Vietnam

This is day four in Saigon and I am having a great time! I'm staying in a nice little hotel called The Ordinary Hotel. It's right across the street from the Sheraton in a very interesting and lively part of town. Good selection of restaraunts, spas and shopping... what more could I ask for?

The traffic is crazy but it's also kind of entertaining. There are 10 times more mopeds than cars and it's not unusual to see a family of 4 or 5 riding on a moped. I got a picture of one this morning... kind of blurry because I was on bike. What's entertaining about the traffic is that if you just wonder out into it (forget about waiting for it to clear... that'll never happen) then the reponsibility to avoid hitting you is on the other drivers! My bicycle driver cuts into these huge, oncoming lines of traffic and I'm thinking we're going to die some horrible death but everyone just wizzes by as we slowly make our way across the intersection. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the Consulate but it's my favorite part of the day.

One thing I love about this town is there are no McDonalds!!! The only US fast food chain that dared to set up shop was the Colonel himself... KFC! The Vietnamese have their own version of McDonald's called Pho' 24. You see one on just about every corner. Pho', pronounced FU (I always thought it was FO, like FE FI FO FUM, but it's more like FUM, without the M) Anyway, it's a bowl of noodles with meat and vegatables. The veggies come on a side dish so you can do it yourself. I had some the first night I was here and then every lunch this week. There's a Pho 24 right next to the Consulate where a lot of ConGen folks like to eat.

I am getting some very positive feedback on my Office 2007 training class. I've trained about 60 people so far. I know that some of these folks do not understand a word I'm saying but y'know what... they don't let that stand in their way. I think they really appreciate the training and they are taking full advantage of it while I'm here.

Okay, that's it for now. I'll post a few pictures that I took this morning on the way to work but I plan on getting some really good ones this weekend when I put on my tourist hat and roll through town with my bicycle driver/tour guide.