the vietnam house (restaurant with the hot waiters) was too crowded. i’ve gotta get in…does anyone know anyone on the door so i can drop a name and get in????? maer???? could you send me a press pass??? so i ended up eating at la biblioteque (anne & chip, i got the biz card for the address to add to your notes). it was a terrific evening. the owner is this wild old vietnamese lady (72), she’s very french. She was the first woman to become a member of the vietnam bar and was a former member of the national assembly. she closed her law firm after the war b/c the legal system had changed and then opened the restaurant for money. the place is in her villa and you eat in what was once her law office. the walls are covered in old law books (dating back to the late 1800s) and pictures of her with various famous guests. the two of us laughed into the weeee hours about her life, the communists, the legal profession. i was the only diner so she had plenty of time and joined me for dinner. she is such a flirt. for any guys planning a trip to vietnam, you must go here and visit with madame nguyen phuoc dai. the food was ok, but the conversation was fantastic. the cook used to be her kids’ nanny before the war. After that, I went to have a drink at the top of the majestic hotel and looked out on the city. the next day i went to saigon tours to book a trip to the cu chi tunnels and a mekong delta trip. while there, i broke down and booked the rest of my stay in vietnam, plus my ticket back to sydney. the whole thing cost about $1700, but it includes all flights (sydney included), private car and driver/guide, food, entrance to all museums and boat rides, hotels and tickets to performances. (carl. shut up b/c i can hear you laughing now). i’m tired of figuring everything out and i don’t have that much time left to plan as i go. so, i’ll end up going to hue, hoi an, halong bay and hanoi. after booking my trip, i took a long cyclo ride all over the city. i went to cholon, which is extremely crowded and busy, even busier than ho chi minh city. the market there is packed with hawkers and buyers. i didn’t dare go in b/c this big gal needs her space. while being peddled around, i saw this motor bike with this huge cage attached to the back. the cage was stuffed with ducks. they were quacking and quacking. i guess b/c they had no space to move. they were piled on top of each other. well, i thought it was funny (guess you had to be there). my cyclo driver was great fun, we sat and had a coke while he told me about his life in vietnam and how school is very expensive. i even met a few of his cyclo buddies. he took me to the war remembrance museum… horrible…all the pictures and descriptions of the war…very disturbing. after i came back i went to the top of my hotel for a drink. what a hoot, there are these huge dancing elephant and horse statues, twinkling lights…very tacky, but i love it. i now have ideas for my apartment!!!!! this morning i went to the cu chi tunnels (the underground tunnels used by the viet cong during the war). it was frightening. the tunnels were widened for western fatties, but still too small for comfort. i had to stoop and crawl my way through. it’s like this giant ant trail. there are tiny holes for air and holes designed to let out the smoke from cooking. the cooking holes were disguised by leaves so that they would not be discovered. the war implements they used and the traps filled with sharp sticks were very scary. just imagine, they lived down there, raised families, even performed operations…unbelievable!!!! can you believe…no lights only candles and lanterns. while down there, some idiot stopped to change film in his camera. i didn’t realize we were stopping so i ran head first into this guy’s butt. believe me we became very familiar by the end. well, nothing could be worse than those birdnest caves or the leeches. i was only covered in red clay this time. i should’ve brought my knee pads. even more interesting, there was a vietnam vet on the tour. i could tell the tunnels and all the communist propaganda was getting to him. he told me some interesting tales of his adventures. at one point, he started sobbing just remembering all the horrors. what’s even sadder, he went in at 18 and when he got back to the states, he was hated by all the anti-war kids. he told me he ended moving back to asia until 1985 when he moved to hawaii. the war was terrible for everyone!!!!! let’s hope bush doesn’t become president or we may see another war, but i don’t think america will be so lucky to come out unscathed (meaning our country will be bombed). enough of that…. tonight, i’m going to try the vietnam house one more time. tomorrow, i tour the mekong delta and then thurs. i leave for da nang. lynn, i have no cheap sex stories to share. maybe in new zealand when i’m on the sheep farm. i’ll pick up a cheap strap-on in hanoi!!!!! baaabaaaaabaaaaa well, chat with you soon. my v-mail bills at this hotel are going to be outragious b/c it takes me sooooooo long to do my two-finger peck. i’ll be accepting donations when i return…just in time for xmas too (heee heee heee). ciao, the dusty traveler