Mui Ne and Nha Trang part 1

At 5am we were waiting for our ride. For the first time, they were running late. Finally at around 5:45 a large van-type vehicle showed up. We joined the others already on board for a total of 11 plus a driver. We were on our way to Nha Trang and Dalat, a four-day journey. Another group of 7 would join us in Nha Trang the next morning. They would be driving all night. There was Jackie, Yen, Jackie’s parents, Yen’s brother in law, who was in charge of the whole affair, his sister and husband and a couple of cousins including Jackie’s 19 year old cousin, who immediately grabbed my arm and became my best friend. I was sure she was only 14, but I guess that’s because I was a very mature 19 year old and kids in Asia are much more sheltered.
So the first stop was breakfast in Saigon. It was just a little hole in the wall, as most places are here and we had the typical breakfast of pork chop and broken rice and of course, café sua da. The reason for the ridiculously early departure times is to avoid the crushing Saigon traffic, which we did successfully when we went to the Mekong Delta at 3 am. This time, we weren’t quite early enough. By 6 am, the city is pretty much in full gear and it takes a couple of hours just to cross and get out of the city. And the city goes on forever. Once we got to the outskirts, I had to laugh at all the statuary sellers. Just like outside of most cities, these big lots, or small, full of big statues, but here they were big Buddhas and Kuan Yins along with huge statues of Jesus with his arms outstretched or the Virgin Mary.
It wasn’t long before we made our next stop, one of the roadside hammock cafes! I was so excited. One of the relatives, I think he’s Yen’s sister in law’s husband’s brother in law, who lives in Northridge, found me a nice hammock and brought me a coconut with a straw. It doesn’t get better than that, let me tell you.


We started going through what seemed like the dragon fruit growing capital of the world. Miles and miles of huge fields of these cactus looking trees with sideshow bob looking haircuts with these weird hot pink mini football spiky fruits hanging off of them.
As far as the eye could see. For hours. We just kept passing towns that seemed dedicated to growing dragon fruit. And people on the side of the road selling big baskets of them, or putting them in trucks and hauling them off. We made another stop at a gas station and convenience store that was surrounded by a huge orchard of these crazy trees. So we all went walking through the fields and picked some and took pictures. They look weird on the outside and inside they’re beautiful, all snowy white and filled with black seeds that look just like poppy seeds. And very sweet and juicy and tasty.
We passed fishing villages with fleets of these beautifully painted blue and red wooden boats. No chance to stop, unfortunately. My biggest frustration and disappointment is passing a beautiful picture every two minutes and not being able to stop and shoot it. This is not that trip and I hope someday that I can take a trip that will allow me to somehow travel without a group so I can go at my own pace and take the kind of pictures I love to take, not the typical tourist shots of common sites and landscapes, but the local people and architecture and flora. It is just so beautiful here, so colorful and lush. And the people are so beautiful and friendly. They always have the most beautiful warm smiling faces. I am trying to capture as much of that as I can, but there is so much more that I have missed.
So we arrived at Mui Ne, a new beach resort development along a stretch of beach that not long ago was bare and is now covered with a whole string of huge resorts like Kona or Lahaina. As we’re driving along a narrow winding road we see one that has big buses lined up on one side of the road and a parking lot filled with smaller van type buses like ours. I was thinking to myself, “Thank god we’re not part of an organized tour and don’t have to stop at a place like this.” Silly me. We pulled into the parking lot and out we went. The place was a zoo! Packed with huge groups of people. Some even had tents set up. There were vendors selling food and souvenirs, kids running around screaming. Fishy smelling. The beach was packed and didn’t look so pretty. I was bumming out. But our tour guide was running around with a huge smile on his face like he knew exactly what he was doing, which he did, but it was too soon for me to stop doubting his knowledge, so I had to be miserable for a few more minutes. A long table was assembled for us

and we sat down. He was running around for a while, I guess ordering for us. Every once in a while he’d come by the table saying ‘So diep…” Not sure what all he was saying except I do know that so diep means scallops and sure enough, that is the specialty around there. And they started coming and didn’t stop till we’d consumed 10 kilos of the poor creatures. They arrived on squares of cardboard, roasted and slightly charred with salt and pepper and lime to dip them in. Delicious! We also had beer and soup and snails and crabs. All so fresh and delicious. He also bought a small bottle of Hennessy with a little shot glass that he passed around for everybody to sip from. That’s supposed to keep you from getting sick from the seafood.
We left without going in the water, which was fine with me since it was just too full of people. We still had to get to Nha Trang, another 200 km away.
Not more than 2 hours later, just in time to go to the bathroom, we stopped at another roadside cafe filled with hammock. This one was even better. All thatched and surrounded by palm trees, scrappy dogs running around and a little girl riding around on a bicycle being adorable and silly. She was trying to ride the bike by sitting behind the seat. I’m not sure why. But she loved me taking her picture, which I took lots of because she was so darned cute.


