I’ll have guava juice and dragon fruit for breakfast please.

Good lord, I’ve become a blogger. Taking it from the top - literally - we started out in Hanoi in the far north, and basically drove down the coast. Which, for the record, is a freakin’ long way. We’re now in Phan Thiet and I’m blogging poolside while overlooking the South China Seas. How are things going in Minnesota?

For those who aren’t up to speed, I’m traveling with 4 men (good lord #2). Tan is a friend I met in VN the last time, and we’ve got Hiep, our driver and the cutest thing on the face of the earth, Nghia, a VN writer and Cheo, a photographer. Together, we’re working on putting together Tan’s new website - travel Vietnam.com.

I won’t give you a play by play - maybe just things that you might find interesting…

First up - food is fabulous - obviously tons of seafood which I can do with out, but I’ve been a sport and tried it all - well, almost all. There were these steamed squid things the other night that totally grossed me out. I was brave and took a piece, but just couldn’t do it. Since most tourists don’t like the local foods, the boys continue to be skeptical when I tell him to bring it on. I’ve scored huge points all around for my chopstick using prowess. I told Tan I did draw the line at dog, these partially formed chicken things and I added a new one to my list yesterday- rat. He told me that rat was really, really good and he used to eat it all the time as a kid in the village where the rats could eat corn and grain (“they were very clean“) but he quit eating it since he moved to the city. “Do they taste just like chicken?“ I ask? “They taste better than chicken!” Yup, don’t care, added it to my list.

The other little tidbit I’ll share is my first experience biking. We had an oh-six-hundred muster to go for a bike ride around Hue, the former imperial capital of Vietnam. What transpired next, since it was captured on film, will be mortifyingly hysterical. So, I get downstairs with my biking clothes on, only to have Tan ride up on his bike in full biker duds - the stretchy shorts and shirt. He had me change into a pair as well - good lord #3…some things are best left to Lance Armstrong. But, being a good sport, I did. Off we went - what I thought was going to be a bike ride really was a photo op complete with video and cameras - refer to my mortifyingly hysterical comment above. So I’m riding a bike that’s too big, teetering around, looking goofy in my biker digs and they are giving me directions on where to go in Vietnamese. I was supposed to wave at the camera when really I was just trying to stay on the bike. But off we went on the streets of Hue…which is where my life flashed in front of my eyes. You see, traffic rules and a bit, shall we say, undefined. So there are bikes, rickshaws, trucks, and a zillion motorcycles all on the road. I don’t know where I’m going, and I’m riding a bike on a city street that has no traffic rules. Then, I had to make left turns at intersections! At least 4 of my nine lives were left on the streets of Hue. When we stopped, and I’m pretty much shaking in my shoes, Tan just told me to ignore everyone and they move around you. The only thing I said was “You can’t have tourists do this”, which he said, oh no, I don’t (then why are we taking pictures? ). Tan said, yes, I can understand how you might be afraid if you are not used to it. Ya think?

That’s enough for now - I’ve attached some photos as well. We’re off to HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City, not Hennepin Center) - aka Saigon today.