I was supposed to meet a friend's friend at the airport who was supposed to settle me down before he arrived in Vietnam later at night as I would be staying in his house for a few days. The person I was supposed to meet was "Nuet" whom I got to enjoy the friendship in the short time that I was in Ho Chi Minh also fondly known as Saigon by the older inhabitants. I checked out of the Saigon Airport with ease. The beauty of hand carry luggage. In my mind there was a nagging concern about the communication barrier.
The heat hit me in my face as I left the airport. I was wearing contact lenses and my eyes were beginning to feel irritated. I saw a person carrying a placard with my name on it. I almost chuckled to myself. My friend who had made the arrangement was really hospitable. I approached Nuet and introduced myself. And there began my first attempt to communicate with a Vietnamese. He was a University undergraduate and he was able to speak English. The wonders of globalization. He beckoned me to follow and told me we were going to take a bus. Or at least that was what I thought I heard. I waited outside a parking lot and out he came on his motor bike. I almost choke. "Bus" was in fact "bike". The pronunciation or maybe the heat was getting to me. And here began the most terrifying motorbike ride I ever had. With my backpack on my back I hopped on to his bike and we entered the city.
Vietnam is not called a motorbike city for nothing. There is no exaggeration to that association because as we weaved through the city on the roads I understood why. There was almost no cars and everywhere you turned you see motorbikes. Bikes coming at you, beside you, behind you.... Did I say coming at you? Yup.... Traffic rules were almost non-existent here. Anyway the air was excruciatingly smoky.
We stopped at a famous cafe or maybe I should say restaurant and had the famous "pho", the Vietnamese beef noodle. I caught a lot of curious stares as I walked into the restaurant. I would learn later that I was abit too muscular and oversized for a Vietnamese. Or perhaps it was the beard. I grew that...I am embarrassed to say to look more mature during this trip.
Anyway the "pho"was awesome. After that we visited the King's palace which cost me 40000 dong which was around 2 US dollars. Handling cash was an inconvenience which I experienced throughout my trip.
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| King's Palace from a distance |
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| Walking around with my backpack |
Eventually after walking around and doing abit of exploration round the city for a few hours we decided to go to my friend, Nam's place. I met his mum who was very friendly and got settled into my room. Took an afternoon nap. Was feeling very sleepy after a lack of sleep the previous night and spent the rest of the night reading and waiting for my friend Nam to arrive in Saigon from Singapore. Tried a few Vietnamese dishes before that in the evening such as tiny fried fishballs, coffee cake and "ice kachang" Viet style. Nam's mum prepared the most delicious dinner...chicken chop fried rice. The whole day of walking around made me very tired and sleepy. After eating...I settled into my bed and suddenly felt very alone. Occupied my time by reading a book from Jon Krakauer. Did I say I brought 3 books along? I would find out later that that was really insufficient and I would start reading Oscar Wilde's De Profundis like a bible because I had nothing else to read.
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| View from my bedroom |
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| My room for the night |
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| Blackout that night. The karaoke lights were still on though. |
That night a blackout occurred between 9pm and 11.30pm. I lighted a candle and waited for my friend who eventually arrived home and I fell asleep quite soundly after the electricity came back and with that the air conditioner. I wondered what the next day would be like.
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