Good morning to all of you. It is 1:48 am your time; it is 3:45 pm my time. I have had my butt parked by the (absolutely pristine, cleanest in Vietnam) pool since about 8am, except for the times I decided to walk along the beach for a bit to check out the wind and the waves. I am a shade of reddish brown that I have not been since I was a kid. (OK, there are parts that are bright red and will need some ibuprofin later. Like in 5 minutes. Washed down with another beer.) We are about out of sunscreen. All I have done pretty much all day is read a book (like, literally, from start to finish), eat a bit, drink a few (4 total) beers (OK, decided I was on vacation for the day and started that about 10 am), and, like I said, hang out by the pool. I just walked past several other people who have spent the entire day like-minded, so I made the comment, "A bunch of sunburned white people." We are all blissful.
Anthony and I arrived here between 10:30 and 10:45 last night, after a bus ride that left HCMC at 4:30. Long, but not too shabby. I highly recommend that Phuong Trang bus line! The bus was clean and comfortable (but bring a sweatshirt for the overzealous AC), they stopped twice, once to eat at a clean, reasonably priced restaurant (because there would be nothing open in Phan Tiet/Mui Ne when we all arrived) and they drove like bats out of hell. OK, that was scary, but only because I was in the front seat and could see the oncoming traffic and road conditions.
When we got in, it was pitch dark, but I could hear the sea when we went into our 'bungalo' room, so I wondered how far we were. (The rooms are individual buildings, which is great, as it cuts noise out so much better than a shared wall.) I could just barely hear the roar of the waves all night, too, as long as the AC was off. In the morning, I walked out of my room and almost cried: We are the second door on the right from the SEA! We are also directly across from the pool (this set of rooms lines the walkway to the beach and surround the pool).
I took a walk down the beach, which was filthy, unfortunately. Absolutely everything was washed up on it, including dirty diapers and mounds of twisted clothing and kinds of fabric. However, the fishing and crabbing going on was fascinating. I have pictures for another blog. After seeing their fight against the waves and their catch, I told Anthony was 'pool only' swimming. The jellyfish they had in their nets were two basketballs big! Yikes! Now I know why Blue Coral Dives said that those other ones last week were 'just little ones.' They weren't kidding!
have a great day, and I will talk to you later!
Map of Vietnam
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
BLUE CORAL DIVING
The second 'lagoo
n' where we snorkeled, nearly alone!
BLUE CORAL TOURS
This was THE absolute HIGHLIGHT of the trip. I had been looking forward to snorkeling here, and I was not disappointed. In fact, it was even better than I had imagined. Anthony snorkeled for the first time here, but unfortunately, we didn’t bring his contacts and he (obviously) couldn’t wear his glasses, so he didn’t see much detail. It was a good mechanical practice for Hawaii, though.
They picked us up at the hotel at about 8:20 and it took a whole 5 minutes to drive to the loading dock. The boat was a large wooden flat bottom with slatted wooden benches under the cover. We sat with them up as seats for the rides to each site and to lunch, but coming back from lunch, we made them into big long lounge chairs by putting the backs of one to the front of the one behind it.
There were 8 people on the boat plus the staff. I need to make a plug here for the staff, too, because they were wonderful: professional, kind, helpful—regular boyscouts and girlscouts. There were 2 Australians and 2 Vietnamese. The Australian girl was there working for the dry season. She’s a divemaster. Her mother lives in Hoi An, but was in the US for the summer trying to find sponsors for her organization, www.childrenseducationfoundation.org.au. This organization helps educate young women and girls in the highland areas of VN, mostly around Sapa and Dalat, where the culture does not yet value education for girls, seeing as their job in life is to stay home, raise babies, cook, and clean the house. Talk about an organization after my own heart!!!
As for us snorkelers and divers, there was a family (the husband was German and the wife was Vietnamese), an Australian couple, Anthony and me, and a crazy (and I do mean crazy) economics teacher from Belgium. He wore his Belgian flag around on the back of his backpack. (At one point in time, I joked that he did this so that no one would mistake him for an American. ) At first, I thought that the 3—he and the 2 Australians—were together because he was talking at them a mile a minute. After a while, though, I figured out that he had just adopted them as listeners, because I picked up on some crazy statement (he made so many, I couldn’t keep track of them all) and asked her, “WHERE did you pick HIM up?” She laughed and said, “We didn’t!” We started talking, and when it came up that I was a teacher, he-Carl, I believe—chimed in “Oh! I’m a teacher, too!” I don’t know why, but we found that hysterical, and while we were laughing I said, “THAT’S why you talk so much! We talk for a LIVING!!!” Turns out he can talk like that in four languages. God help the world. Hee hee.
The snorkeling was wonderful. The first site was interesting—until the jellyfish came out. It wasn’t so interesting for this Pacific NW girl after that. The Australians and Vietnamese felt that they were tiny and no big deal. “Oh, they just come up and prick you a bit and then it’s over and they swim away.” Anthony got a good one on his upper arm, and he’d had enough of that site.
The second site was phenomenal. Some of the rocks and coral were so close to the surface that I had to be extremely careful as I swam over the top of it. I didn’t want to touch any of it with my fins. It was amazing to look at. There were so many colors, and some of it waved in the current so gently, like long trees in a mild breeze. There were some absolutely amazing shapes down at the bottom, too, of huge platter shaped coral with fingers coming out of it. The fish were beautiful, too, and I saw several that are also in Hawaii. I even saw a bunch of blue starfish! Better yet, we were the only boat there, so there were a whole 6 of us in the whole lagoon. It was incredible. The staff taught Anthony how to dive off the top of the boat here while I was away with my head under water. They had a ball.
After the 2 snorkeling sites, we puttered on over to the main Cham Island, where we had lunch. There was a fish baked in tinfoil, some calamari, (my favorite) some sautéed garlic spinach, (another one of my favorites) and several other dishes. The group went on and on about how fabulous it was. We thought it was very good, but we have to say that our old stand-by, Trinh-Trinh in GoVap district is still the best, right after the places that Ms. Ouahn takes us to eat! We even talked about her over lunch, because let me tell you, she knows the BEST places.
After lunch, Anthony went swimming and I took a little walk down the beach to quiz the huge group of kids at the end of it. It turns out that they were high school kids doing their one semester of military training, which included this day of beach training. One of the boys told me, “It’s the worst day of my life” and held up his shredded flip-flops. When I asked him what happened, he said he didn’t know; they just disintegrated. I offered him my girly-girl shiny gold ones, but he passed. Anyway, they had been sitting on the beach in a big square when we arrived, and we had watched some in-water maneuvering during lunch, so I asked them what they were doing. They had to swim from the beach to the boat in the water, then swim back to shore with their food (lunch). If they dropped it, they didn’t get lunch, I think. Then they had to cook their lunch (ramen) on the beach, which is what they were doing now. The one kid said, “I’m exhausted!” They were so cute.
