Vietnam. The long weekend

Today, was a long weekend for us in Vietnam. Friday 30th April Reunification Day and 1st May was International Workers' Day.
But I’m not really here it give you a history lesson, because I’m sure you can find that out on wikipedia or other travel blog sites. In fact, who really cares about what happened years ago, only the fact that we now have a long weekend – Whoo hoo! I know I sound ignorant and I do recognise that it was a very significant 2 days for Vietnam but seriously, does anyone in this generation care why we have public holidays? Sadly No. I mean for all you Australians, do you really care about why we celebrate the Queen’s Birthday? Nope. You’re just glad that you’ve got a day off and that we should also celebrate Prince Charles, Williams and the harry-pot-head’s birthday; the more the merrier! Just admit it.

So let me run down what the 2 public holidays meant to me:
- Less traffic mayhem
- Shopping
- Eating
- The ultimate hair treatment
- Catching up on work

Saigon is the place to be when there's a long weekend because all the Vietnamese usually go to the provinces to visit their families. The streets are empty and many local shops are closed because most of them are in the province. That's when I come out. This weekend, I went to all the markets, shopping centres and did a lottt.... of eating.


So the highlight of my weekend may sound a little sad to you, however for shoe-lovers it's fantastic. So the highlight is... wait for it...
"I bought 3 pairs of shoes, 1 Miss Sixty short shorts, 1 pair of chloe sunglasses - All for the price of 1,440,000 VND"



Yeh, that's right boys and girls, all for about AU$80. I would like thank Saigon Square 2 (the market) for making this happen, the taxi drivers for taking me there and back, and my loving boyfriend who encouraged me to buy those items.

I'm sure I got ripped off... but what the hell... 80 bucks is a bargain for me.

Okay, so you may think that's not really exciting, but when you think about it, 80 bucks can barely buy you a pair of shoes back at home. And my shoes are so so... ruined by all the rubble and uneven concreted pathways, so I was in desperate need for new work shoes - I totally deserve them! It's a rare for me to find good quality items here and I'm pretty sure those brand items aren't real, but hey, must I say "80 bucks" again??

Good weekend? Yes. Sad highlight? Maybe - It really depends who you are.