Off with her hair!

Hello and greetings from the busy Ho Chi Ming City! I have a quick report in that I have crossed something off my list:

I CUT OFF MY HAIR!

I figure as it is almost as hot as hades here, that this was the time and the place to take the leap, or should I say cut. Can you believe that I got a cut, colour, shampoo, blowdry and massage and got my mum a pedicure and manicure for just over $40- I LOVE THIS PLACE! Most off all I am finally coming to understand why I came to this place- to understand fully the privledged life we leave in Australia.

Here is a quick comparsion: As a supervisor at BHH I could make up to $800-$1000 for a 38 hour week, depending on loadings and public holidays. Last night we meet Tai, manager of the Go2BBQ here in Saigon. He works everyday but Wednesday, but currently works everyday as his staff are new. He can make a MAXIMUM of 4, 000, 000 VND per month (Which is about $200 AUS). About 1, 500, 000 goes to his Mother in Denang as she has debts and has 8 children in total. His share accomodation is 500, 000 per month (and god knows how many people he shares with). The last 2,000,000 VND (approx 500,000 VND per week) is all he has left. His ambition is to become a tour guide- which you have to UNIVERSITY for! So he works hard for his tips as you can imagine. This is the story of someone that is somewhat well off here in saigon. Imagine what it is like for the street peddlers and other vietnamese people that break their back for a meagre wage. I came to realise, that no matter what you do here at home, whether it is "f***king scraping dishes" as chef so eloquently puts it, we truley have it good in Australia