I heart Vietnam

And i've only seen the south! Right now we are in a small town in the Mekong Delta. We took a 3 day boat tour from HCMC around the Delta and it is fantastic. The scenery is unbelievable and life here seems like it hasn't modernized very much at all. People wash everything in the river and use floating markets everywhere. It is so lush and fertile here and everyone is so friendly. The vietnamese people are so beautiful too, they all smile and seem to be happier than those in previous places we've been. And the food...oh man...it's the best. It's so good lauren and i are going to take a cooking class in Hoi An and apparently you learn how to make rice paper spring rolls from scratch. So for all my friends, that's what you get when i come home!

We had a great time in Saigon (otherwise known as Ho Chi Mihn City). We were a little templed out from Angkor Wat so we just enjoyed the city..okay and went a little crazy with the shopping. It's ridiculous really, the fashion there is outta control. For those of you who like fashion (khmm, Christine) you HAVE to come here. Here's the dilly, you go into a supercute boutique (or 100 of them) and if something doesn't fit or you like the cut but another fabric, they make in for you! There's no extra charge and it takes less than a day! Plus, nothing was over $30! Seriously cute stuff, now i'm scared to see how much it costs to send home. On our last night in HCMC we felt like being normal and escaping the noise (HCMC has got to be the loudest place in the world, and it's 24/7). So we found the only english movie theater in town that happened to be at the superfancy mall. It was such a trip, going to the mall in Vietnam with all the middle class peeps. It was sooo nice and everyone looked so good. Saigon really reminded us of Japan, only affordable! So we roamed, had some really funny moments with groups of teenagers in the elevator, and saw "The Guardian." It was so great. To clarify the elevator thing...kids here like to say hello and when you say it back they always laugh. Well there were like 15 kids in this elevator with us and this happened and they all started laughing and screaming running out of the elevator...it was good times... (in reading that the vagueness sounded weird so i wanted to clarify).

The other scary thing is that next we are going to Hoi An, which is full of some of the best tailors in the world and you can have ANYTHING made for you...including shoes. Can anyone hear me squeeling...cause i have been. I'm thinking suede boots with embroidery...and jeans made just for me. Apparently to have a custom suit it's like $30...oh so scary...I have no self control when it comes to this stuff.

Anyway, i'll post some photos when i can. This country is so photogenic it's insane. It's really exciting cause we love it so much down here, but apparently up north is even better.