We didn’t arrive in Nha Trang until around 6:30. I was surprised at what a big city it is. Somehow I had the idea that it was a sleepy beach town. Wrong! And even though it was 6:30 on a Monday night, it was hopping. It turned out there was a huge fair going on. I think we had just missed the parade. The streets were as packed as Saigon and we came to a roadblock, which happened to be where the hotel we were going to stay at was located. So began the search for a place to stay. We went to three different hotels, and of course, I had no idea what was going on, since it was all going on in Vietnamese and nobody cared to translate for me. We were all pretty exhausted and finally we checked into the first place, which was like any cheap roadside motel in the States, except it was right across the street from the beach and right on the main drag. We had half an hour to shower and get ready for dinner.

Strange Fruit

We ate fruit constantly. Somebody was always bringing a bag of fruit to the house. And pretty much every fruit was some bizarre looking thing I'd never seen or tasted before. Even the bananas were totally different. Tiny little finger sized bananas that were really sweet and Jackie's mom would throw them in a steamer. That was tasty too.


Starfruit we just picked off a tree.



This is dragonfruit. We drove through a region that must have been the dragonfruit growning capital of the world. It went on for miles and miles. Craziest looking cactus-like Sideshow Bob looking trees with these big spiky pink fruit hanging off them. Wild!




Jackfruit being cleaned. This is a real delicacy. Sometimes really soft ripe and stinky, but sweet and creamy.


These jackfruit were not so soft and not so stinky and scary.



Dragonfruit in the front. The green ones on the other side, I never found out the name of but they were strange and very sweet and tasty and everybody's favorite.





Don't know what these are called but they were fun and yummy. You just popped the skin open and inside was a fruit very much like a lychee with a big seed, but not as sweet.



The house was always filled with the stench of durian, the favorite of the house. I did finally eat some an it was not horrible if you sort of plugged your nose.