Later, that same boat came and basically ran into the back of ours parked at the dock. I went to the back of the boat and watched as 5 kids came crawling and jumping from that boat onto ours, then ran to the front of our boat--as it was pulling away from the dock--then jumped one by one onto the dock. The last one in the line called out, in perfect English, “Sorry for the interruption!” and we all burst out laughing. It was perfect.
This was one of the best days ever! Whether you can swim or not, go snorkeling with Blue Coral Dives if you come here!!!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Purse From Nana
Just before leaving Washington, I decided to change purses. I had originally planned to use my pink back pack purse, but decided against it because I didn't want to have to wear it on my front through HCMC and the like. I am so glad I changed! Nana gave me this bag a few years ago, and I've used it from time to time, but decided it would be perfect for Vietnam. It has been! I'm telling you, EVERYTHING fits in this bag. I have about 10 zip locks with various items, and I can always find everything. When I buy something, I can put it in the bag, too. The best part is that it ZIPS and it slings over my head and across my body, so there is no way anyone is grabbing it as they zoom past on a scooter or opening it as I stand on a bus. Plus, I've even had several compliments on it here! Way to go, Nana. By the way, I'm going to need a new one when I get home--this one is getting worn out from so much use!!
My Son
This is actually pronounced 'mee son' and it has caused a lot of confusion because I am traveling with my son! The ruins were built by the Champa between 4 ad and 10 ad. A French couple and I had a pretty good time taking pictures with the headless Buddha; hopefully this is not too irreverent. If it had been inside a temple, I would never have dared, but it was outside....
My Son
Well, the day started really, really early. I was supposed to be picked up at 5:00 am, which is early enough, but while I was drying off at FOUR FIFTY, the room phone rang. They were there. Jesus H Christ. Anthony answered, I rushed. I didn’t even buckle my shoes. It turned out that I could have slowed down a bit; there was another guy from our hotel, and he wasn’t down for another 5 minutes.
Our bus stopped in front of another travel agency where we met up with some fellow travelers and we all had breakfast, but at that hour, few of us were in any condition to eat. I got a cup of VN coffee and a baguette, plain, and it lasted almost the whole hour until we got to the site.
The site was nice. Mostly, it was a chance to see the jungle in safety. Early in the morning, before the heat set in. Without a million other tourists running through the ruins. The ruins themselves were interesting enough, but I think the key to the whole trip was seeing them at that time of day. We were there by 6:19 am. The sun was still coming up behind the mountains, and the jungle life was still making cool noises (in other words, the bugs were still out).
The travel guide gave good information throughout the sites, but I had studied my Lonely Planet and the internet extensively, so she didn’t add much to what I already knew. You can Google “Cham” if you are interested in the history. I had a tendency to wander off and get photos where no one else was around. I even set up the auto function to take a couple of myself in them. A French couple also had a tendency to wander, and our paths crossed often. She had a GREAT eye, which I told her twice, as she always found the ‘treasures’ tucked into the sculptures.
As she talked, she frequently stated, “This was broken by the American bombs” at each and EVERY building and various statues. Finally, it was so ridiculous that it got to be a bit of a joke, and a guy from Holland kind of laughed, rolled his eyes, looked at me, and said, “Seems to be a running theme.” His wife and I laughed, too. My comment was no less PC, as I said, “Well, the VC used the place as a command headquarters. If they didn’t want it BOMBED, maybe they shouldn’t have used it as a COMMAND post.” (Like, maybe a hospital might have been a better choice?) Even the guy from Ireland LOL’d at that one. Not that war is funny. It's just that her beating the dead horse got a bit old for all of us.
It was a nice trip, and I’m glad I took the time to go see them, but if you decide to follow in my footsteps, FIND THE 5:00 AM TOUR. We passed no less than 3 busses as we traveled down the road leading away from the ruins, and they were packed. I doubt those people got any pictures without at least an arm or a head of a stranger in them.
Hoi An Overview
Hoi An
The photos are of the Hoi An riverfront area and the Reaching Out disabled artisans workshop.
We left HCMC on Thursday and flew to DaNang, where the hotel picked us up (for $15) and took us to Hoi An. Our hotel, the Greenfield, is just that: a huge bright green structure! We can’t miss it, so we’ll never get lost. It turns out that it is actually in the best location. We are walking distance to town, yet close enough to the beach as well. (We tried to walk yesterday, but ended up grabbing a taxi in this god-awful heat.) We wanted a hotel on the beach, but the one we could afford was booked, so this one, at $23/night for the two of us, including breakfast in the morning and a free rum punch at ‘happy hour,’ is actually a better deal. The staff has bent over backwards for us as well. They had to change out our fridge on the first night because it wasn’t working, but they were up and getting it taken care of immediately, and you know me and my towels, which they hand over happily. They put us on the top floor at the farthest end of the hall, where no one but the hotel staff would probably walk, as the staff staircase is at this end; the main one is at the other end. I am so grateful, for there are lots and lots of ‘young-ens’ staying in the 5$-a-night sleeping dorm, and I don’t need the noise. We decided, after the first night, to have our dinner here as well, and so they move the big portable cooling fan (part AC, part fan) to our table when we eat. We watch the ‘young-ens’ run back and forth to the pool bar to refill their happy hour free rum punches; mine gets filled automatically at my table. You won’t believe it, but I have them stop at 2, thank you.
As soon as we arrived, I went to Anet’s travel agent and booked our snorkeling tour, my My Son tour, and our taxi ride back to the airport.
On Friday, we went on a boat ride/snorkeling adventure out to the islands near Hoi An and had lunch on Cham Island. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was booked with Blue Coral Dives, and they are absolutely fabulous. We saw other boats and diving trips; our boat looked the cleanest and most comfortable. MUCH more on that in another blog!
On Saturday, I got up and caught the 5:00 am tour bus to My Son (pronounced mee-son). It was great because we got there so early, with no other tours or people, so my pictures don’t have a bunch of tourists in them. More about that in a separate blog as well. Oh, but about the pronunciation of My Son, I do have a story. As you know, I brought my son to VN. Well, in this town, when I am looking for my son, they all think I want to book a tour to My Son and I just don’t know how to pronounce it!
When I got back from the My Son tour, I managed to just get into the free breakfast with 2 minutes to spare. I put food on my plate and then they cleared the buffet table. When I got back up to the room, Anthony was happily on the computer. He’d gotten up at 8:30 and was happy as a clam.
We walked into the town and did a little sight seeing then. There is a shop called Reaching Out that I wanted to find. It was started by a man who is in a wheelchair from a botched operation when he was 16. Until recently, the disabled were considered unable and he set about to change that. He opened an artisan shop where they make various things: jewelry, linens, pottery, etc. The workshop is in the back of the store, where they are working away. We got to watch them work, and then browsed the store. All profits go back into the store and its people, which is so cool. You can order things from their website, www.ReachingOutVietnam.com as well. Their silks are 70% silk, 30% cotton (or maybe 80/20) and they are absolutely beautiful. The silks are only $7 USD per meter. They buy the woven cloth from another company with a similar philosophy and make linens and other items with it.
