day 7 - Saigon

Greetings from Steamy Saigon!

I have to admit that at the onset of this "World Tour," I was most nervous about entering the Socialist People's Republic of Vietnam, but now that I am here, I am so glad that we decided to come. Saigon is an extremely colorful city, complete with 3 million motorcylces and people everywhere. There is constantly something going on and always excitement in the air.

We dined al fresco this evening at a neat restaurant in Central Saigon called "Allez Boo", and it was wonderful to see all the people walking around, the moto traffic bustling, and the street vendors looking to make a few bucks (or dong, whatever the case may be). I regret that we don't have more time to explore this city further, but tomorrow morning we are off to relax on the beaches of Phu Quoc Island. After working crazy hours at M&P this semester, I am thrilled to have a chance to do absolutely nothing.

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On a quick side note, we took a day-tour of the Mekong River Delta today and met quite a few interesting people. Most of them were British or Australian, but all of them were either at the beginning, middle, or end of extremely long tours of Southeast Asia. Some of the Brits were curious about how Tamara and I were able to get so much time off of work, and we had to admit that we were students, and this was not the norm. The English and Australians alike get about 4 weeks paid vacation per year. Australians get paid 117% of their normal salary while on vacation.

Wow.

I have to admit, America doesn't seem to be two weeks' more productive than England or Australia, so why don't we get the extra time? Or the extra pay? What is about the cultures of these two nations that makes them value vacation time so much more than we do? Especially when you consider the extremely strong historical links between us and them. Definitely something to consider more in depth down the line, and all I can say now is that I hope someday I will have a solid 4 week's worth of 100%+ paid vacation time per year.