The Virgins are in Vietnam.  The Virgins was founded cira. 2004 and made of a group of supremely talented hockey players. Some of them decided to come over and help me celebrate my 40th birthday and they landed in Ho Chi Minh on Saturday.  Our first port of call was Bún Chả and it was a hit.  From there we wondered around the markets and tried some mangosteen and then had a rest.  I had organised massages so we indulged ourselves and topped that off with a drink at a rooftop bar.

We finished the night off with Bánh Xèo (pancakes)

Day 2 was the motorbike day.  I had created t-shirts so they were mandatory.

Front: Virgins Do Vietnam

Back: The Crew: Teeny Box (Tina), Nosweato Sisters (Wendy and Susan), Here I Am (me)

I had organised with a Xe Ôm (motorbike taxi) driver to be our driver and he brought along his son.

We kicked off at 8 am and they had their first taste of Vietnamese coffee.  Strong black coffee, with ice and condensed milk.  They were a little disappointed that the coffee was not hot, but they are now addicted to it.  We headed off for breakfast, phỏ (noodle soup).

This was Wendy and Susan’s first time of the back of a motorbike in this kind of traffic and they loved it and at the same time were a little afraid.  After breakfast we headed into town and looked around from the back of the bikes.  We then went through a tunnel and then motored to Cat Lai.  I do a lot of mountain biking around here and you need to take a ferry to get there which is fun.  We had a coffee break beside a pond of Lotus, got the feel of the countryside and then headed back to town for lunch.  On the way we stopped at the temple that Obama had visited when he was here not long ago, Phuoc Hai Temple, Emperor Jade Pagoda.  It wouldn’t be true Vietnam if you didn’t get caught in the rain, and we managed to find shelter and wait it out.

After our action packed morning we deserved a lunch and maybe a drink.  From there we went to have our nails done.  The Virgins have to look the part.

We had cocktails and had a few laughs. We were ‘told off’ repeatedly for moving our hands, it is very hard to laugh and stay still at the same time.  So as you can see it was a hard day, so the only way to finish it off is to have a few quiets.  We headed to District 2 to a Western Bar and finally we were getting reactions from our t-shirts.  “Virgins do Vietnam”.  The Vietnamese just don’t get it.