And so it begins, We have arrived in Ho Chi Minh

Our flight from Dallas took off at noon Tuesday, and we arrived at our hotel in Ho Chi Minh at 12:30am on Thursday morning.  Calling this day long would not only be insufficient, but technically false.  Our trip took parts of 3 days down with it, as well as our sanity.  By our arrival at the hotel, I felt as though I was on a mild hallucinogen.  Kristin had cried twice.

I will start with our 15 hour plane ride from Dallas to Seoul.  First off, Korea Air is an amazing airline.  The food was interesting and tasted decent, the seats were comfortable with more space than the standard, and we had our own personal device to watch movies on.  We sat next to a young foreign exchange student from Seoul called Vivian, and she helped us construct our Korean dishes.  The plane flight was almost a complete success, save for the stale farts that lingered in the air, devastating our nasal palettes.  The worst thing about the stranger farts that hovered around us, was our unfortunate ability to make out the Korean Beef.  


But we were the fortunate ones.  Across the aisle, a young girl counted from 1 to 100, each time slamming her tray table into the seat in front of her.  When she was finished, she would start over from one.  The polite man in front of her silently took the abuse.  We turned up the volume and let the steel torpedo do its work.  Before we knew it, we had landed in Seoul.

Surprisingly, we saw quite a few decent mullets at the South Korea airport.  They seemed to be more functional and less ironic than their counterparts in the West, meaning, more natural and therefore majestic.  Majestic Mullets.  Our flight from Seoul to Ho Chi Minh was not so majestic.  It was one of those flights that you just survive and feel blessed when the wheels touch down.  All of our flights over Southeastern China seem to bear a teeth grinding burden. 

We walked out of Ho Chi Minh airport and into the humid summer night.  Ho Chi Minh is alive.  It is a city that pulses with energy.  Even after midnight, swarms of mopeds surged around on the endless streets.  At the airport, we hired a Chinese driver, and he seemed to take the red lights into consideration, but only as an encouragement to speed up.  We finally arrived at our hotel in district one, The Mini Hotel Saigon #5.  We slid into bed, allowing the cacophony of honks at the ground level to lull us into sleep.  We slept harder than Michael Anesthesia Jackson.

We rose at 7am to greet Vietnam's southern capital.  After complimentary omelets, we played real life Frogger for most of the day.  Crossing streets in this city is a daunting task.  One must trust the flow of things and not fight it.  If one commits to moving forward, then one better keep moving forward.  Sudden Movements create problems.  We have been trying to stand side by side therefore reducing our collective target size.  It is hairy stuff folks.  We had a great day, just exploring and eating delicious Vietnamese food.  We had pho twice, which is the most famous Vietnamese dish.  It is vermicelli noodles with a broth and chicken, fish, beef, yak, snake, frog, or whatever is around.  We stuck with chicken.  In the evening, Kirstin got a $3 massage, and we met an awesome couple and their son.  The couple lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, but were originally from Dallas.  We had a great time visiting with them and their son.

Sorry about getting this up late, we accidentally took a 5 hour nap today.  Here is our comings and goings: 
 

 Our bags of water for the long flight (10)

 We saw a bunch of troops get off a plane to a standing ovation, very cool

 Our home on Korea Air

 In flight meal, which luckily we had Vivian to assist us with 

 Hot "Paste" for the rice

 Boo taking a nap with a tired Korean Air worker in the background, also sleeping

 Tweet and some homeless drunk

 When we walked out of our hotel, immediately, we saw some uniformed officials tackling a moped rider.  It was extremely intense.  Here they are crashing.

 The officials move in 

 Apprehension, what on odd way to start our day.

 The street our hotel is on.  We just started walking west.

 Cross this street

 We have been very impressed by the cleanliness of Ho Chi Minh.  Here a man contributes.

 September 23 Park, we came back at night and this area was filled with people dancing or kicking around a shuttlecock like thing 

 A busy Saigon roundabout 

 These mopeds are all over the place 

 An old Vietnamese lady on the bike slowly crossing the street 

 The entrance to Ben Thanh Market 

 A typical corner scene 

 All of the streets are just lined with small shops and people squatting 

 A very Beautiful scene at People Committee Hall

Old and New

Flowers

Me, Ready for Action

Opera House

 Kristin bought a drink from this lady.  It was damn good.

 A luxury mall.  Ho Chi Minh is the engine for Vietnamese development.

 What a luxury Vietnamese mall looks like 

 TBP (to be planted)

 These are the phone booths in the extremely nice post office

 Post Office with portrait of Ho Chi Minh 

 Little toys, I refrained from purchasing 

 Gorgeous Architecture for a Post

 Phone Booths and Map

 Cathedral of Notre Dame 

 Take 2

 These ladies are everywhere with food and drinks for sale.

 Ho Chi Minh has alot of wires 

 These wires are open and probably very dangerous 

 Tasties?

 This guy shouted Hello at us 

 We were walking along and heard an awful noise and this thing almost fell on us from above.

