Changzhou to Vietnam

We met up again at the school gate and went for lunch to our new favorite, PapaJohn's. I got the BBQ chicken, which was absolutely delightful. After that it was the now very familiar D-train to Shanghai. Then, because we had just two days ago taken the airport bus, we loaded it quickly and made it to the airport without a hitch. The Pudong airport was anything but happening, and we were plenty early so we just sat around and read. As always, we also amused ourselves with Chinese people watching. People watching in China is great for two reasons: one, it's a different culture, so they do all sorts of odd (to me) things; two, there are over 1.3 billion people to watch, so the well never runs dry. Of the three of us, I am probably the least traveled, but even I have been through my fair share of airports. We thus flawlessly made it to Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) on a nice four hour flight. The best part was the free wine with dinner. We arrived in HCMC a bit after midnight. We made our way to the landing visa area, where we used our printouts from some online service to obtain the visas. The online service seems to be sort of a racket, but it's the only way to avoid five or six days of paperwork in Vietnam. With a visa in our passports, we exchanged some money and became instant multimillionares (unfortunately in Vietnamese dong). It's sort of odd having someone say eight and half million and then handing you a stack of bills, but that's life with the Vietnamese dong. It was pretty late, so we didn't barter too much with the taxi driver, and in doing so probably made his night by paying double the normal fare. The hotel was "down an alley", but very clean and nice; and the AC works well, which is nice in the hot and sticky weather. As we drove to the hotel, the city was pretty bustling for it being 1 am. Obviously it is much more of a tropical climate here, so I think the culture reflects that. The city, upon first impression had a much different feel than the Chinese cities I have visited, with its balconies and open air buildings. It really looked a lot like the Saigon I had seen portrayed in so many Vietnam War movies.