saigon - the debby downer of vietnam

we just arrived here, so i shouldn't be so quick to judge, but this city blows so far. we got to our hotel after and hour drive through the world's worst traffic only to find the staff didn't speak english and the hotel a dive. i'm fine with people here not knowing english and i don't expect them to know it for me - it's just there are places that do have staff that can speak it very well and it is a necessity here. so after about 1/2 hour of looking on the web, we found a different place right in the middle of the backpacker part of town. it's still dingy, but at least there are other westerners around - the last place had none.

we'll update later tonight or tomorrow with a more detailed post, but we just wanted to let everyone know we can no longer get on facebook. it's blocked here, and we have been using a "lite" version up until now. bob just read facebook shut it down about 10 hours ago, so we are S.O.L.

chat at you soon.

sep

UPDATE! - we just figured out we can access facebook via our iphones, so disregard the above notice. also, after a meal and chat with the hotel staff about day trips out of saigon, i'm feeling a bit better about the area. i think i was just spoiled with the spectacular atmosphere of Hoi An and the great hotels we have been fortunate to have so far. then again, that first place here really was a shit hole, even for international / budget accommodation...