Wedding Day: Country Style

There would be two parts to the wedding. Since the bride comes from the country, the first part would be at her home and more traditional. The second part in Saigon, since that’s where the groom is from originally, although now he lives stateside.
So on Thursday, Yen, the MOG, rented a twenty-five-seat bus to take the family out to the Mekong Delta for the country wedding. She didn’t want to spend the night out there, so she made it a day trip, which meant the bus picked us up at 3 am. We went to bed around 10 o’clock and managed to get up at 2 and get ready. We dressed comfortably for the ride and brought our clothes for the wedding to change into.
We dragged our tired butts onto the bus around 2:45, about 15 of us and headed out around 2:50. These people are punctual. I made the mistake of showing up to the airport at noon for a 1:30 flight and everybody, one by one greeted me with a “You’re late!” From then on, I was known as the flake. It’s been pretty rough overcoming that first impression, but I’m doing my best.
So off we went and the first stop was around the corner picking up Qui’s boss, Jimmy, at his hotel. He flew in from San Francisco just for the wedding. He’s a real outgoing, fun loving kind of guy, so even at 3 am he livened the ride right up. Jackie’s sister in law handed out steamed pork buns as soon as we got on the bus. Once we got going the driver put some awful Vietnamese variety show on the video monitor, full blaring volume. Most of the passengers managed to go to sleep anyway, but the speaker was right next to my head, so I suffered. I finally put on my ipod, but even turned way up, I could barely drown out the bad Vietnamese singing. Finally I noticed it was quiet. Jimmy had gone up to the driver and told him to turn it off. Thank you Jimmy!
It was an interesting drive, in the middle of the night, chaotic Saigon resting up for another crazy day. The streets were amazingly empty, just the odd scooter or truck passing by. When we got out of the city, I was fascinated and intrigued by the roadside attractions. There were all these sort of way stations, either a café with those same mini plastic tables and chairs set up on one side and a whole section of hammocks on the other, or along with the table and chairs was a hammock. There were dozens of these places all along the road. They were open air, no walls, just a ceiling and support posts. They appeared to be open at 4 am, but empty. Then there were the giant cafeteria-like places, huge, cavernous and empty, it’s hard to imagine they could ever fill up, but I suppose when the tour buses come through, they jump. Maybe around 5 o’clock, just as I was thinking I could really use a bathroom, we stopped at one of those. By the time I came out of the bathroom, people were already sitting down for soup. They asked me if I wanted some, but I decided I really didn’t need to be eating at 5 am. I have been trying to curb my eating a little bit, which is not easy, since these people eat constantly. And they are so skinny! I have never been or felt so fat in my life. Being in Vietnam is murder for my body image. So even though I want to try all the interesting, new delicious foods, I am also trying to say no every once in a while. I did have some café sua da, delicious as always. Jackie said she was hungry, but didn’t know what to have. She wanted fried egg on a roll, but wanted to split it, so I gave in. Boy did they fry those eggs. Basically deep-fried. And the flies! I was covered in flies. They were relentless. They were all over the bread, but I ate it anyway. I’ve been fairly careful about my eating…well, not really. I like ice in my coffee, like pretty much everybody else, and I have to eat pretty much anything that’s put in front of me. But so far, so good. I have not been sick at all.
So back to the bus and on our way. As we worked our way into the Mekong Delta, we crossed many rivers, tributaries of the Mekong, and since it was formerly Cambodia, lots of huge, ornate, golden temples, which I didn’t get to take any pictures of because I don’t get to stop every five minutes like I would if I wasn’t on a bus full of people. Damn it!
Around 7:30 or 8 I heard the unmistakable flapping of a flat tire. And had my usual reaction, ‘Oh no, it just sounds like a flat tire, it’s…’ But no, it was a flat tire. So we pulled over and all the men jumped out of the bus to help the driver change it. I guess they didn’t have the proper tools, because he had to run across the road to some truck garage to get something and it took at least half an hour or 45 minutes, while the ladies sat in the bus and slept or put on makeup. A woman came buy selling sweet sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, all tied in a bunch. Just like the tamale ladies in Mexico. There are so many things here that remind of Mexico. So we got some of those and they were delicious. Still warm!
Then we were on our way, but we had to stop to get the tire fixed so we headed to the nearest town, where the driver dropped us off at a soup stand so we could eat. Again! It’s kind of funny how we roll into a place, all 12 or 15 or however many there are of us and somehow a huge table is assembled and food and beer start arriving, like a hurricane blowing in. I really didn’t want to eat a whole bowl of soup, but it’s impossible to refuse food around here. Fortunately, Yen came to my rescue and split a bowl with me. There was a huge temple across the street I really wanted to try to get a picture of, but just as I was getting ready to go, a cloud burst open and we were stuck in another torrential downpour. They usually don’t last too long, but you never know.
The bus came and picked us up and off we went, past more rivers and temples and thatched huts and fields of rice. Such a rich land, so green and beautiful.
We got to a little sort of motel where we all piled into a room to change and get ready. At some point, Jimmy told me that we were really in for an adventure, that we would be getting off the bus and taking a boat down the river and then getting on motorcycle taxis to the wedding. Jimmy has a way of making me think he’s lying all the time, so I didn’t believe it, but sure enough, after we left the motel, we got back in the bus and arrived at a bridge, where we all got off and loaded down with the wedding trays, tramped down a muddy path to a boat that was straight out of Apocalypse Now.


Traditionally, the groom’s family presents a certain amount of trays of gifts to the bride’s family. These trays consist of tea, fruit, liquor, a roasted suckling pig and jewelry for the bride along with red envelopes of cash for the bride’s parents. Apparently, the tradition is that the bride’s family will demand a certain amount of money and jewels or whatever from the groom’s family. If the groom’s family is really rich, they meet the demands. If the bride’s family doesn’t want her to marry the groom, they demand things they know he can’t deliver. But if the bride’s family likes the groom, as is the case with Hue’s bride, they don’t demand anything. But they did bring lots of jewels and cash and trays covered with ceremonial red cloth and a pig! There we all were, all dressed up, although they had arranged because of the rain and the mud, to not wear the traditional costumes they were going to wear. I wish I had worn my plastic flip-flops, instead of my leather sandals. Oh well!
The boat ride was great! It was a pretty big (relatively) boat and we were all seated along the sides down below. But when I saw Qui was standing out front, I ran out there to take pictures. There are moments in life when you sit back and think, “Wow! How did I get here?!” This was one of those moments. Motoring along on a boat up the Mekong River. Un freaking believable! We passed fields of rice and other crops, cows, kids playing. We got to what seemed like a huge lake where several rivers seemed to all come together. It took a long time to cross that, then up more river till finally we got to a little dock, where we disembarked and sure enough, were met

