First of all, before I get on with all the Saigon info, I'd just like to say that before I left Cebu, I got my hair cut ... for about 110 pesos ($2.20)... by a flaming homosexual named Mr. Bunny ... and it was the best haircut I've ever had.

Ok so anyway, we are still in Saigon and aside from the computer work I've had to do I've been out and about exploring. My responsibilities with the network have grown to producer as well, so I have a bit more on my plate than I had anticipated, but hey I work best that way.

The first day we got here, Eddy and I went out to grab dinner at a Vietnamese place. The food was pretty good, but the more notable experience was getting there. From the port, we were greeted by gads and gads of Vietnamese motorcycle drivers, wanting to take us around. I looked over at Eddy with a "hey, let's go" smile to see his wide-eyed "I've never done this before, are you crazy?" grimace in return.

Obviously we ended up on the bikes and I could hear his charming Romanian accent scream, "I weel keel you!" from about 20 meters behind me. It was raining decently hard and we only had one umbrella (no slickers either), so I let my Romanian friend have it. When we got to the restaurant, I was drenched, but it was worth every minute.

Yesterday I headed out to do my location scouting with part of the team and was again greeted by the motorcycle flock. This time we wanted to get lost on foot, but our friends really didn't understand that. Three of them followed us for close to 40 blocks, picking up new friends every time I stopped to pull out my map (Yes, I put together a location package of where to shoot, eat, hang out, visit, etc. I often question myself if I'm more of a travel agent or more of a producer - but no matter, I like that job too). Finally, when confronting one of these guys for the last time, Cholo had to pull me back as I was getting more and more angry with my requests of "Please Stop! We would like to walk!".

Now for my highlight of the day: We enter a currency exchange, my two Filipino friends pull out US dollars and I pull out Philippine pesos.

"Guys, where did you get that?"
"Oh, we brought it from home."

I haven't had USD for 3 months. What the hell. The Vietnamese teller looked rather confused as well.

However, the woman shown above was definitely not confused. She lured me into her trap of freshly made Vietnamese waffles pretty easily. All it took was the aroma and a smile. These food vendors can usually see it in my eyes if I'm going to buy and she was no exception. Besides, she was really sweet so who cares if I spent 30,000 VND - same as I spent for some handmade porcelain bracelets (about $2.00) - for a bag of these freshly made delights. Though I couldn't understand the Vietnamese name for them, I did make out that they are made of coconut milk and rice flour. Also, I was very happy to find out that they get better as they get older - a much better crunch.