Russell Stadler

I visited a cousin who was living in HCMC over the lunar new year holiday in 2007.

It was a little different as a lot of stuff was closed and it was generally less crowded feeling as a result of the holiday, but still quite a lot of fun.

I absolutely love vietnamese cuisine and if nothing else I want to go back to eat more of it.

Also, you kind of have to rent a scooter, both out of necessity and because it’s really fun as a way to get around.

The first and so far only time I’ve been to inner mongolia was for a bike race through the grasslands, supposedly somehow related to where Genghis Khan and his horde had passed through way back when in history.

Biking around for those three days was absolutely beautiful and I still can’t think of a more fitting place to go for a weekend to get away from the craziness in Beijing (where I lived at the time).

I hear that it’s better to go late spring / early Summer because that’s when the grass is greenest.

Though I’ve lived here for my college experience, I feel like I’ve barely done anything at all to take advantage of the city. I also think it would have been a lot more fun if I lived further north or had a car, because I am not a fan of Hyde Park.

I’m here as a student now, and certainly it’s been an… academically rigorous experience.