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Published: April 16th 2013
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Too late a night last night. Too much to drink. Wasted day. Cheap though 😊 Ate delicious sidewalk restaurant skewer food. 11 servings, the most exotic being crabs and chicken hearts and two longnecks for a grand total of 65r. Met a Spanish couple. Good conversation. He was a stock trader and she a government worker what had options for working longer with longer holidays. His advice for travel; never take the first option. Succinct and quality. Also met an Aussie girl and had a wander and explore through the city.
Returned to hospital for vaccine number 2 of Rabies n Hepatitus B. The nurses there are in Kubrick-cute white uniforms with the little hats. Well maybe not Kubrick-cute, he woulda dressed them in short skirts not long pants with possible cleavage boosters. Dirty, disgusting, brilliant, awesome man.
An opportunist taxi driver saw me rejected by another driver and pulled up with a beep. I managed to communicate KL Sentral and he said 'one-five'. I said 'one-zero'. He laughed 'one-five'. I thought 'Ahhh... let the negotiations continue good sir, you will not find me an easy foe, oh no, of that I can assure you...'
Of course I ended up paying him 'one-six'. Shutup.
It increasingly becomes apparent that I can't read. I queue in wrong queues, I take wrong turns, I buy the wrong things. And always, when I look at it properly, after fudging it, I realise that once more I was an illiterate twat. Still... I have learnt to give myself time aplenty in order to compensate. Luckily cos today I went to the wrong airport, waited to check my bag in with wrong queue and then waltz through a no entry with bags security point requiring a policeman to step in front of me and guide me through to the correct path. *sigh*
Also used my first bidet today. It was... refreshing.
Airport classic conundrum; how to find a cheap effective way to get into city proper. It was typical- many many people try and help, whilst a few others try and shaft. Got onto a bus eventually with local friendly helpers. As the bus left the relative calm of the airport roads, I was visually assaulted by an incredible (and incredibly all pervading sight in HCM)- the legion of the
two wheeled transports. Sooo so many just constantly moving in both and every other direction. Never seen it before at all. China traffic flow seems very tame by comparison. Every crossing of the road is a little bit challenging. Makes me walk in a slow deliberate step n stop hoping/calculating people will get around. Always been a fan of the efficiency of jaywalking but having all those skills compared to being here and crossing normally are just about as good as wearing a singlet and thinking u are part of a starting 5 in the NBA. And here, here everyone who is not a tourist is a star. I have sometimes often enough suckled onto a street crossing savvy Ho Chi Minian. It was a good idea to bring my hand-held-suction-caps... waste of luggage space and weight they says... ne'er be of use they says... well I showed them up n all what's what I dids now yes indeedy.
Joked with some cute Swedish girls on the bus and ended up teaming up with them to find the right place to stay. Went out that night for a while and while they were fine enough
to talk to but there was nothing there for anyone involved I suspect so I left that small connection alone.
Went for a decent walk including a massage from a young man (there was "contact" several "contacts" in fact but nothing intended i suspect) what was mostly solid all the same. Scoped out surrounding area a bit. Much better feeling being away from other tourists. Earlier had got hit up for enough money drinking in a place that sold company with drinks essentially but i was completely aware and left before it was a problem. The only one other dude there was kissing and groping what looked to be underage girls (but they Asian and near everyone looks younger so maybe not) and was carrying on about being ripped off a ridiculous sum of money. He was yelling and making townie chest dashes to emphasise. Not very good behaviour in arguing with Asian folke I suspect. 10 million dong! Lol! It mustve been super pricey cordial he was buying in the tiny little flute glasses as there's no way any of those girls working there are actually taking grog. One of the words I swapped with my moderately priced but ridiculously buxom money-drinking companion was "dickhead"- gestures work fine for this. At least I got a laugh, three beers and 10 words under my empty vietnamese word belt for the time and unnecessary cash spent. Back to like three litres of water for the remaining four hours of my night walking though. Sweat rolling off sweat. I felt like that green blob from ghostbusters- Slimer I think- pretty sure I saw Bill Murray chasing me.
The walk took me past many hangouts of locals. Food and drink and company everywhere. Kinda like in Australia but the going out scene is far more relaxed and family friendly here it seems at a glance whereas in Australia it's more often about hanging out with a handful of friends and/or getting trashed and acting accordingly (speak for myself... well maybe I will then). This is probably cos a lot of businesses are the front part of the family home. Found out later this part of building is called "money face".
Got approached by a night lady. She pulled up onto the path with her bike. Shapely, I could only see her eyes due to the helmet and face mask, very ninja, very grabby sales method. I kept at least some of my mind on the physical location of my wallet and politely n a little reluctantly refused. 3-4 more direct sales that night but mostly only within a couple of blocks of the tourist hub and none half so appealing as the ninja strike. About two dozen offers for weed... but saintly as I am not... and besides the fact my relation to the herb is over... no trucking way.
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