rode an elephant in a river today. coffee plantations, hill tribes, waterfalls.
where is everybody?
sound off
8.16.2008
8.13.2008
Yo YO Yo
Samurai!
Respect. know what ahm sayin'
dj samurai take us downtown vietnam samurai style to meet family and eat shells ya'll. very near airport watchin' planes up on the top top very big yo.
Meet Mafia, Police, and Sony. nice to meet you nice to meet you.
dan linz and dj samurai children of jupiter born in the big bang y'knowatahmsayin'...
slurpin' snails, clams grilled corn beer.
made the nightclub circuit one more time- irish bar/lush/apocolypse now/go to bar. each step of the way it gains an increment of skeeze. linz had to save me from myself dancing all the way through the night.
we realized this morning that we mistakenly told the visa guy in Cambodia that we only intended to stay in VN through the 20th, whereupon he issued us Visas that only last that long, with no option of extension. so.....that changes things a bit but i think we are going to the inland mountain highway tomorrow and hiring 'easy riders' (250 cc motorcycles) to take us on a 4 night trip north.
did you know america advertises the greencard lottery? not only that but the photo montage that accompanies the ad on tv has a big breasted baywatch style blond rising up out of a swimming pool while the voiceover says "you can live YOUR american dream, by visiting Visa55.com". haha
Respect. know what ahm sayin'
dj samurai take us downtown vietnam samurai style to meet family and eat shells ya'll. very near airport watchin' planes up on the top top very big yo.
Meet Mafia, Police, and Sony. nice to meet you nice to meet you.
dan linz and dj samurai children of jupiter born in the big bang y'knowatahmsayin'...
slurpin' snails, clams grilled corn beer.
made the nightclub circuit one more time- irish bar/lush/apocolypse now/go to bar. each step of the way it gains an increment of skeeze. linz had to save me from myself dancing all the way through the night.
we realized this morning that we mistakenly told the visa guy in Cambodia that we only intended to stay in VN through the 20th, whereupon he issued us Visas that only last that long, with no option of extension. so.....that changes things a bit but i think we are going to the inland mountain highway tomorrow and hiring 'easy riders' (250 cc motorcycles) to take us on a 4 night trip north.
did you know america advertises the greencard lottery? not only that but the photo montage that accompanies the ad on tv has a big breasted baywatch style blond rising up out of a swimming pool while the voiceover says "you can live YOUR american dream, by visiting Visa55.com". haha
8.12.2008
uncle ho loves you
well last night was a 'down night' meaning we drank while sitting down, until 3 am. we didn't venture out yesterday until about 1 pm, immediately the time at which the rain started. by the time we were a couple blocks deep and beyond turning back, we were forced to run for the shelter of a pavillion in a nearbye park. we were not alone. for the better part of an hour we got to know our circumstantial brethren-40 odd and tightly packed. after a bit we were compelled by hunger to try the foods peddled by a little old lady with a basket. we got a lot of thumbs and belly-rub-mimings that led us to try an unknown something wrapped in banana leaf. it was a nurnberger sausage. good. then we were emboldened to try another banana wrap package- stringy beef sausage with hot chilis in lightly slimy intenstinal tube. ok. had to eat it just to make everyone happy.
the night before was all around an awesome night. early in the day we met this really out guy named ' dj samurai' who wrapped every scant word he said in basket of ridiculous laughter. i was sure he was on mushrooms until we discovered he was just japanese. anyways, he owns and awesome t shirt shop, and told us to meet there to go out partying. we went to some posh rooftop bar with 'the' x-pat crowd. we were with linz's friend Minh and she turned out to know them all to a mind numbing level of familiarity. it was a birthday party and there were a few cool arty types and kind-like souls but mostly running the gamut from Marina-esque young professionals to utter dbags. but samurai handled it all with levity and absolute goofy grace and we followed suit. then to 'LUSH' the premier dance club downtown (its one of two) until close at one a.m., then to heart of darkness-its debauched older brother. your typical cancun catharsis that. we hooked up with a great group though consisting of linz, me, mihn, samurai, spainard bartender fabio, three nice dutch girls, a vietnamese girl with an inventive punk cut and a mischevious eye, and 'the boss' this totally batshit vietnamese lady with a bob who took it upon herself to lead the motley from place to place with despotic precision like "hey you guys shut the F*** up and get in the cab" and deft herding technique. we ended up and the HCMC version of the End Up, a slab-floored, unlit pool-hall of lady-boys and crunk tunes.
