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Published: November 10th 2006
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Every evening after I drag my butt back to my pad after a long 8 hour day walking the streets of Saigon I take my very refreshing shower and literally wash the visble pollution out of my eyes and nose. You wouldnt believe how dirty the air is here . When you have to pick large black globs of dirt out of the corner of your eyes every day it makes you wonder how the lungs must look.
Yesterday was the hottest day yet with high humidity 35C. I hear you guys have snow in Kelowna, chuckle chuckle. I dont plan on seeing any snow this year, all going well.
Walking the streets of Saigon is quite an experience. I try and keep away from the busy streets and that way i seem to meet much friendlier people eager to show me they know at least a few words in english , especially the young students . Last night one woman came running out of her shop with young daughter in arms, HELLO, HELLO, and proceded to thrust her child into my arms ( she was about 4 I would think) The child seemed a little traumatized which is
understandable but it was nice to hold a wee one again and try to calm her down in a language she didnt understand.
The mother just walked back in the shop as if she was giving me her child and saying keep her, but I am sure that wasnt the case. Anyway, I managed to sooth the anxiety of the child and then put her down and said goodbye. I really dont have a clue what the mothers actions were all about.
The day started off on the wrong foot however, as I walked in sweating heat to the Cambodian Embassy hoping to get a visa for my next leg of my journey. I thought it was Friday. I reach the embassy in about an hour and the guard who doesnt speak a word of english tried to tell me the embassy wasnt open today and wouldnt let me in. I of course pressed my point that its only Friday and the embassy must be open. He held his ground and tried to explain as best he could to a dumb Canadian that the day was actually Saturday and the embassy wasnt open until Monday. After 10 minutes of
getting no where with each other the guard stopped a passer by who knew enough english to tell me the embassy was not open on Sat. Red faced , I said sorry, I thought it was Friday and tail between my legs shuffled down the street to a roadside cafe to down two bottles of water to cool myself down. I have to do it all again on Monday 😞
Anyway, I headed on into Saigon from there, sitting on the odd street corner for a rest and a drink of H2O and to watch the locals watching me. I found out the hard way that when buying bottles of soft drinks, make sure they are not just refills with watered down , coloured sugar. Even better, stay away from bottled soft drinks and stick with cans that cant be tampered with. The vietnamese like all poor countries will employ every trick in the book to make a buck the easy way. This time it was at the expense of my stomach.
Another rip off, at least for the publishers, is buying lonely planet tourist guide books at 80% discounts compared to Canadian prices. The books look the
same on the outside but all the pages between the covers are simply photocopies of the original and bound to make it look like the real thing. Still, the copies are good reproductions for the most part but look inside just to make sure. Its one ripoff where the tourist comes out on the plus side since the savings are substancial.
Every block seems to have a form of french bakery with very tastey baked bread of pastries. I guess these are left over from the time when France was the governing state way back when. I must say i tend to gravitate to these shops for my carb intake. They serve up a huge variety of sweet stuff and french stick bread and very very reasonable prices.
I hit about a half dozen travel shops looking for the best deals and the best ways to see the attractions beyond the perimeter of Saigon. I came up with a scheme where I will be taking in Phu Quoc island and its lovely beaches next week via bus and boat. Then in two weeks time take in the Mekong Delta attractions on my way to Cambodia and a boat
ride up the Mekong to Phnom Phen via Chau Doc. From there onto the world famous Ankar Wat temple remains which is all that remains of Cambodias great civilisation of long long ago.
After a couple of Saigon beers and observing a manicure and pedicure the next table over, i headed out into the night to walk back home. I GOT LOST. Fortunately I wasnt too proud to ask for directions ( ladies take note) and found a helpful motorbike taxi driver more than willing to fleece my wallet and relieve my aching legs. He wanted 5 bucks for a 1 dollar ride. He thought he had me cornered and i would pay any rediculous amount to get home. I didnt bite. I started walking and he followed in hot persuit. Gradually after about 200 metres of chasing me and slowly reducing the price as I walked along he lowered his price to the expected 1 dollar. I hopped on and to my relief arrived home safe and sound in 20 mintues.
I then ventured out into the late evening night life for the first time. Taking in an Asian Karaoke bar is nothing like you would find
in Canada.
Its one way to meet a legalised woman of the night for starters, which I didnt realise until I was on the inside. I was escorted into a fairly large room with couches surrounding the outside walls and low coffee tables in the middle. A large screen TV at one end of the room. I was the only person there. Feeling rather vulnerable and exposed I asked what this was all about. No one understood me or could explain to me what was going to happen so I just ordered a beer and some peanuts and waited to see what was going to happen . I was handed a mic, the TV was turned on, I was handed and binder of songs and words and then left alone to contemplate the empty couches that surrounded me. It didnt take long for the door to the room opened again and about 6 ladies were escorted into the room and I was asked ( or at least I think I was asked ) to choose as many as i wanted to entertain me by singing songs. This is a very subtle and legalised form of prostitution to be sure and
my warning radar went into high performance mode. I asked if anyone spoke english, no replies, the smiles turned to frowns as I said i think i am in the wrong place, downed my beer and smiled graciously as i retreated out the door with a sheepish grin on my face. Another lesson learned !!!!!
Onto the next late night attraction. A typical western disco type bar down the street with flashing neon lights and trendy , well dressed men and women coming and going. This was more my style I thought.
Upon entering, my hair, or whats left of it was blown straight back with the high volume of music , or was it just thumping, that was blowing thoughout the relatively small room. I swear the volume was high enough to cause damage and all my inner organs were vibrating from the base. Talking was certainly out of the question and the music was becoming painful after 10 minutes. I downed another beer and exited . Back home i crashed and said to myself, Blue Gator here i come...hahaha
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