We walked along the river and also through the obligatory market, where Anthony bought 2 more lighters and I got Nick 5 t-shirts. That excursion, plus coffee, took us about 2 hours. We still had time for the beach!
I will say that the beach is beautiful, but it’s not as much fun when you are wondering where your 14 year old son went. He doesn’t get to ‘take a walk’ again. I kept looking and looking for him, and he came up from the other direction. It seems he had lost our beach chairs and grass umbrella. Well, they do all look the same. We rented the beach chairs because they had the only cover on the beach, and we were still a little red from snorkeling the day before. We tried to slather ourselves with sunscreen before we left the hotel, but we probably sweated most of it off on the way to the beach, and the rest washed off in the waves coming in. The waves at Cua Dai were a lot of fun, though. I could swim out (way past all the stand-ers) to the warning flag and then ride them back in. I had to watch out and never go past the warning flag, however, because the crazy jet-skiers were out there. I don’t think they paid attention to anything.
Today is our last day, but we are not catching our plane until 8:00 pm. I wanted a full day here to do whatever else we wanted. Mostly, though, with Anthony’s sunburned face, that will be mostly indoor activities. We’ll check out at noon and head across the street so mom can get a cheap massage at one of the spas and Anthony can read his book or play on the PSP. I can’t pass this up. The most expensive treatment in the whole brochure is still $45 for 120 minutes. Where in Washington am I going to find a deal like that??? I can’t find it in HCMC either.
Update: waiting for the plane now.
We were scurried out of our room at 11:00, so we walked across the street to the 'spa' where I had a 1 hour massage ($10) a shampoo (which includes a scalp massage) $4, and a haircut ($5) all of which I needed. My hair looks pretty good, and I really needed this cut and was wondering when i would find time to fit it in.
After that, we went to the hotel restaurant for one last meal, where I typed more blogs in Word and Anthony played on the PSP. Then we took one last walk into town, found a new market, bought some chopsticks, and headed back to catch our taxi.
Business class rocks, by the way. I'm so jealous of business travelers now.
Catch you up later this week!!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Ouch!
Ouch!
Well, we decided to go to this restaurant for lunch instead of the usual schedule of me eating lunch at the school and going back to the hotel while Anthony plays on the internet for 4 hours. We saw the restaurant on one of our expeditions and recognized it as the one that Mr. Son and Ms. Ouahn took us to during our first couple of days in town.
Lunch was excellent. We ordered 5 different entrees off the menu and shared them. I even had two beers with lunch. We had a cubed beef in a light smoky sauce, French fries, pork short ribs cut into 1-inch bites with bone intact, a seafood ‘spaghetti’ and, of course, spring rolls. All that food, plus the drinks, came to less than $20, served at a lovely restaurant. We noticed that the prices on our bill were 5-10,000 more than the prices listed in the menu, and I don’t have the Vietnamese to ask why, but I will just assume that it was the ‘share the plate’ price as opposed to the individual serving price. Whatever. Like I said, the total cost was less than $20, and this was upscale.
On our walk home, I decided to go up a curb onto a sidewalk that I never use. I really know better than to use it. It has a slanting curb, and that slanting curb is covered in green algae from regular flooding. Today, however, I was just concentrating on avoiding the puddles and getting home before the daily deluge, which was brewing noisily, and I didn’t think about the algae. Well, sure enough, coming off the curb I stepped onto a nice, slippery sheet of algae and slid—wham!—onto my butt, catching myself with the base of my left hand, of course. I was fine but when I looked at my hand, that huge vein that runs up my wrist was ENGORGED and throbbing. Crap. Did I bust it open? Did I fracture something into it? Can I still go to Hoi An tomorrow???
We got to the hotel and I immediately, after washing my hands (scrubbing, more like) and getting off my gooey pants, started ‘icing’ it. OK, THAT was a spectacle. Picture me crouched in front of the mini-fridge with a coffee cup (put in there this morning so that I could have cold coffee this afternoon) held up against my hand and wrist. When that cold wore off, I started running my hand and wrist across the frost that has accrued throughout the freezer. Then, I wet down a washrag, but I had to put it in a plastic bag so that it wouldn’t stick to said frost. Somehow, I managed to have cold on it for 15 minutes, with the thunder rumbling outside all the while, threatening our next outing to the internet café.
As I was fixing my wrist as best I could, I mentioned that if the rain started, that was it, we weren’t going out-- we were skipping the café; I had been caught in that nonsense the last 3 days running. I said that I was moving as fast as I could, but if I had to choose between my hand and the internet café…my loving son broke in, “You should choose the café. You have TWO hands.” Smartass. OK, he got a laugh off that one.
We are now at the café, and, after a short power outage, everything is fine, so I will be able to upload this AND keep my hand, which I have typed this entire entry with. It’s gonna be a hell of a bruise, though. I take a picture of it tonight.
Well, we decided to go to this restaurant for lunch instead of the usual schedule of me eating lunch at the school and going back to the hotel while Anthony plays on the internet for 4 hours. We saw the restaurant on one of our expeditions and recognized it as the one that Mr. Son and Ms. Ouahn took us to during our first couple of days in town.
Lunch was excellent. We ordered 5 different entrees off the menu and shared them. I even had two beers with lunch. We had a cubed beef in a light smoky sauce, French fries, pork short ribs cut into 1-inch bites with bone intact, a seafood ‘spaghetti’ and, of course, spring rolls. All that food, plus the drinks, came to less than $20, served at a lovely restaurant. We noticed that the prices on our bill were 5-10,000 more than the prices listed in the menu, and I don’t have the Vietnamese to ask why, but I will just assume that it was the ‘share the plate’ price as opposed to the individual serving price. Whatever. Like I said, the total cost was less than $20, and this was upscale.
On our walk home, I decided to go up a curb onto a sidewalk that I never use. I really know better than to use it. It has a slanting curb, and that slanting curb is covered in green algae from regular flooding. Today, however, I was just concentrating on avoiding the puddles and getting home before the daily deluge, which was brewing noisily, and I didn’t think about the algae. Well, sure enough, coming off the curb I stepped onto a nice, slippery sheet of algae and slid—wham!—onto my butt, catching myself with the base of my left hand, of course. I was fine but when I looked at my hand, that huge vein that runs up my wrist was ENGORGED and throbbing. Crap. Did I bust it open? Did I fracture something into it? Can I still go to Hoi An tomorrow???
