Cholon

On Thursday, after teaching, Thu took us to Cholon district. Specifically, we went to Cholon Market, also called Binh Tay Market in the Lonely Planet book. It was an even huger maze of textiles, mostly wholesalers. That meant that if you liked something, you had to buy at least 10 of them. There weren't many things I needed 10 of, but I took some exceptional pictures of the food stalls, fabric stalls, and accessory stalls. The aisles were so crowded between stalls that if 2 people were going in opposite directions, one person had to crowd into any available open crevice to get through. A few times, there was no crevice available. We just turned around and went the other way in those instances....no need to see repeats of textiles and fight to get there.

We stopped at a coffee shop while we were there, and the woman spoke amazing English. She was also incredible sweet. Thu asked her about a pagoda, and they really wanted us to take a taxi (so hot! so far! such bad traffic to cross!--all true, but you can't browse and wander from a taxi!!!) We walked, and browsed, and looked, and I'm so glad we did. I found my silk lantern for my office, one goal of mine when I came here! OK, the traffic was a bit much, especially when the sidewalk AND the street closest to it were both taken up by scooters, carts, etc., but definitely worth the trouble.

The pagoda was great, too. Nice and peaceful, great incense smell throughout.

After that, Anthony was finally ready to eat for the first time that day, so we walked to the KFC that we had seen on the taxi ride into the district. Myson has his dad's sense of direction, thank god. (I can get lost in a paper bag!! Really. I once got so lost on I-5 that I was heading to Greenlake but ended up in Everett. Not entirely my fault, btw.) Anyway, he ate his day's worth of calories at that point, so I think he'll be OK.

Our stomachs are acclimating to the food and the weather. We are only drinking bottled water, as per instructed, but everything seems to be served with ice, and we may have to give that up. I don't know. We'll see what happens over the next week. I don't think I brought enough Pepto Bismol, though. We have some prescription meds if things get bad, but right now, it's just an adjustment period, I think.

OK, I have to figure out how to get these pictures onto this laptop before our next outing: Cu Chi tunnels!!