Mike came for a visit!

Mike is a friend-of-a-friend from Denver, who has been living in Bali for a few years... remember when I spent the day with him during my Bali trip last July?

He is thinking of moving to another city in SE Asia and came through Ho Chi Minh City along the way. I think he liked HCMC a lot... but was here about two months ago and now is still in Taiwan, loving it!

Mike and I were able to meet up a couple times during his stay in HCMC... and probably my favorite thing with him was a random boat ride that we ended up on. After a lovely Sunday afternoon snack at L'Usine, we drove over to the river... where the hydrofoils take off for Vung Tao. A guy asked if we wanted to go on a boat ride for one-hour... just 100,000d each (about $5.00)... and we said 'Sure'.

We found ourselves on a little motor boat with two other people (a couple from Spain)... but the original guy left and we found ourselves with this 12-year old driver... haha...

We were driven across the main stretch of the river and ended up in swampy water over in District 2. There were some house boats... and even some dogs-on-boats!...

Boat doggies...

Me with Mike...