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The Artist Formerly Known As Saigon

Up early to get a taxi to Danang airport.  Not a bad drive, with some nice mountains dotting the scenery.  In Danang, I checked in, and grabbed a coffee from across the street – managing to spill a bit of it on my book, the second time I’ve spilled some coffee on the same title.

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It was a short flight, and I spent most of it finishing my book (“A Fine Balance”, which was excellent).  As I was waiting for my bag to round the conveyer belt, I noticed a small plastic bag float by.  It looked like the same bag that carried my camera charger.  I grabbed it and peeked inside – yep, my charger.  My bag showed up next, with an open pocket that once held my charger and my memory card reader. No sign of the memory card reader, so I waited around.  The belt was nearly clear, and my reader was nowhere to be found.  I was about to give up hope, when a french man placed the plastic bag holding the reader on the belt.  I ran and grabbed it, and headed to the exit.  The french guy asked for a dollar for his services, but he was only kidding.

I inquired about buses to the city, and found one for super cheap.   50 times what I would have paid a cab, most likely.  Took about half an hour, so not too slow either – and dropped me off exactly where I wanted to be.  I was the only foreigner, and a Vietnamese guy said he was impressed that I was taking it, as he’d never seen a white person on it before.

Checked out some guesthouses, before settling on one that seems pretty good.  It’s about seven or eight floors up, so climbing the stairs for the next few days should prepare me for any treks into the Himalayas I may undertake in the next little while.

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I wandered around for a bit, hoping to find the post office – but it seems to be hidden somewhere.  I booked a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels for the next morning, then killed some time before getting some Indian for dinner.

After dinner I headed to a place across from my guesthouse, to watch Iron Man.  They play movies every night.  It was a fancy theatre, but a not-so-great copy of the movie.  Good, except for when it got too dark.  Decent movie, regardless.  Robert Downey Jr. was great.  Talked to Mike on the internet for a bit, after the movie – then noticed the doors to my guesthouse being shut, and made tracks over there before I would be forced to scale the outside walls to reach my room.

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