Trip Report: Fumbling My Way Through Vietnam
 

Solo female traveler here.

I finally ponied up and composed a long-overdue trip report to repay my fellow Fodorites for your valuable travel advice over the years.

Thing is, I got a little carried away and created an entire blog on my trip...

Warning: contains adult language, cynacism, and shallow observations:

http://shallowmusings.typepad.com/travel_musings/

Funny. Interesting. Bitchy. Loved it.

Thanks for sharing ;-) Sounds like you had a good time.

BTW, some of your photos are not loading.

Hysterical, wonderful report! I laughed out loud more than once. You so perfectly gave voice to many of the thoughts I had myself while visitng those same places.

Don't worry too much about not seeing Ho....it's not the reverential experience you might think. They rush you past him to keep the line moving. When we saw him, he had just come back from being "refurbished" in Moscow.....and he was a very bizarre color.

Hi, Many thanks for sharing.
Cheers

Thanks for the laughs!

Absolutely loved what I have read of your report so far. I printed it out to read on my long flight to BKK tomorrow.

Thanks for sharing

Kristina -- thanks for the head's up on the pictures. They should be fixed now.

Great report! Excellent writing!

What a great read. I really enjoyed your trip report.

Can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed your report - I laughed so hard and I lost a few hours sleep! It was excellent, funny and very well written. I had to finish it in one shot even though I started reading very late at night. Thanks so much for sharing
Pat

thanks for making me laugh

Well what a Chon teaser you are !!! Just when I thought she has forgotten to tell us what it was like and how she smuggled it through customs ( we would never get it back in to Australia ) there it was at the end . And as for your language , well 'roaches provoke that in me as well .The bats we have in Melbourne, Australia - Flying Foxes/ fruit bats they are called - and they stink and have caused public outcry here because they were destroying large sections of our botanical gardens but conservationists were concerned at the effect of a forced move on them as they are a protected species .They have now been moved ( after banging gongs , using loud music , sub - audible electronic waves and last - a net )out of the centre of town , you can see THOUSANDS of them at dusk leaving their new home to fly out of town like a scene from Wizard of Oz / Lord of the Rings to nearby fruit orchards to gorge .SPOOKY. I digress.
Now was that a snap of your picture from New Space ? If so it looks terrifically good .
I loved your report . It has been a great read ( and laugh )on a Friday afternoon . Well done , especially as you are a solo traveller which is brave in itself but as a woman even more so .Thank you .

All -- you're welcome.

John --

The Customs officials didn't blink an eye at the chon. They definitely saw it as the bag had already exploded when they rifled through my luggage (looking for drugs, I assume), which contributed to the beans being all over my luggage.

The photo is "My Dream" from New Space. Someone pointed out to me recently that it features "the man who plays the flute with his nose" from the Vietnamese newspaper article I read earlier in the trip (foreshadowing!), which had previously escaped my notice.

Loved your report..and your sense of humour..will take on board your comments about the places you stayed.
BTW did you buy the painting??...and your marketing piece????

Albaaust:

The picture, My Dream, nearly arrived home before me. I love it! I stop and stare at it every time I climb my stairs. Have posted a better picture of it now on the blog.

The marketing piece turned out fine. Boss's Boss (who is actually a nice, very competent guy) ended up accepting it -- reluctantly. I agonized over it the first half of the trip, but one of the things that I love about travel is that it always seems to put daily, petty annoyances into perspective.

The bug scene in Siem Reap forced me to count my blessings and stop sweating the small stuff (at least temporarily. I'm back to sweating the small stuff again until the next trip).