Monday 28 March 2011

The Countdown.

OK. First blog post is going up now. And you're reading it, or nobody's reading it. Either way I'm writing it.

So now that the status quo has been established all that remains is for you to sit in your chair and read. Standing will be accepted, but no lying down will be tolerated whatsoever. I'm not here to put you to sleep. Unless you're part of my family, which is pretty likely because you're the only people I'm telling about my blog. Well, you and my countless followers on twitter.

But I digress from the real reason for having a blog, apart from stroking my own ego in a public forum. The real reason for writing this blog is to tell you of my upcoming 3 month trip to Vietnam. To be more precise that reason only applies to this specific post. The rest of my blog will be dedicated to keeping you informed about my travels in Vietnam and annoying you with immense amounts of absurdity.

I gave this post the title 'The Countdown.' This was simply for dramatic effect. The countdown to my trip is pretty much over. On Wednesday, 30 March 2011 I will board a plane and make my way to Ho Chi Minh City in the south of Vietnam. I will be calling Ho Chi Minh City 'HCMC' for the duration of my blogging because, let's face it, HCMC is faster to type than Ho Chi Minh City. But, once more, I digress.

So I'm leaving on Wednesday and arriving on Thursday. That is about the full extent of the plan I have for the entire trip apart from a rough budget which I drew up in my mind about 5 minutes before I fell asleep on a bus from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town.

Okay, I lied. I have a slightly better plan than that. I intend to make my way from the south to the north over the space of the 3 months I'm there. I want to go from HCMC to Halong Bay and then back to HCMC. Stopping in as many places along the way as possible. I've heard there are some pretty mad caves in Vietnam so maybe I can even stop off in one of those too.

Today, I spent most of my time preparing for my journey by watching as many episodes of Psych in a day as humanly possible. This is vital because, as any traveler will tell you, finding and watching your favourite TV series in a foreign country can be very challenging, it's best that you do all the watching before you leave. I also collected a suit to wear tonight as I will be attending an academic awards dinner at my old school.

Speaking of dinners; it's about time I signed off. I need a snack.

Don't let your dong get soggy.
Oliver

P.S. It occurred to me as I was about to press the 'Publish Post' button that if you're not familiar with Vietnam currency you may consider my sign-off phrase to be offensive. Vietnam Dong is the currency in Vietnam and it rains a lot in Vietnam, so I was merely saying 'keep your money dry' in as controversial a way as possible.

P.P.S On the off chance that you are not a member of my immediate family or a close friend, I have no idea what compelled you to read my blog. But thank you nonetheless for enduring right up until this post-post-script. You must be out of your cotton-picking mind. Adieu.