Onward!

Hello friends, I just got home from dinner and another buy 2 get 1 free man soda night. The one i found tonight was big boy brewskis. Kinda glad I hadn't found it earlier. Very dangerous. But anywho, I am packing up all my stuff right now and getting ready to board the 11pm train to Hanoi. I was originally supposed to take the 12pm train but the travel agent blew it and had to get me on the 11pm. Which is extra rad because I arrive in Hanoi at 4:30am now, opposed to the original 9pm. Regardless, another brick in the wall, I am just kinda kiling time right now. Don't really feel like walking around Saigon anymore. My legs are sore and tired from the past few days. Yesterday was kind of just a cruise around day, didn't stay out for too long, it went from 1000 degrees outside to dumping rain, which meant nap time for me. Love nap times. They are a rare treat now a days. Today was a cruiser day as well, walked all over, ended up in some sketchy alley ways. Sketchy till you discover a bunch of little kids playing choo-choo train with some plastic chairs. Then you're kinda like oh.. I guess this is ok. There are some funny characters in Vietnam. Everywhere you go people try to sell you stuff, and I feel like it is my duty to now try and catch them off guard or make them laugh. When people try to sell me books I tell them I can't read, or when they try to sell me glasses I tell them I work for whatever sunglass company they are trying to sell. There are so many knock off Ray Bans and Oakleys. Its pretty funny. They are dirt cheap too, You can bargain them down to like a dollar for a pair. Its fun to sometimes just see how good of a deal you can get and then tell them you dont want them anymore. Might seem mean to you guys, but when you are harassed every 3 minutes by people trying to sell you crap like that or drugs, you start to mess with them back. It's better than losing your temper, and pretty fun. Bargaining is like a drug itself, you find yourself trying to bargain everything. Any price anyone gives you just act appalled. It's kind of second nature now. Except when they say it's buy 2 get 1 free beer night. You cant help but get excited about that. It's funny too because the man sodas are only about $1.50 for a big boy. Its always funny too when you ask them about it and they ask where you are from, then they light up when you say America. The kid that was my waiter tonite couldn't have been more than 13 yrs old. But the kid was classic. Every beer he brought out for anyone else he would stop and say "next one?" I had already had my fill of man drink and a whole large pizza, which by the way, the Vietnamese make a mean pizza, so I would always have to tell him to give me a minute. Scary thing though, dog is always a possibility when you order meat. Every time I heard a dog yelp in the streets I cringe. And I am not gonna lie, I think I ate a doggy tonight. I know it's horrible, but the meat on my pizza didn't taste like beef. I am not being a racist, plenty of people here have dogs as pets, but the meat I ate was not cow. We will never know. I will pretend it was cow, but I have eaten my fair share of cow meat in my day, and this was unfamiliar. The man sodas took my mind off it though. On a less stressful note, I figured today, since I was in Vietnam, I should get a manicure and pedicure. I thought this was where it all started or something since all the people that do that in the states are from here. I wasn't that impressed truthfully. Yea, it was cheap as dirt, but my feet still look like a cave man and my hands look the same. It took the lady a while to clean them up, but I don't see much of a difference. I actually came back and cut my nails better than she did. While she was working on my feet though I felt like Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) in Dumb and Dumber. She was struggling to clean up those bad boys, and I felt her pain kind of, but they have been marching around reefs and dirty streets for the past couple months. They're still pretty gnarly looking, but I am a man, who cares. So glad I am not a chick. The lady was pretty weirded out by all the scars and cuts on my feet and legs. That is one thing though, the air con in my room here has helped the infections on my body go away. They weren't bad ones, but just the dirty little ones you get from reefs. Luckily no staph. Even wearing booties in G Land, you still get stabbed through them. And you get stupid little cuts all over your hands from the reef every time you surf. I miss surfing so much already. I felt like my surfing improved so much being in Indo, and it was such a large part of my life, and now it is nonexistent. I try to not watch too many surf movies on my computer. I have actually been downloading audiobooks from Itunes. Pretty cool I must say. Thus far I have Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" and the Dalai Lama's "The Universe is a Single Atom" which I haven't gone through yet, but it is supposed to be really interesting. I am no Buddhist, but the concepts are always interesting. Same as listening to anything Stephen Hawking has to offer. Which might be my next download. His book "A Brief History of Time" is supposed to be real good. We shall see if I get to it. Audiobooks are awesome, especially when you are too ADD to read. I have actually come up with some business ideas on the topic. I love all the me-time I have now. Just wandering around looking at stuff, thinking and day dreaming. It is pretty cool. I am really appreciating what I have going. I know I will look back on these times and be stoked. I am already stoked. I am pretty excited for this train ride tonight. Even though it is about 32 hrs or so, and I am getting to Hanoi and 430am, It will still be rad. If anything I get longer in Hanoi to look around before I am picked up to go to Halong Bay. Originally I got to Hanoi at 9pm and then got picked up the next morning for Halong. But now I get in at 430, crash in the Hotel till whenever then have the whole day to cruise around. They the next morning I get picked up and Taken to Halong for two days. I am going to spend the night on some wild little boat I guess. It ended up being cheaper to do a tour then to try to navigate myself, and I will probably get to see a lot more than I would if I were wandering by myself. Maybe safer too? Who knows. I just can't wait to see it. After that they drop me back in Hanoi and from there I am going to fly to Laos and do that who thing. Then Cambodia. I wish I had more time. Anyway, must be going, I will update again soon. Cheers!