DAY ZERO...Here Comes the Sun!!!

Where, oh, where to begin. The trip over was an odd combination of short and long. Which I know makes no sense. Michelle said it seemed like forever. To me it really didn't feel like 25 hours of traveling. That said I was slightly delerious the whole time and got in exhausted. We both made the rookie error of not sleeping at all the night before and subsequently on the way to the Airport Michelle was a little ...how do I say this diplomatically....crazy. We were discussing which direction the plane would go on the route to Tokyo and all she could say, in a mumbled tone, was "We go right on the Map". My Dad, who self proclaimed, knows everything said we would go over the top of the globe. "Will we see Santa then?" Michelle asked in a tone starting to sound even more like a drunk Grandmas on Easter. The conversation continued with some Santa chat and then we were off.

LEG ONE- DC to Tokyo. Since Michelle passed out 5 minutes into the flight and can't seem to recall that much I will tell you what happened. All was well. I was sitting trying to pass the time, on my third movie of the flight when all the sudden the plane started to violently shake. A moment later we dropped. When I say drop I mean full on, gravity free fall for two to three full seconds. I am sitting in the emergency row and see the stewardess frantically running towards her seat in front of me. She falls down on the ground as we jerk to the left and start bouncing. In front of me she is clawing at her seatbelt, trying to get it on. This has me scared; and I am NEVER scared on airplanes. We free fall AGAIN, this time longer and people start to scream on the plane. Was this a roller coaster ride? I thought we were going to Tokyo not Six Flags??

We arrive 15 hours later in Tokyo. All was well and I even slept for a few hours. Killing time in Tokyo airport is sorta fun. Michelle was under the impression that there were Dinosaurs there. I don't know why she thought there were Dinosaurs, but there weren't any. A whole group of Asian tourists kept following me after we got off the plane and asking me where to go. I was kinda baffled. Everything is in Japanese. I know I don't look Japanese. Wouldn't you be better off asking someone who might have a slight chance of knowing what they are talking about?? Don't worry my dear readers, like the true brave leader that I am they arrived with my help to their gate safely. So in the search for any dinosaur, novelty or real, we ate some weird food. We decided to get some random bags of food and try them. Having no idea what they were. The following is the only description I can give. They smelled like month old rotten shoes, we said they felt like eating a baby's arm, were both chewy and had a weird crunch, but they tasted OK.

LEG TWO- TOKYO TO HCMC

Pretty uneventful. I thought in my head this was going to be short, but after ANOTHER delayed flight and seven hours in the air we were there.

Ho Chi Ming City- FINALLLLLY!!
In the airport we struggle. We have heard crazy stories about taxi scams and argue with a taxi driver for 10 minutes about some random ticket he keeps requesting. We finally get on our way and enter the city. HCMC has a weird feeling. It feels almost as laid back and tropical as the Caribbean, but then around the next corner is a skyscraper with neon lights, and around the next are small cafes on the street lined with little plastic chairs six inches off the ground. Huddled in these chairs are groups of people eating food cooked on make shift kitchens on the sidewalk. Scooters everywhere zoom by. Who families, two adults and children all on the SAME bike!! It is hot in HCMC. Humid like you would not believe and my hair was frizzy in five minutes flat. Our hostel is down a weird alley. In HCMC the main street has numbers, but then if there is a number after that it means it is that number down an alley off the main street. That sounds confusing and it is that confusing. We find out place and have to leave our shoes outside. I figure no one in the entire country has size 13 shoes so I am OK! Without much pomp we are brought up four flights of stairs to our room. It is very basic, very clean, and has a fan that clinks. We have to shower over our toilet. That will be interesting......