the lakes somehow make it seem calmer and more beautiful.

:: People down south are nicer, and less arrogant. And have better English. That's pretty much agreed among everyone you talk to about the differences.

:: Johnny really wants to move there and day by day is plotting it through work.

:: Southern pho is delicious. Yes, yes it is.

:: We met up with Angel and ate snails. YUM. I missed them. She showed us a photo of her baby and he's very, very fat.

:: Warda and The Deck are still awesome. Put them on your list of places to visit while you're there.

:: They have Beard Papa! Nom nom nom nom nom. I bought 6 and really, really wanted to eat them all (but didn't, phew). In hindsight, I totally should have.

So that was our trip. I felt sentimental about being back for a total of about 5 minutes and was glad to be home. If we move there? Well, that will be another blog post.