Greetings to the followers of my trip.  As a preface, I intend on basing my posts on events of the previous day so as to be as fully detailed as possible.  The right side of this page contains applicable links and an archive of all of my posts.  I will try to upload pictures as frequently as I can illustrating the oil-and-water-like interactions between we American and the Vietnamese.

Being my first substantial international trip my initial experiences were comprised solely of flight and related travel.  After a 1.5 hour flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago we boarded a 757 airplane for a littler over 15 hour flight to Hong Kong.  A greater than 15 hour flight seated in economy.  To be honest, I wouldn't want it any other way my first time.  It was indeed a trial by fire - more specifically including, recirculated "international" air, a questionable meal service, and the all important sick-asian-man-one-row-in-front-constantly-getting-sick-consequently-generating-fears-of-swine-flu to name a few of the hassles of the flight.  This excitement was partially offset however by our unexpected bump to business class for the last flight from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is indeed a blend of something new, something old, and something suspicious smelling and slightly anti-american.  Our hotel, the Victory Hotel run by the consulate here, is located on Vo Van Tan Street in District Three adjacent to the "War Remnants Museum", formerly known as the "American War Crimes Museum" which was changed when American financial involvement in Vietnam was increased.  The streets, jammed packed with motor scooters and lined with bright red communist banners, stretch for what seem like light years in all directions, encompassing infinite open markets and housing complexes.

For the sake of brevity, I will not elaborate on all of the specific intrigues I've encountered on my side of the planet in this first post, but instead space them out and supplement my lack with pictures.  We did however today visit the local University of Economics and Finance, at which we will take daily classes in the morning highlighting business concepts and a basic understanding of the complex language here.  We then visited several historical sights here including a prominent cathedral in the center of the city as well as the Reunification Museum, being the former South Vietnamese presidential home, and the American consulate, whose extremely air conditioned halls, clean hallways, and exceptionally secure compound features were a stark contrast to the surrounding area.  Tomorrow I will detail more of that which overlaps my daily adventures.

That is all for today comrades.  Despite what I may say about Ho Chi Minh City, its people, and the sarcasm that I may employ to do so, it is indeed one of the most beautiful places that I've ever visited.  The people are unquestionably friendly, the food surprisingly delicious, and the exchange rate, 1 American Dollar to about 18,000 Dong, quite nice.  So in conclusion, I wish you all the best wherever you may be and I will be back tomorrow with more.