We got to the hotel and I immediately, after washing my hands (scrubbing, more like) and getting off my gooey pants, started ‘icing’ it. OK, THAT was a spectacle. Picture me crouched in front of the mini-fridge with a coffee cup (put in there this morning so that I could have cold coffee this afternoon) held up against my hand and wrist. When that cold wore off, I started running my hand and wrist across the frost that has accrued throughout the freezer. Then, I wet down a washrag, but I had to put it in a plastic bag so that it wouldn’t stick to said frost. Somehow, I managed to have cold on it for 15 minutes, with the thunder rumbling outside all the while, threatening our next outing to the internet café.
As I was fixing my wrist as best I could, I mentioned that if the rain started, that was it, we weren’t going out-- we were skipping the café; I had been caught in that nonsense the last 3 days running. I said that I was moving as fast as I could, but if I had to choose between my hand and the internet café…my loving son broke in, “You should choose the café. You have TWO hands.” Smartass. OK, he got a laugh off that one.
We are now at the café, and, after a short power outage, everything is fine, so I will be able to upload this AND keep my hand, which I have typed this entire entry with. It’s gonna be a hell of a bruise, though. I take a picture of it tonight.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
People
I think I will begin with the fact that I am meeting interesting, wonderful people and forming wonderful, loving relationships, language barrier or not, not the least of which with my son. (ok grammar people, dissect THAT one—I’m not even going to try)
Hung Bui’s mother, ‘Kim Loan’ (that’s what I call her because it’s what is on her business card) is another amazing person that I have been able to get to know. I already told you much about her: she lived with her mother in a pagoda for years until she was 16, she is a devout Buddhist, although which branch of Buddhism it is I haven’t clarified yet—there are so many!!!! And they are ALL here in HCMC!! And I thought that Christianity had a lot of factions. We’ve been to their home twice, and it is so lovely. We’ve also visited her car dealership. I’m quite impressed with her! Today, we are going to VungTau with them for the day. They’re picking us up at 10:00, so we’ll get there about noon, spend a few hours, and then come back to HCMC. I just want to swim in the ocean for a couple of hours. I miss the beach!
On Tuesday, the 6th, we went to see the water puppet theater. The puppeteers run these puppets around a pond, and they do flips and jumps and spit fireworks and smoke and everything. It’s very LOUD, but a good show. Anyway, before the theater, we were taking our prerequisite photos, and a Japanese man offered, in impeccable English, to take the picture for us. We ended up chatting for a good 20 minutes while waiting for the show. His name is “Ju Chi” and he works for the Japanese government’s Ministry of Tourism. He’s been in that field for 25 years. He brought his 2 lecturers and is staying at the Majestic for a 3-day symposium on the treatment, expectations, and issues of Japanese tourists. Apparently, 400,000 Japanese visit Vietnam every year. I wanted to see one of the lectures, some of which were in Japanese and some of which were in English. I think I could have learned a lot. My schedule didn’t allow it, though. Still, if I ever get to Tokyo, I’m looking Ju Chi San up! Watch, I probably just met the Minister of Tourism and didn’t know it. Ha ha.
The hotel is run by two people, a man who looks like he’s in his 40’s and a woman who looks much younger (and hotter), like in her late 20’s. Neither one of them speaks any English. They are one of the reasons I am learning how to say things like, “soap, towel, clean it please,” and “toilet paper.” Oh, yes, and we learned the word for ‘hanger’ on weeks 1 and 2. Well, we came home from a big day last week, and she had cut up fruit to sit and share with us in the lobby!!!! I was so surprised. It was the loveliest gesture! Of course, we couldn’t have any semblance of a conversation, but it was incredibly sweet, nonetheless. They are the reason that my ‘good bye/hello’ and my ‘thank you’ sound authentic, and now they are saying ‘good morning’ in perfect English! Yesterday, when we got home, she had put in a coat rack for us to hang our ‘only-worn-once-for-work’ clothes (you know what I mean—the clothes that I don’t want back in my closet but are clean enough to wear again) and our towels on. She had noticed that our towels were always spread out over the backs of the folding chairs to dry, and our worn once clothes were hung all over the place. It was very thoughtful of her. Nguyen Thu also asked her to loan us 2 plates and 2 spoons, so now we have the beginnings of a kitchen. (ha ha right)
Nguyen’s cousin, Nguyen Thu, has been a god-send, too. Whatever I need, she finds. She found earplugs that first week. Yesterday, she bought me the hot pot, 2 coffee cups, and knife I wanted to find (and she found them cheap—the whole ball of wax, plus a box of instant coffee, for 120,000 vnd—about $7). She took us to buy plane tickets yesterday to DaNang (where we will go to Cua Dai beach). About those tickets—she’s so cute. They wanted us to come home at 2:00pm on that Sunday, which didn’t give us a whole day in Hoi An. I asked about coming home at 6 or 7 or 8, and apparently there were no ‘cheap’ tickets available at those times. “The ticket price is so expensive at that time!” She was so concerned about the money aspect, I had to redirect her: This is my only vacation to this place. TIME is the most important thing. Money is second. Look at 8:00. We ended up getting a ticket home in business class—Anthony’s first taste of the good life, for one whole hour and 15 minutes of flying time. Oh, and the difference in price? About $25 per ticket--for 6 extra hours of sightseeing. I’ll take it. Two tickets there in economy and two tickets back in business class ran us a total of $346 USD, or 6,600,000 VND. That was just over this week’s paycheck, and still a great deal.
Which is another thing that is great about this trip. Anthony and I earn the teaching salary together. As of this week he gets 500,000 off the top (that sum has gone up progressively each week since we started, as we slowly get more in reserve) for whatever he wants, but he usually buys me dinner once a week. It’s so darling to hear him say, “Dinner’s on me.” It makes me so proud of him. We also budget together. We spend an evening each week figuring out what sights we are going to see and factoring in taxi rides and such. We even, until yesterday, had a coffee budget, but now we have a hot pot!!! We are in constant communication about funds, and it is wonderful to see him learning the whole budgeting/living within your means system. He’s good at it, too. I think this part of the experience is something that will really benefit him when he goes off to college and has to have a budget of his own.
So… Since we were out and about in a different section of town, I wanted to walk for a bit before climbing into a taxi and going home. I’m SO glad I did! We walked down the street and stumbled on our department store, Big C! We’d needed to go there anyway to stock up on a few things, so I was incredibly pleased. Now that we have a hot pot, we can buy cup-o-noodles and things like that, too, which is what we did. We only bought a few this time, just to try out the flavors. Scary, but I actually recognized the name of the flavor on one of the containers! When we got it home and tried it, it really was what I thought it was going to be. We loved it. Oh yeah, and the cup-o-noodles here come with a fork inside that you snap together! Way too cool. I’m going to bring one home.
Anthony is getting much more adventurous about food here, too. He will try anything. He doesn’t like the vegetables still; when we get the seafood/beef/lemongrass soup, I eat all of the lemongrass in both of them and always give him my prawns.
