Aaaand its gone. That Vietnam feeling!

Ho Chi Minh City is everything I came to understand about Vietnamese cities, no matter how big or small. It is loud, really loud, there are hordes of honking motorbikes on the roads, people shouting, roosters crowing, people lining the streets on plastic stools, and a hint of french colonial architecture amidst the stark communist apartment blocks that shoot up five stories.

The neon glow of Ho Chi Minh alley ways

Sneaking a selfie of me and Uncle Ho in Monsieur Eiffel’s post office

There’s also tonnes of awesome food and the best coffee in the world. It was the perfect place to end my time in Vietnam, but I was glad to be leaving.

Now I’m in the Philippines and it is different. It feels like Mexico with the hint of spanish in the language, tricked out art cars called Jeepney’s that fill the streets and act as a form of public transport, and anything deepfried being the signature dish. The beer is strong (a lite beer is 5%) and I hear from other people of a chilled out vibe on the islands (though the city of Cebu seems to have quite a bit of hustle and bustle). Also an added benefit is that english is an official language here, and is taught in schools, so its easy to communicate with people! A welcome change.

Tonight I embark on an overnight passenger ferry to get to my island oasis (I hope) of Siargao. Since flights have taken up a good portion of my monthly budget, I’m going economy so we will see how terrible that will be! From what I gather it is totally do-able and will be a fun and authenticaly Philippino experience.

Also i suspect Philipinos have better taste for art amd music (this spoke to me)