 I cannot stress how many mopeds fill these streets 

 Petrol Station

 The Market.  We stopped in here to look for some food.  The dried seafood drove us away.

 Very Fragrant Shrimp

 Fruit Stand 

 Kristin's Lunch - Chicken and Broc

 Pho

 Pho is a very popular Vietnamese dish

 You put this stuff in your Pho for added delight

  A club

 Some guys kicking around a shuttle cock looking thingakaboob

 Night Market 

 Balloons

 Cantonese Fried Rice 

 More Pho

 Ready Set

Texas BarBQ and Steaks

More Night Market

This place runs an upstairs massage parlor, Kristin got her feet rubbed for 3 bucks

Good Night

The Eleventh Hour

Right Now, Kristin is fumbling with a device called the The First Class Sleeper.  It is an inflatable seat cushion that one must blow up by mouth and than place between themselves and their seat.  She is convinced that in this hideously contrived creation lies retreat from her coach class woes.  I look forward to one thing about this new addition to our travel family of devices and gimmicks - watching her slowly inflate it by mouth in front of a bunch of curious Koreans on our flight to Seoul on Tuesday Morning.

At around noon on Tuesday morning, June 1, while the rest of America eats Quiznos, watches soap operas, or painfully constructs excel spreadsheets, we will be boarding DFW's longest flight, staring an epic journey.

We have been through this all before.  Every trip gives and every trip takes.  The amount of insight and experience traveling globally has afforded to us is a gift.  I have learned a great deal about myself and the world, in the process realizing both the significance and insignificance of our small corner of the globe.  The United States is a rather small, but important, variable in an immense global equation.  This is something that is easy to conceive, but profound when actually realized through interaction.  This is what travel has given us.

The trips have taken as well.  There was a trip in 2008, in which an innocent enough swim with a manatee robbed me of my beard, literally, only half of it grew back.  The area in which the manatee nuzzled my neck will likely never be the same.  Great news for a shaver, but I live my life as a beard man.  It finally began to grow back about a year later, albeit in an altogether different light blond color.  To date, the neck beard region of my facial topography looks a bit like a treasure map, mixing dark and light hues.  Such is the beauty of travel.

Our last journey through Italy and Egypt left me with a partially calcified left lung, in which pneumonia did permanent damage.  We have speculated endlessly on the true culprit to this unfortunate malady, and have decided that our warp speed jaunt up Mt. Sinai to catch sunset likely contributed.  As a result, I will likely never be able to run a marathon, which is fundamentally a good thing.

We have also donated generous amounts of blood to the greedy mosquitoes of West Bali.  But more than anything else we have given, these trips have taken from us a narrow view of the world and blasted it open.  With this blog, we intend to share this with you all eyes wide, words down, and with bright pictures.

I used to want to change the world, but I discovered the world is fine.  I was the one that needed change, and that, the world has given to me.

Enough of that, here is some of our Gear for the trip 

 New Balance Water Shoe Hybrid, I love these shoes, comfortable to jog in and dry fast

 Callpod charger, this great device charges up to 6 devices.  We use it for iphones, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and the ipad.  It saves on wires and only uses up one plug.  Great Buy.

 3 pairs of underwear for me.  Kristin uses the same types.  We prefer Exofficio and Patagonia.  They dry remarkably fast and are super comfortable.

 Ironic Visor, somewhat Hunter S. Thompson

 This small black diamond lantern lights up a room and fits in your pocket

 Obviously Laundry Wash, Badger All Natural Sunscreen, and Psi Bands for motion sickness on boat rides

 Mosquito Weapons and Sanitizers for the frequent lack of soap

 Very Small Beach Towels

 Atomic Aquatics Frame-less Ultra Clear Mask with Oceanic Snorkel.  That mask is the best in the world in my opinion, provided it fits your nog

 Multi-country Plug adapter, head lamp, and external hard drive for storing photos

 Badger Balm.  I like to rub this on my cheeks and on the back of my neck, helps to relax.

 Kata Shoulder Camera Bag

 13.3" MBP and iPad

 Lots of money

 Wrist Wallet, mini moleskin knockoff books and experimental Jet Lag pills

 10,000,000 IDR

 My Pack - Osprey Atmos 65

 This pack is my favorite because it has a netted back, so your back does not actually touch the bag.  Air flows between your back and the bag keeping it cool and dry.

My checked Bag, this thing is a beast, holds a ton and has a removable day pack.

 In my bag

 Ikea Trollfjorden Toiletries Bag ($4.99)

It holds a ton, packs very low, and has a hanger.  Beautiful.

 Clif Bars - a must

 Kristin's Menagerie of bags - far left one is for Tweet

 My camera equipment - Nikon D90 with speedlight, Nikon 35mm, 10-24mm, and 70-300mm

 Canon S90, the best little point and shoot in the game.  This camera blows me away.

I put the Canon s90 in this huge monster for underwater photos

Kristin's shoes, look like something an exotic spaceship might barf out, which is an enormous compliment btw

She designed them herself