Hung Bui’s mother, ‘Kim Loan’ (that’s what I call her because it’s what is on her business card) is another amazing person that I have been able to get to know. I already told you much about her: she lived with her mother in a pagoda for years until she was 16, she is a devout Buddhist, although which branch of Buddhism it is I haven’t clarified yet—there are so many!!!! And they are ALL here in HCMC!! And I thought that Christianity had a lot of factions. We’ve been to their home twice, and it is so lovely. We’ve also visited her car dealership. I’m quite impressed with her! Today, we are going to VungTau with them for the day. They’re picking us up at 10:00, so we’ll get there about noon, spend a few hours, and then come back to HCMC. I just want to swim in the ocean for a couple of hours. I miss the beach!
On Tuesday, the 6th, we went to see the water puppet theater. The puppeteers run these puppets around a pond, and they do flips and jumps and spit fireworks and smoke and everything. It’s very LOUD, but a good show. Anyway, before the theater, we were taking our prerequisite photos, and a Japanese man offered, in impeccable English, to take the picture for us. We ended up chatting for a good 20 minutes while waiting for the show. His name is “Ju Chi” and he works for the Japanese government’s Ministry of Tourism. He’s been in that field for 25 years. He brought his 2 lecturers and is staying at the Majestic for a 3-day symposium on the treatment, expectations, and issues of Japanese tourists. Apparently, 400,000 Japanese visit Vietnam every year. I wanted to see one of the lectures, some of which were in Japanese and some of which were in English. I think I could have learned a lot. My schedule didn’t allow it, though. Still, if I ever get to Tokyo, I’m looking Ju Chi San up! Watch, I probably just met the Minister of Tourism and didn’t know it. Ha ha.
The hotel is run by two people, a man who looks like he’s in his 40’s and a woman who looks much younger (and hotter), like in her late 20’s. Neither one of them speaks any English. They are one of the reasons I am learning how to say things like, “soap, towel, clean it please,” and “toilet paper.” Oh, yes, and we learned the word for ‘hanger’ on weeks 1 and 2. Well, we came home from a big day last week, and she had cut up fruit to sit and share with us in the lobby!!!! I was so surprised. It was the loveliest gesture! Of course, we couldn’t have any semblance of a conversation, but it was incredibly sweet, nonetheless. They are the reason that my ‘good bye/hello’ and my ‘thank you’ sound authentic, and now they are saying ‘good morning’ in perfect English! Yesterday, when we got home, she had put in a coat rack for us to hang our ‘only-worn-once-for-work’ clothes (you know what I mean—the clothes that I don’t want back in my closet but are clean enough to wear again) and our towels on. She had noticed that our towels were always spread out over the backs of the folding chairs to dry, and our worn once clothes were hung all over the place. It was very thoughtful of her. Nguyen Thu also asked her to loan us 2 plates and 2 spoons, so now we have the beginnings of a kitchen. (ha ha right)
Nguyen’s cousin, Nguyen Thu, has been a god-send, too. Whatever I need, she finds. She found earplugs that first week. Yesterday, she bought me the hot pot, 2 coffee cups, and knife I wanted to find (and she found them cheap—the whole ball of wax, plus a box of instant coffee, for 120,000 vnd—about $7). She took us to buy plane tickets yesterday to DaNang (where we will go to Cua Dai beach). About those tickets—she’s so cute. They wanted us to come home at 2:00pm on that Sunday, which didn’t give us a whole day in Hoi An. I asked about coming home at 6 or 7 or 8, and apparently there were no ‘cheap’ tickets available at those times. “The ticket price is so expensive at that time!” She was so concerned about the money aspect, I had to redirect her: This is my only vacation to this place. TIME is the most important thing. Money is second. Look at 8:00. We ended up getting a ticket home in business class—Anthony’s first taste of the good life, for one whole hour and 15 minutes of flying time. Oh, and the difference in price? About $25 per ticket--for 6 extra hours of sightseeing. I’ll take it. Two tickets there in economy and two tickets back in business class ran us a total of $346 USD, or 6,600,000 VND. That was just over this week’s paycheck, and still a great deal.
Which is another thing that is great about this trip. Anthony and I earn the teaching salary together. As of this week he gets 500,000 off the top (that sum has gone up progressively each week since we started, as we slowly get more in reserve) for whatever he wants, but he usually buys me dinner once a week. It’s so darling to hear him say, “Dinner’s on me.” It makes me so proud of him. We also budget together. We spend an evening each week figuring out what sights we are going to see and factoring in taxi rides and such. We even, until yesterday, had a coffee budget, but now we have a hot pot!!! We are in constant communication about funds, and it is wonderful to see him learning the whole budgeting/living within your means system. He’s good at it, too. I think this part of the experience is something that will really benefit him when he goes off to college and has to have a budget of his own.
So… Since we were out and about in a different section of town, I wanted to walk for a bit before climbing into a taxi and going home. I’m SO glad I did! We walked down the street and stumbled on our department store, Big C! We’d needed to go there anyway to stock up on a few things, so I was incredibly pleased. Now that we have a hot pot, we can buy cup-o-noodles and things like that, too, which is what we did. We only bought a few this time, just to try out the flavors. Scary, but I actually recognized the name of the flavor on one of the containers! When we got it home and tried it, it really was what I thought it was going to be. We loved it. Oh yeah, and the cup-o-noodles here come with a fork inside that you snap together! Way too cool. I’m going to bring one home.
Anthony is getting much more adventurous about food here, too. He will try anything. He doesn’t like the vegetables still; when we get the seafood/beef/lemongrass soup, I eat all of the lemongrass in both of them and always give him my prawns.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Internet Cafe
Here are some pictures of the internet cafe where we spend most of our computer time (if it's not at the school). They are amazingly good to us. We always buy one coffee each, and often buy two, and we also leave a tip. It's the least we can do considering that we sit there for three or four hours at a time! That length of time, however, is not new to them. The other day when we were there, a guy was taking a nap for most of our visit!!!
Coffee Drying in the Sun
For whatever reason, our little side alley is a good place to dry coffee beans. I don't know if these are the weasel poop beans or not, but I thought it was pretty interesting to see them spread out on tarps on the street during the heat of the day, after the badmitton players and before the evening revelers. A handful of cars and motorbikes whizzed past while it dried, but they thought it nothing to be surpised at. I, on the other hand, needed to get a picture. We saw them out twice in the first couple of weeks, but then monsoon season hit, and we haven't seen them out since. No small wonder, since the rain would literally wash it down the drains!
The Red Bug
The Bug
Well, I tried to ‘go native’ or ‘when in Rome’ or any of those other little phrases that indicate that you are trying to act like the culture you are living in, but tonight I draw the line.