i'm off to the war museum with this Celtic guy who is sharpening his socratic method on my stone. ordered an iced coffee and baguette using only local language and sat for an hour reading the paper on a plastic lawn chair in an alley next to a one-legged chain smoking old man with a not unkind but withering stare. i got a couple of smiles out of him but tough work.
we're going to the central highlands in a day or two then hoi an, then meeting minh and going to Laos. wanted to go to the north but there is heavy flooding and mudslides and they are airlifting tourists. so it goes.
love you all, wish you were here
two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl
the night before was all around an awesome night. early in the day we met this really out guy named ' dj samurai' who wrapped every scant word he said in basket of ridiculous laughter. i was sure he was on mushrooms until we discovered he was just japanese. anyways, he owns and awesome t shirt shop, and told us to meet there to go out partying. we went to some posh rooftop bar with 'the' x-pat crowd. we were with linz's friend Minh and she turned out to know them all to a mind numbing level of familiarity. it was a birthday party and there were a few cool arty types and kind-like souls but mostly running the gamut from Marina-esque young professionals to utter dbags. but samurai handled it all with levity and absolute goofy grace and we followed suit. then to 'LUSH' the premier dance club downtown (its one of two) until close at one a.m., then to heart of darkness-its debauched older brother. your typical cancun catharsis that. we hooked up with a great group though consisting of linz, me, mihn, samurai, spainard bartender fabio, three nice dutch girls, a vietnamese girl with an inventive punk cut and a mischevious eye, and 'the boss' this totally batshit vietnamese lady with a bob who took it upon herself to lead the motley from place to place with despotic precision like "hey you guys shut the F*** up and get in the cab" and deft herding technique. we ended up and the HCMC version of the End Up, a slab-floored, unlit pool-hall of lady-boys and crunk tunes.
i'm off to the war museum with this Celtic guy who is sharpening his socratic method on my stone. ordered an iced coffee and baguette using only local language and sat for an hour reading the paper on a plastic lawn chair in an alley next to a one-legged chain smoking old man with a not unkind but withering stare. i got a couple of smiles out of him but tough work.
we're going to the central highlands in a day or two then hoi an, then meeting minh and going to Laos. wanted to go to the north but there is heavy flooding and mudslides and they are airlifting tourists. so it goes.
love you all, wish you were here
two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl
8.10.2008
escape from sihanoukville
things have shifted character quite a bit since the last post three or so days ago. we extended our beach time another two days and only arrived here in Saigon yesterday. our last night in snookyville we went out to a hilltop french restaurant for some great seafood and afterwards on our motorbike drivers' advise we opted to go to a cambodian bar with them rather than the meager strip of 'laid-back' tourist bars off the beach.
this entailed sitting in plastic lawn chairs around a big table with about a dozen khmer dudes, drinking small glasses of iced black and tan and singing karoake (in khmer) and force-swallowing unchewably tough beef jerky as they watched and laughed. apparently of all the teeming hordes of whitey, we were the first to join any of these guys at the cambodian bars, of which there was a strip of about forty indestinguishable establishments all in a row. as such, they were very enthusiastic and hospitible and we basically gave a standing cheers every two or three minutes, laughed a lot, complimented this awesome old man on his chopsticks, glasses and tabletop drumming along to the hot cambodian pop hits (about 3 songs over and over.) these are heart wrenching love songs usually sung by a guy standing in the rain amid vintage 90's editing and what look like scenes from a low budget soap opera. they also show these music videos on all the buses, for hours and hours. anyways they resisted our paying for anything until everyone ran out of money and we bought the last pitcher to applause, and then someone bought us a song which was in english and linz and i sang it duet to continued applause. pretty funny that it was all dudes passing the mic around and singing these shmaltzy love songs.
