Saigon So Far

Well I have finally arrived in Saigon, and almost settled in!

The city really is great, a whole new world compared to little Hanoi. I love Hanoi, but it's nice to be in a sunny city, which is booming and has a little more active community and night life.

My house is great, I will get some pictures up soon. I am renting a room from Michael ( my Intern Counterpart in Saigon) girlfriend Kim. The house is really nice, it's 5 stories, I'm on the 4th. I have a great sized room with a nice bed, mosquito net and a great bathroom, with a bath tub! A luxury over here. I also have my own balcony which is huge and the washer is on my balcony which is convenient. My favorite part is the balcony on the top of the house (5th floor) it's huge and you can see the whole city which is lovely. The house is better designed than my last one the living room and kitchen are on the same floor and separated by a waterfall. Yes that's right a waterfall... ha ha I will take pictures of it in action it's impressive. My roommate Jenny is very nice. She is from Singapour, she owns her own business here and works for a local magazine. She is away traveling for the next month so I am actually home alone in the house for a month.

The traffic and city is a little more controlled than Hanoi, the drivers are not so crazy, the roads are bigger and it's really just civilized. So I decided that I would actually drive a bike, more than the few select times that I drove in Hanoi. So I have been borrowing Kim's bike for the day to test it out, and see if I want to rent from there. It was ok I was doing great....till I burned my leg on the exhaust..so now I have a lovely "tattoo" on the back of my calf. It's fairly common so I guess I am just fitting in hahahaha!!

I'm heading out to Mui Ne this weekend with some of the Ultimate crew for some beach Ultimate and drinking! Mui Ne isn't far away from here so we rented a mini bus and are trekking out. I'm sure there will be many adventures to be had. Lester has informed me that he will be bringing his Dejembe, he provided me with a picture (see below) as I had no clue.

Hope everyone is well...miss ya...stay tuned for the Mui Ne Adventures!!

Love Sarah/BC

Goodbye Hanoi..Hello Saigon!

As a part of my public engagement requirements (for my internship) I have decided to start a blog for my travels to Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh City)

My last few days in Hanoi I feel like I am not really moving down to Saigon. (mainly cause I will be back here in two weeks) It's hard to believe that I have been here for six months! Last weekend both me and my friend Hieu were supposed to fly back to Canada. We were thinking (as we were singing Kareoke), how it would be so odd to be flying home right then. It seems like yesterday that we flew in here. I find now when I walk around the city I remember when I first came here and how things look so different now. As well as how lost I used to get , not saying I don' t get lost now just not as much!

Over the past three months I have had so many adventures, I have traveled to Cambodia, ran in a half marathon (yes Hieu we'r crazy) seen the temples of Angkor, I have hiked Mount Fancipan (again Hieu we're crazy) played ultimate frisbee in Saigon and Bangkok, snorkled in Krabi , explored Malaysia (Penang, Ipoh, Pusing and KL) as well as gone on many little adventures around Hanoi ( soc Son, Mai Chau, Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. Even with all that I still have a lot to see and explore in Vietnam. I am looking forward to the next 4 months to explore the South and central parts of Vietnam, as well as hopefully make a trip over to Bali.

From what I have been told(and the little bit that I have seen) Saigon in a much much different city than Hanoi. They are almost night and day from each other, so it shoudl be a fun filled and busy 4 months!!

I hope that everyone is well... I miss you guys and Canada (not really the cold weather) Keep in touch thanks for all the emails and letters!!

Love Sarah (BC)