For the last few nights, we have had the balcony doors open after dark and the fan on instead of the AC. Part of this was to save energy, and part was that I had gotten a sinus infection from too much AC and wanted to try a new approach. It didn’t work.
Shortly after nightfall, a HUGE wasp came cruising in and made a beeline (bwah ha ha-get it?? BEE line?? Hee hee hee) for the light above Anthony’s bed. I mean, seriously, it was like a B-52 bomber. (Oh just let me get this last one in, would you?) This thing had the girth of my ring finger and was about half that long. With a noticeable, sizeable stinger, I might add. We could clearly distinguish the stinger from across the room—without my glasses on. And it was red. Pollination is most assuredly a secondary function of Red Bugs. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that their primary function is to STING. Hence, NO ONE was going to bed with that thing in the room.
I sent Anthony in search of help, but the only person at the desk was the Useless Child (don’t ask) and so I went in search myself. I found the guy who is our usual front desk help, the guy we adore and bring food to occasionally. I dragged him to our room and pointed at the Red Bug. He kind of laughed, went and got a broom, and chased the thing around the room for a bit (Anthony and I hid near the bathroom door, just in case we needed to put something between it and us.) He finally got it killed and swept it out the door. I’m sure he has a story to tell about the cowering Americans who were afraid of The Red Bug, but that’s fine.
Tomorrow, before dusk, the balcony doors get closed and the AC goes on. Hell, I may not even open the doors after 4:00, just to be safe.
Well, I tried to ‘go native’ or ‘when in Rome’ or any of those other little phrases that indicate that you are trying to act like the culture you are living in, but tonight I draw the line.
For the last few nights, we have had the balcony doors open after dark and the fan on instead of the AC. Part of this was to save energy, and part was that I had gotten a sinus infection from too much AC and wanted to try a new approach. It didn’t work.
Shortly after nightfall, a HUGE wasp came cruising in and made a beeline (bwah ha ha-get it?? BEE line?? Hee hee hee) for the light above Anthony’s bed. I mean, seriously, it was like a B-52 bomber. (Oh just let me get this last one in, would you?) This thing had the girth of my ring finger and was about half that long. With a noticeable, sizeable stinger, I might add. We could clearly distinguish the stinger from across the room—without my glasses on. And it was red. Pollination is most assuredly a secondary function of Red Bugs. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that their primary function is to STING. Hence, NO ONE was going to bed with that thing in the room.
I sent Anthony in search of help, but the only person at the desk was the Useless Child (don’t ask) and so I went in search myself. I found the guy who is our usual front desk help, the guy we adore and bring food to occasionally. I dragged him to our room and pointed at the Red Bug. He kind of laughed, went and got a broom, and chased the thing around the room for a bit (Anthony and I hid near the bathroom door, just in case we needed to put something between it and us.) He finally got it killed and swept it out the door. I’m sure he has a story to tell about the cowering Americans who were afraid of The Red Bug, but that’s fine.
Tomorrow, before dusk, the balcony doors get closed and the AC goes on. Hell, I may not even open the doors after 4:00, just to be safe.
Kim Loan Trucks
Hung Bui's mom owns a car dealership, which we visited, outside of HCMC. It was so fun to see the trucks that she imports from the US and Korea! We had a wonderful afternoon going out to visit her shop.
Anet's Visit
So, many of you know that Annette traveled through Vietnam from June 19 to July 14 or so, then went on to Cambodia. We got together on the 12th and had a couple of beers and did some art shopping near her hotel. Her hotel people are fabulous and helpful, and I highly recommend them: Saigon Sports Hotel 1. There are 3 of them in District 1 of HCMC. Her hotel is booking our Mekong Delta tour, by the way.
The artist who did my 'Sunflowers' oil painting was darling. They got a kick out of the fact that the $2 I had left over was going for "beer money"!The telephone lines downtown are one of a kind, so I took a few pictures. Anet says she's never seen anything like it anywhere in the world. I thought Tony would get a kick out of it. They've even made T-Shirts about it!!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Cholon Market Pictures
We went to CholonMarket the first or second week we were here, but I never uploaded the pictures, so here they are! By the way, don't ask me what any of this stuff is. I have no idea for most of it. I just liked the pictures.
Booking the next Hotel
Booking a Hotel to Mui Ne
OK, I wasn’t going to go to Mui Ne/Phan Thiet. I was going to go to Nha Trang, but my boss’s wife and all the girls at the office insisted that going to Phan Thiet would be so much better, and Ms. Ouahn said she would get the train tickets for me (I’ll pay her back, but she’ll take care of finding them and getting them), so I looked into booking a hotel.
Well, the Thai Hoa hotel I wanted didn’t seem to have an online booking option, so I sent an email, and they confirmed my hotel dates, but would not hold my room without either a wire transfer of funds or a credit card payment where I had to fill out this form and then fax it to them—by today. I don’t have a fax, but there is a little travel agency next to my hotel where although they don’t really speak English, I figured if they read my email from the hotel and called him, they could book it with my credit card. What a ridiculous mess.
First, they tried to talk me into a different hotel, because the one I chose was only 2 stars. By then, Nguyen Thi had shown up, so she could interpret, and I asked how much the 3 star hotels they were recommending would cost. About $80. Well, my room was going to be $40, which was one of the cheapest in town. I wanted my Thai Hoa hotel. No? They couldn’t book that hotel? Well, I might as well leave, then. Pissed, I might add.
I snapped my computer shut and started putting on my shoes. Suddenly, they agreed to call the hotel I wanted. However, when they came back from their back rooms, after talking to my hotel, the nightly price of my room had gone up to $50/night! What the hell??? I smiled and said thank you so much but no (come on, people, the numbers were in my email that I showed you) and Nguyen and I went back to my hotel.
Later, she called the Thai Hoa hotel for me. First, she saved me $5 a night, as she got the price down to $35. Then, she arranged for their emissary to come to my hotel on Monday at 1:00 to take my cc payment and thus secure my room. And that travel agency couldn’t manage any of this??? Last, she admonished me for not asking her to do it all in the first place—but I didn’t want to bother her!! Next time, of course, I will bother her first.
OK, I wasn’t going to go to Mui Ne/Phan Thiet. I was going to go to Nha Trang, but my boss’s wife and all the girls at the office insisted that going to Phan Thiet would be so much better, and Ms. Ouahn said she would get the train tickets for me (I’ll pay her back, but she’ll take care of finding them and getting them), so I looked into booking a hotel.
Well, the Thai Hoa hotel I wanted didn’t seem to have an online booking option, so I sent an email, and they confirmed my hotel dates, but would not hold my room without either a wire transfer of funds or a credit card payment where I had to fill out this form and then fax it to them—by today. I don’t have a fax, but there is a little travel agency next to my hotel where although they don’t really speak English, I figured if they read my email from the hotel and called him, they could book it with my credit card. What a ridiculous mess.