we finished off the night back at Cloud 9 guest house with the new bartender Sop who is not only super competent but has the best facial expression vocabulary i have maybe ever seen. even the most simple question receives a barrage of grimacing/squinting/pained smiling. we drank the working dudes rice wine on the house before we finally had to close the book on our beach dream and pack.
the last two days at sihanoukville, after the raging electrical tstorm, were hot and clear and relatively calm. spent most of it horizontal on the beach, and swimming, boogie boarding, playing pool, watching a group of knick-knack hawking local kids (about 1o years old) use our borrowed boogie boards and generally eat shit up and down the beach and laughing their faces off.
i lost two out of three games of tic-tac-toe to a 9 year old and had to buy a cheap bracelet off of him.
last night we went to a restaurant here in HCMC (ho chi mihn city, not Hennepin County Medical Center) that linz remembered fondly from her time here (the memory of its location being somewhat more hazy :) ) , it has apparently endeared itself to quite a few other people in the meantime b/c it was slammin'-but the service was great as was the food. people eat really fast here, barely pausing to breathe.
i'm reading this awesome book, its called "and the ass saw the angel" by nick cave (the singer) and it is some Black Bible Aussie shit and i want to make the movie of it.
backpackers pour off busses with the uniformity and regularity of army troops, but the hawkers here a bit less persistent.
linz and i watched the movie 'Poseiden' last night in our room, because it sucked a small amt less than "the Guardian". still, probably the hardest choice between the worst movies i've ever had to make.
this entailed sitting in plastic lawn chairs around a big table with about a dozen khmer dudes, drinking small glasses of iced black and tan and singing karoake (in khmer) and force-swallowing unchewably tough beef jerky as they watched and laughed. apparently of all the teeming hordes of whitey, we were the first to join any of these guys at the cambodian bars, of which there was a strip of about forty indestinguishable establishments all in a row. as such, they were very enthusiastic and hospitible and we basically gave a standing cheers every two or three minutes, laughed a lot, complimented this awesome old man on his chopsticks, glasses and tabletop drumming along to the hot cambodian pop hits (about 3 songs over and over.) these are heart wrenching love songs usually sung by a guy standing in the rain amid vintage 90's editing and what look like scenes from a low budget soap opera. they also show these music videos on all the buses, for hours and hours. anyways they resisted our paying for anything until everyone ran out of money and we bought the last pitcher to applause, and then someone bought us a song which was in english and linz and i sang it duet to continued applause. pretty funny that it was all dudes passing the mic around and singing these shmaltzy love songs.
we finished off the night back at Cloud 9 guest house with the new bartender Sop who is not only super competent but has the best facial expression vocabulary i have maybe ever seen. even the most simple question receives a barrage of grimacing/squinting/pained smiling. we drank the working dudes rice wine on the house before we finally had to close the book on our beach dream and pack.
the last two days at sihanoukville, after the raging electrical tstorm, were hot and clear and relatively calm. spent most of it horizontal on the beach, and swimming, boogie boarding, playing pool, watching a group of knick-knack hawking local kids (about 1o years old) use our borrowed boogie boards and generally eat shit up and down the beach and laughing their faces off.
i lost two out of three games of tic-tac-toe to a 9 year old and had to buy a cheap bracelet off of him.
last night we went to a restaurant here in HCMC (ho chi mihn city, not Hennepin County Medical Center) that linz remembered fondly from her time here (the memory of its location being somewhat more hazy :) ) , it has apparently endeared itself to quite a few other people in the meantime b/c it was slammin'-but the service was great as was the food. people eat really fast here, barely pausing to breathe.
i'm reading this awesome book, its called "and the ass saw the angel" by nick cave (the singer) and it is some Black Bible Aussie shit and i want to make the movie of it.
backpackers pour off busses with the uniformity and regularity of army troops, but the hawkers here a bit less persistent.
linz and i watched the movie 'Poseiden' last night in our room, because it sucked a small amt less than "the Guardian". still, probably the hardest choice between the worst movies i've ever had to make.
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