Back in Hot Weather Again

Well, I am in Saigon after a LONG bus trip today. In other words, I am out of the mountains and back into HOT territory. To catch you up to date:

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006--Da Lat (Cont.)

I stopped and bought a sandwich and ate it as I walked home from the cyber cafe. On the way, I ran into 7-Up on the sidewalk. He had just been to my hotel to see me, so it was a nice coincidence that we ran into each other. He was with a friend of his he was visiting--a student at the university. They had been to town shopping and were on their way back to the university. They had stopped at the hotel both to see me and to buy his ticket to traveling tomorrow, since my hotel is the home of the travel agency with the bus service we used to come here. We only visited briefly on the sidewalk, and they were on their way.

I got a little sunburned, since the sun was out all day. I had been walking maybe 4 1/2 hours when I got back to the room. It's my nose that always gives me problems. It feels sensitive right now.

I went back out in the evening to a local place just down the street from my hotel. It was full of local people and no tourists. I stopped and ordered "stewed crushed pork and eggplant in casserole"--ground pork, chunks of eggplant, 2-3 kinds of wonderful mushrooms, green onions, etc., in a thick sauce. It was served in a clay pot placed over a burner to keep it boiling until I served all of it. There was a big plate of rice on the side. I stuffed myself eating all of it!!!

Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006--Da Lat to HCMC (Saigon)

The mosquitoes have been out for the past two days (since the night we had heavy rain). Apparently a couple got into my room, because I have had some bites mostly around the waistband of my shorts. They itch a little, but I am lucky for two reasons: 1) I cannot hear any of them buzzing while I sleep, and 2) They don't seem to bite me elsewhere.

7-Up was at the hotel this morning to catch his bus. We were on different ones, because he is going to a beach resort for a few days before returning home. Too bad we weren't traveling together. Instead, however, I made friend with three people going my way--an Israeli guy who sat in front of me on the bus coming to Da Lat, and a Dutch couple. We were all sold to the highest bidder today. With only 4 of us, it wasn't practical for our company to run a bus to Saigon, so they called another agency which picked us up and took us to go meet their bus at their office.

It was a fairly good trip, but a LONG one. We left Da Lat at 8 a.m. and didn't get to Saigon until after 4 p.m. We stopped 3 times for toilet breaks and to eat. The Dutch couple and the guy from Isreal and I sat together and visited during the stops. The Dutch couple are on an 11-month around the world trip that includes 32 countries! She got a leave of absence from her work with her job guaranteed when she returns. He owns his own IT business and just shut it down for the time they are traveling. They said they spent 1 1/2 years planning their trip and that the planning process was as much fun as taking the trip. I've always found that to be true, too. They said they are going quickly in some countries, but that this is only their introduction to the world. They will return to places they like and want to visit further. They have only been in Asia so far, but they will go to Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific (Fiji, Easter Island, and elsewhere), Gallapagos Island, the entire west coast of South America, and South Africa and about 5-6 nearby African countries. The Israeli just finished 3 years of military service and is traveling before starting back to university next month. He just came on the spur of the moment without a specific plan. Everyone has his/her own way of doing it.

We hit a massive traffic jam coming into Saigon. It's a much bigger city than Hanoi. And the traffic is so much heavier. After getting my hotel room, I went out exploring just the neighborhood which is mainly a tourist area. Here, it is possible to see the thousands of bicycles and motorbikes at intersections that I have seen in photos before. I'm glad I didn't arrive here first. I might have been intimidated by the traffic. After having learned to handle it in the smaller cities, I think I can deal with it here now.

I've written a song for you readers to sing about my situation today. It is to the tune of the cowboy song, I'm Back in the Saddle Again:

I'm back in hot weather again,
Back where my shirt sticks to my skin;
What a miserable way to spend a long, hard day,
I'm back in hot weather again!