March 28th and 29th, 2010

7AM 28th We left immediately for Saigon. There was a 15 minute gap and we took a couple of pictures at Phnom Penh.

2PM 28th We arrived at district 1, Saigon sometime in the afternoon. Next, I went to Duong's home again, since it is very comfortable.


2PM 29th I met up with Cong Nhat to discuss what we were going to do with the story. However, we were not able to convince her on the phone.

6PM I met with Dinh Tran, a CS girl. She introduced me several dishes.

Beefy Jerky

Goi Bo

Goi Cuon

8:25PM 29th I left for Ha Noi. Jetstar planes actually felt really cramped and dirty but for a $65 booked the day before flight, I could not ask for more.

10:35PM I arrived at the airport. Unlike HCMC, I did not realize the airport was far away from everything else. A van driver told me its 50,000 VNDs to the city until I realized it was 35,000 VNDs for everyone else. He gave me the change back after some futile negotiation.

11:00PM I am in the city of Ha Noi and everything was closed. I gave a moto driver 15,000 to take me to the old quarters, which was only 4 blocks away. We knocked on the doors of F Hotel and negotiated an $8 AC room with Ha Long Bay 2 days 1 night ($50), which I found out later could be $40 or less. But I had no time to ask around since everything was closed. The room was nice but the water heater was broken.