Best purchase ever...

I got a lot done today.

Woke up early... joined the gym and got a workout in... met up with Kathleen at Nguyen Kim - the huge electronics store where I purchased my cell phone my 2nd day in HCMC...

...and I bought myself a JUICER. Best purchase ever.  :D

I had fun playing with it tonight... I made watermelon juice (so delicious!)...

(Behold... the beautiful juicer in the background.)

One watermelon... ~$1.25 from my street lady... ~5 glasses of fresh juice.  :D 

Tomorrow: carrot-orange juice... can't wait!

(And notice my aloe candy in the background from Dalat - Yum!)

Two main reasons for buying this juicer:

1. Vietnam has the BEST fruit and veggies... and really, what's better than fresh juice??
2. Vietnam does NOT sell good orange juice... anywhere. All the OJ in stores is from concentrate and/or has sugar in it. 

Went shopping a bit in a nice mall... bought a pair of Levi's jeans (having brought only one pair of jeans with me... a 2nd pair will be nice, even with this heat). Finding this mall was another scooter outing in which I somehow miraculously came upon the street I was looking for! A turn here... a roundabout there... and donchya know... Nguyen Van Cu!

I also found a new cafe that I l-o-v-e. It is close to my place... and the atmosphere is delightful (so is the latte!). I researched online for some cafes to go to around the city and read about this one - The Hideaway - Sarah had heard of it and said it's great so she met me there too. I will definitely visit again.

I read the entire book, Three Cups of Tea. Before reading, I read up on the controversies surrounding the truthfulness of the story... parts of which still bothered me while I read. It also bothered me that Greg Mortenson wrote the book about himself, yet it was told in the 3rd person... all about how wonderful he is. (Anyway... enough of my opinions on it... it was good and bad... I read it... and now I can bring it back to the school library Monday. Done.)

THEN Riki helped me conquer the AirAsia website to buy my tickets for our October Break Adventure!!! (...Maybe THIS is really the best purchase EVER.)

Riki, Saleshni, and I are going to Borneo, Malaysia, and some island that is a 3-hour boat ride from Malaysia... YEEAAAHHH! Can't. Wait.

We will fly from HCMC to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (layover over night)... then to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (part of Borneo)... spend a few days there... fly back to Kuala Lumpur... boat out to the island for an overnight stay... then back to spend a couple of days in Malaysia!

Traveling is a big part of this experience for me. The possibilities of places to jump to from Vietnam are amazing.

I'm doing things that I've never even imagined (...wait until you see pictures from the activity I have planned tomorrow!)  :P