with a bunch of guys on motorcycles. I hopped on one and Jimmy hopped right on behind me, holding his tray, me holding my camera and trying to take pictures the whole way. Then we got to a little muddy path where were greeted by the maid of honor holding a video camera. This was some serious jungle and I was sure I’d be the one to slip on my butt in the mud. Luckily, we all made it in one piece.
So the wedding was at the bride’s house, a little pig farm, orchard out in the middle of the jungle. They had the outside set up with tables and covered and hung with lanterns and red cloth. The immediate family was taken directly into the living room and the rest of us were shown to one of the big round tables. There was a group of young people sitting at one table already. I think I probably made a bit of splash, being the only white person there and I would guess maybe the

first white person ever to visit them. Just a guess. I kept looking over my shoulder at the room where the ceremony was clearly taking place and wondering if I should really be all the way out there at a table or taking pictures, like I had promised them. Besides, this is what I came for! One by one, the rest of the people at my table got up and went in there until I was the last one at the table. Next thing I knew, the table of young people next to me all got up and sat down at my table! They were so sweet! A couple tried to speak English to me and introduced themselves. We ate watermelon seeds and I took some pictures. Finally, I had to get up, and just in time. When I got to the doorway, the bride was just about to come out and be presented. She was so beautiful! She wore a traditional red and yellow brocade dress, with orchids in her hair.

There was a long table in the center with the parents on either side and uncles and grandparents. The aunts were seated on one side on a platform. On the other side of the room was an old traditional four-poster bed. There was an old guy with two teeth and a microphone (sounds like a song) emceeing the ceremony and a videographer who seemed to be orchestrating the whole thing. After the bride came out and the groom handed her the bouquet, which was green-tinted roses with a white feather boa wrapped around it and hanging down and trimmed with plastic rhinestone flower things, they went through the presentation of the jewels. All the red boxes were lined up on the table and opened and the videographer took lots of footage of them lined up just so. First she was presented with the diamond earrings that the MOG put in her ears. Then the bracelet, which the groom put on. Then the diamond necklace he put on as well. Then the ring. Then there was a diamond ring for the groom that she put on his finger. Then each of the relatives was presented one by one to give words of advice or good luck wishes to the happy couple, who presented them with a cup of some liquor. Once they’d worked their way through everybody in the room, I think, they asked me to come up! I couldn’t believe it. I tried to say no, it just didn’t seem right, but it certainly wasn’t right to refuse, so I went up there and tried not to get all choked up with my own emotion of feeling so honored at just being there and then treated like a part of the family by these people who just two weeks before were complete strangers.
Then we ate. And drank lots of beer. “YO!” And then we left. Oh! After I got a tour of the pigpen. Those were some fine looking pigs! Big and healthy and clean and eating up their slop like happy little piggies.


So, I had just asked Yen how we were getting back and she said, “The same way.” But then Jimmy said no, we’re going back another way, on a different boat and no motorcycles. He wasn’t lying. Just over a little hill, was another riverbank with another, smaller boat waiting for us. The old folks got in the covered part, which was just a little box. The rest of us sat in the open air. Jimmy brought the beer. We motored and meandered along the narrow river through palm fronds which whipped us in the face with mud and it was all fun until we got to the big lake, where the boatman kicked it into gear and we took off. It was like taking a speedboat across the San Francisco Bay. Or Splash Mountain. We bounced bounced bounced across the lake and with every bounce we got completely drenched with Mekong River. This was an adventure that was nowhere near ending. But we were all quite happy when we got to the end of that part and arrived back at the bridge where the bus was waiting for us. And our clothes were waiting for us and we all changed out of our soaking wedding clothes right there on the bus. And then we were off again. We stopped for coffee and WC and when we got back on the bus, Jimmy had a bag of beer and ice and a glass which we all passed around for the next several hours till we got to a town that specializes in some kind of fish soup, so we stopped there and had dinner. Then off again and at the next stop, a huge rest area/restaurant/gift shop we got another flat tire.
By the time we got home, it was 11 pm. What a day!

Saigon Scooter

Last night Jackie’s cousin Loc took us downtown to the main tourist drag to meet a friend of his who teaches English. He and his daughter picked us up on scooters and we made the treacherous journey downtown. It was my first time getting dressed up (relatively speaking) and my first time putting on makeup since arriving. The best dressy/casual thing I had to wear was a denim mini-skirt. Not the best thing to wear on a scooter, but definitely attention getting.
We started out the trip in our fairly quiet peaceful little neighborhood, but quickly jumped right into the pandemonium and I took a big deep breath, held on tight and braced myself. Have you ever seen salmon swimming upstream? Ants scurrying over a fresh victim? The beginning of the New York City Marathon? How do you jump into that? Well, you just go.

