View of Saigon from Kyla’s flat

While Matt left to go take the GMAT this morning, I met up with my friend Kyla who I’ve known since elementary school, but hadn’t really talked to since our freshman year of college (aka 6 years ago). To make a short story short: contact via facebook, found out she was in Saigon, “Hey, let’s hang out!” (Fact: I went to my first slumber party at Kyla’s house, where I also tasted my first crepe. Coming from a then no-fireworks family, I was also terrified by the sparklers her sisters and the other girls were running around with the night before.) Naturally, it was fun to catch up and hang out, but even more so by the novelty that our little reunion was taking place in Ho Chi Min City, a far cry away from little old Arcata where such reunions normally take place running into old friends and classmates at the local grocery or at the Plaza.

The last time I saw Kyla, neither of us knew what a xe om was much less could have pictured us riding one through Ho Chi Minh City. (Well, maybe Kyla knew, but I sure didn’t.) So that was fun.