5 May 2010

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I visit the war museum which is interesting, although rather 'one-sided'.

I go for a walk in the park in the evening and am watching the group aerobics session, when a local student, Ha, approaches me to practice her English. She invites me out with her and her friends at 7. I visit the market and then return to the park at 7 to meet her. As I wait for her, another group of students approaches me to practice English. I recognise one of them, Son, as I chatted to him during my last time in Ho Chi Minh. I apologise, saying that I'm meeting someone.

They walk away and Ha finds me. I walk with her towards her friends and they turn out to be Son and the students who just approached me. We are supposed to be going to karaoke but the local places are closed tonight so we go to a park instead and meet some more of their friends, who are playing the guitar and singing. We have drinks and spend the evening playing guitar and singing songs in the park; so much better than a karaoke bar, I say.

On the way back, it is just me, Ha and Milu (from France). Ha buys us coconut dessert, which is delicious. When she finds out I want to practice riding a moto, she offers to lend me hers to practice, but there is no way I am about to practice in the traffic in Ho Chi Minh City. Ha leaves and Milu and I are walking back towards our guesthouses when we meet an elderly Vietnamese gentleman who speaks French and starts chatting to Milu. We stay with him for a while and suddenly I realise it is 11.15 pm. I am convinced there is an 11.00 curfew at my guesthouse so I leave them chatting and make my way back. It turns out that the guesthouse is actually open 24 hours (the curfew must have been at another place I’ve stayed at) so I go back out again to get something to eat. It is pretty late by the time I get to bed ...

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