First, they tried to talk me into a different hotel, because the one I chose was only 2 stars. By then, Nguyen Thi had shown up, so she could interpret, and I asked how much the 3 star hotels they were recommending would cost. About $80. Well, my room was going to be $40, which was one of the cheapest in town. I wanted my Thai Hoa hotel. No? They couldn’t book that hotel? Well, I might as well leave, then. Pissed, I might add.
I snapped my computer shut and started putting on my shoes. Suddenly, they agreed to call the hotel I wanted. However, when they came back from their back rooms, after talking to my hotel, the nightly price of my room had gone up to $50/night! What the hell??? I smiled and said thank you so much but no (come on, people, the numbers were in my email that I showed you) and Nguyen and I went back to my hotel.
Later, she called the Thai Hoa hotel for me. First, she saved me $5 a night, as she got the price down to $35. Then, she arranged for their emissary to come to my hotel on Monday at 1:00 to take my cc payment and thus secure my room. And that travel agency couldn’t manage any of this??? Last, she admonished me for not asking her to do it all in the first place—but I didn’t want to bother her!! Next time, of course, I will bother her first.
The Bus and District 1
The Majestic Hotel Coffee shop ;
After coffee at the Majestic, where Nguyen Thi’s friend showed up, we walked to “Old Market” which was just another little street market, and then to Ben Thanh Market, the motherlode of markets in Saigon. I can’t believe it took us 4 weeks to get to this place. It was a typical packed to the gills market made for foreigners to buy clothes, textiles, chopsticks, carvings, trays, bowls, lacquered dishes, etc. etc. Oh, yes and of course luggage and purses—same brands as Diamond Plaza, too, but probably not the same makers. The stalls are packed together, and they start to repeat themselves, and you get turned around and lose your direction and it doesn’t matter because eventually it opens onto a main thoroughfare in the middle or out a door to the street, where you can figure out which side of the building you just came out of. We popped out onto one of these places, and I looked ahead at the next stall, and I asked my counterparts, “Have we been here?” The girls said, “I don’t know” and Anthony said, “They repeat themselves” and some American woman standing near us pretty much agreed with that and laughed. Sadly, no pictures in Ben Thanh market, as there are ‘no picture’ signs everywhere, but it looks pretty much like Cholon, where I took lots of pictures and I think I uploaded them.
Did I mention that we walked to Ben Thanh in a monsoon downpour? Yes, we did. Through huge puddles of standing water, through gushing water down the street, and soaked through from head to toe. It’s monsoon season, by the way.
Well, once all of our money was spent we decided we had better take the bus home, so we caught a different bus --#3 – near the market, to ride as far as GoVap, and then we were going to catch the #18 from that stop, but Anthony saw the Big C grocery store and insisted we could walk. Well, I will never walk from Big C again, as it was a couple of miles in my soaking wet shoes and clothes, but it finished off an interesting day, and I slept like a baby last night.
I would like to say, for the record, that every time we have an expedition with Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, it pours, and we march through it, and I told her that he is officially my Rain Girl now. ha ha!
at the top of Diamond Plaza, in the arcade/bowling area
Well, the US government website listing all of the dangers and ‘be carefuls’ of VN, as well as one or two other sources, somewhat discouraged foreigners from taking the bus. Things get stolen, fares get changed, yahdi yahdi yahdi. Now, that’s all well and good, and I can see the negatives, but the bus is about a 25 cent ride all the way across town, 50 cents round trip, and the taxi is a little closer to $20, round trip, depending on the driver’s choice of roads and the traffic on those roads, which is nothing to sneeze at and certainly something to behold, particularly in rush hour, which seems to be most of the hours of the day, or at least those in which we travel. Therefore, yesterday we took a bus!
Of course, we asked Nguyen Thi Minh Thu to help us, as we always rely on her here, and she went with us. She had even researched, on the internet map, the fastest and least dangerous way to get to the bus stop, which was down 3 alleys that we can probably find our way down again from the hotel to the bus stop, but might not be able to do backwards. Unfortunately, we certainly can’t do it backwards, which is really too bad, for there was nary a car to be seen on that walk!!
It popped us out on a 6-lane road with a divider (not the kind you stand on, just the kind that sticks up like a short fence) across the two directions. Our goal was to cross that street without getting hit. Now, that’s no small task on a regular street around here, but those 6-laners with dividers are ‘meant’ to drive faster, so it’s even more challenging for pedestrians. Since I am now typing this the next morning, you can see that we survived, but we may choose to go down to the intersection light, a short walk down the street, and cross there, where the cars at least have to stop at some point, in theory if not in practice. At least there, we generally only have to look ONE way when we cross.
Anyway, we crossed the street and waited for BUS 18, which, when it arrived, was relatively empty and we got the first two seats! The bus looked exactly like the busses that I took in Korea every morning, same seats, handrails, etc. etc. That was reassuring. The payment system, on the other hand, was a lot different. There is a ‘porter’ on the bus, and when you sit down, he asks you where you are going. The amount you pay is dependent on how far you are going. This is where foreigners get stuck, sometimes, paying a bit ‘extra’ although the difference between 3,000 vnd and 5,000 vnd is far smaller than the difference between a bus and a taxi ride. It was 3,000 for each of us and we paid and got our ticket from him, and that was that. The bus took about 45 minutes to get downtown, and we could follow the streets and get our bearings easily because we were up high and able to see everything.
The bus stopped at Diamond Plaza, a large and very expensive shopping center/4 story building. It had ALL the name brands for bags, cosmetics, and some clothing (including Ecko), all priced at US prices and beyond. We saw a lot of people looking, but very few people buying. On the 4th floor, however, there was a video arcade, 2 bowling alleys (using blacklights) an ice cream shop, a bar, pool tables, a Pizza Hut and a KFC. This is all in addition to the food court on the 3rd floor! Anthony played a couple of shooting games—I saw him log in the high score on one—and had some ice cream, and then we ate at the food court.
We left Diamond Plaza and started walking the several blocks down the street to the Majestic hotel, a 125 year old icon decorated in French Colonial style. I wanted to have coffee there. On the way, we saw “Lucky Plaza,” and thought, what the hell, let’s go in. I’m so glad we did! They had ALL the doo-dads for sale at all the markets, and it was fun to check on prices and barter. I will never find the scarf deal I got in Cholon, and paid twice as much for the scarves I bought here than I did there, but still today’s price was half of what they are everyplace else. When you walk past the stalls, they call out, “Hello Madame, please look,” and “Madame! Buy here, I have the best price.” When you do stop to look and ask a price, they tell you one, then you balk, and they say, “Oh but you are my first customer today” (even though it is noon and the place is buzzing) “so for you…” and they give you a better price, maybe 10,000 vnd less, which is about 50 cents. It’s all fun. We found the greatest T-Shirt for Anthony, and I took a picture of my 2 favorites so Tony can see them and choose. Anthony cleaned out his wallet on a Playboy Zippo lighter. He’s collecting them.
