Saturday, November 8, 2008

Day 1 Tuesday, October 28, 2008


I arrived at my hotel in Saigon exactly 24 hours after I left my home in Sammamish. First things first - a long shower and fresh clean clothes! Then I tried to adjust to the 14-hour time change by fighting back falling asleep until the evening.

Weather is quite nice in Saigon, low 80s during the day. Rain came in the early afternoon and cooled things down a little. I noticed tourism is down, as many of the hotels are not hustling and bustling with tourists from Europe and Asia as they usually are during this time of the year.

Some of the local news: a fire yesterday closed down the domestic terminal at the airport. Headline Breaking News: ‘Good news for little people as new driving rules suspended’. Apparently, a month ago the government set health criteria for drivers of cars and motorbikes, including height and weight limit: must be 1.5 meters or taller and 40 kilograms or more. In addition, people with a chest diameter of less than 78 centimeters are included in the new laws. Some people literately tried to gain weight to drive, and the joke on the street is that padded bras and breast-implant would become very popular. Enough people complained and the government is considering removing the new laws. Hooray for the ‘little people’ as well as the ‘small chest men and women’.

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