We were half way through the Lucky Plaza when it started to DOWNPOUR. We tried to wait it out, but I got too impatient, and we decided to hop out into it and head to the Majestic. It was a very short walk, but by the time we got there, we were drenched. I laughed as I looked at the doorman, and he laughed and said, “Shower!” Yup. Looked like I had showered with my clothes on, and I was walking into a 5-star 125 year old icon. That’s me. I had a hot Bailey’s coffee, the first of my stay, and it was wonderful and very expensive. Nguyen Thi looked at the prices and said, “Oh, it’s so expensive!” I said, “I don’t care. We’re only going to do this once.” I used my last $20 bill, but the coffee shop and lobby were extraordinary, and I learned that the restaurant had a reasonably priced 6-course lunch and dinner (set menu) there every day. It might make a nice lunch excursion after teaching one day.
Of course, we asked Nguyen Thi Minh Thu to help us, as we always rely on her here, and she went with us. She had even researched, on the internet map, the fastest and least dangerous way to get to the bus stop, which was down 3 alleys that we can probably find our way down again from the hotel to the bus stop, but might not be able to do backwards. Unfortunately, we certainly can’t do it backwards, which is really too bad, for there was nary a car to be seen on that walk!!
It popped us out on a 6-lane road with a divider (not the kind you stand on, just the kind that sticks up like a short fence) across the two directions. Our goal was to cross that street without getting hit. Now, that’s no small task on a regular street around here, but those 6-laners with dividers are ‘meant’ to drive faster, so it’s even more challenging for pedestrians. Since I am now typing this the next morning, you can see that we survived, but we may choose to go down to the intersection light, a short walk down the street, and cross there, where the cars at least have to stop at some point, in theory if not in practice. At least there, we generally only have to look ONE way when we cross.
Anyway, we crossed the street and waited for BUS 18, which, when it arrived, was relatively empty and we got the first two seats! The bus looked exactly like the busses that I took in Korea every morning, same seats, handrails, etc. etc. That was reassuring. The payment system, on the other hand, was a lot different. There is a ‘porter’ on the bus, and when you sit down, he asks you where you are going. The amount you pay is dependent on how far you are going. This is where foreigners get stuck, sometimes, paying a bit ‘extra’ although the difference between 3,000 vnd and 5,000 vnd is far smaller than the difference between a bus and a taxi ride. It was 3,000 for each of us and we paid and got our ticket from him, and that was that. The bus took about 45 minutes to get downtown, and we could follow the streets and get our bearings easily because we were up high and able to see everything.
The bus stopped at Diamond Plaza, a large and very expensive shopping center/4 story building. It had ALL the name brands for bags, cosmetics, and some clothing (including Ecko), all priced at US prices and beyond. We saw a lot of people looking, but very few people buying. On the 4th floor, however, there was a video arcade, 2 bowling alleys (using blacklights) an ice cream shop, a bar, pool tables, a Pizza Hut and a KFC. This is all in addition to the food court on the 3rd floor! Anthony played a couple of shooting games—I saw him log in the high score on one—and had some ice cream, and then we ate at the food court.
We left Diamond Plaza and started walking the several blocks down the street to the Majestic hotel, a 125 year old icon decorated in French Colonial style. I wanted to have coffee there. On the way, we saw “Lucky Plaza,” and thought, what the hell, let’s go in. I’m so glad we did! They had ALL the doo-dads for sale at all the markets, and it was fun to check on prices and barter. I will never find the scarf deal I got in Cholon, and paid twice as much for the scarves I bought here than I did there, but still today’s price was half of what they are everyplace else. When you walk past the stalls, they call out, “Hello Madame, please look,” and “Madame! Buy here, I have the best price.” When you do stop to look and ask a price, they tell you one, then you balk, and they say, “Oh but you are my first customer today” (even though it is noon and the place is buzzing) “so for you…” and they give you a better price, maybe 10,000 vnd less, which is about 50 cents. It’s all fun. We found the greatest T-Shirt for Anthony, and I took a picture of my 2 favorites so Tony can see them and choose. Anthony cleaned out his wallet on a Playboy Zippo lighter. He’s collecting them.
We were half way through the Lucky Plaza when it started to DOWNPOUR. We tried to wait it out, but I got too impatient, and we decided to hop out into it and head to the Majestic. It was a very short walk, but by the time we got there, we were drenched. I laughed as I looked at the doorman, and he laughed and said, “Shower!” Yup. Looked like I had showered with my clothes on, and I was walking into a 5-star 125 year old icon. That’s me. I had a hot Bailey’s coffee, the first of my stay, and it was wonderful and very expensive. Nguyen Thi looked at the prices and said, “Oh, it’s so expensive!” I said, “I don’t care. We’re only going to do this once.” I used my last $20 bill, but the coffee shop and lobby were extraordinary, and I learned that the restaurant had a reasonably priced 6-course lunch and dinner (set menu) there every day. It might make a nice lunch excursion after teaching one day.
After coffee at the Majestic, where Nguyen Thi’s friend showed up, we walked to “Old Market” which was just another little street market, and then to Ben Thanh Market, the motherlode of markets in Saigon. I can’t believe it took us 4 weeks to get to this place. It was a typical packed to the gills market made for foreigners to buy clothes, textiles, chopsticks, carvings, trays, bowls, lacquered dishes, etc. etc. Oh, yes and of course luggage and purses—same brands as Diamond Plaza, too, but probably not the same makers. The stalls are packed together, and they start to repeat themselves, and you get turned around and lose your direction and it doesn’t matter because eventually it opens onto a main thoroughfare in the middle or out a door to the street, where you can figure out which side of the building you just came out of. We popped out onto one of these places, and I looked ahead at the next stall, and I asked my counterparts, “Have we been here?” The girls said, “I don’t know” and Anthony said, “They repeat themselves” and some American woman standing near us pretty much agreed with that and laughed. Sadly, no pictures in Ben Thanh market, as there are ‘no picture’ signs everywhere, but it looks pretty much like Cholon, where I took lots of pictures and I think I uploaded them.
Did I mention that we walked to Ben Thanh in a monsoon downpour? Yes, we did. Through huge puddles of standing water, through gushing water down the street, and soaked through from head to toe. It’s monsoon season, by the way.
Well, once all of our money was spent we decided we had better take the bus home, so we caught a different bus --#3 – near the market, to ride as far as GoVap, and then we were going to catch the #18 from that stop, but Anthony saw the Big C grocery store and insisted we could walk. Well, I will never walk from Big C again, as it was a couple of miles in my soaking wet shoes and clothes, but it finished off an interesting day, and I slept like a baby last night.
I would like to say, for the record, that every time we have an expedition with Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, it pours, and we march through it, and I told her that he is officially my Rain Girl now. ha ha!
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