And then there you are, part of the race. The noise is really the first thing that hits you. The buzz of the scooters and the constant tooting of the horns. And it’s not an American blaring of the horns: "Fuck you a-hole, out of my way!" It’s more like ‘Here I am, watch out.’ It’s a constant weaving, in and out, back and forth, vying for position, dodging a vendor cart or slow bicycle. Want to make a left turn? Don’t wait! Just go! So there are 150 scooters coming straight for you? Just go! They’ll go around you. You’re on the wrong side of the street? Who cares! Just drive against traffic and when you get a chance go straight through them to the other side of the street. And you’re never too young to learn! The cutest thing ever is a little 2 year old sitting in front with his little hands on the handlebars. Sometimes you’ll see a family of four, two little ones sandwiched between mom and dad. Or a family of three: mom and dad with grandpa in the middle looking like he’s on his way to or from the hospital. Kids don’t need helmets, by the way. Adults all wear their little mini-helmets, but kids never do. One common sight is dad in front driving with mom in the back holding baby standing up on the seat in the middle, no helmet.
I admit, I did scream a couple of times. Once when I guy coming from a cross street just turned right onto our street full speed, never slowed down or looked, just flew right into the stream. And almost hit somebody and got hit, but veered around and kept moving. And nobody blinks an eye!
Some guy behind us got my attention by pointing at my ass. Well I wasn’t exactly sure that’s what he was pointing at, but he kept pointing and I kept looking behind me, wondering, ‘Is something sticking out?’ I guess it was my ass. Then he was just sort of smiling, giving me the unmistakable ‘eye.’ I guess I stick out like a sore thumb on the back of a scooter in Saigon traffic. Jackie said she was watching all the men looking at me and talking about me. ‘Oh, she’s so big!’ Since I dwarfed her cousin in front of me, and they were all wondering if I was Vietnamese and how he scored a chick like me. Stuff like that.
Finally, I relaxed and just enjoyed the ride. I always loved riding on motorcycles back in my younger days. I had a few boyfriends who had them, not to mention my uncle, so I spent quite a bit of time riding around, no helmet, shorts, not a care. Those days are long gone. I haven’t been on a motorcycle in years and the way people drive in San Francisco, I’m in no hurry to get back on one. Ironically, the way people drive here, I can’t believe I didn’t even hesitate. But I will tell you, Saigon by scooter is the only way to go. I wouldn’t be the driver, but behind an expert, it is the best way to see and feel and smell and hear the city. Riding around in a cab feels somewhat safer, but certainly much more removed. On a scooter you are in it, part of it. You look right in people’s eyes as they come within inches of you and zip by. And you don’t have to worry about parking. There is no street parking. Parking is just a whole bunch of scooters parked on the sidewalk. So you just get to wherever it is you’re going and pull up on the sidewalk and maybe there’s a valet who will squeeze you in with all the other scooters and keep an eye on it for you. Or if you’re going to somebody’s house, you just pull right in the front door and park in the living room. I’m not joking! The other day a whole bunch of relatives came by for a visit. There were four scooters in the house, so everybody else had to park outside.
I wish I had had a video camera to capture the insanity in living color. Fortunately, somebody already has on youtube!

Shells for Dinner

Last night we, all 10 of us, piled into two taxi vans and headed out to dinner. It was my first time experiencing Saigon traffic, and I have to say, that is an adventure in itself. I’ve never seen anything like it. And I’ve been to Rome. And Beijing. And lived in New York. Nothing I’ve seen and nowhere I’ve been compares to this. First of all, everybody rides a scooter. There are a few cars and trucks, some bicycles, and hardly any buses. And the only rule is there are no rules.

Even though lanes are painted on the street, they are almost completely ignored and nobody has any problem with driving against the flow of traffic to go around a car that’s moving too slow or not moving at all. Traffic lights are rare and it seems like the only vehicles that stop at a red light are cars. Most of the scooters sail right through. Most of the major intersections have these huge roundabouts and let me tell you, that’s where things really get hairy. Do not try this at home. And I would not recommend driving here under any circumstances. It’s scary enough when you’re in a taxi and you trust the driver knows what he’s doing. The way it works is everybody is part of this dance, this chaotic flow. You are sure that guy coming straight toward you, or in the case of the roundabouts, that wall of scooters coming toward is going to hit you, but they don’t. They come straight at you from every direction and you keep moving forward right at somebody else, but they stop and wait or veer around and everybody just goes on their merry way. If an American were part of this melee, like me for instance, they’d be screaming at everybody, ‘Hey, what the hell are you doing, are you crazy?!’ But nobody’s screaming or yelling or even mad or frustrated. I guess the bottom line is, nobody’s scared. It seems like everybody is quite comfortable with the chaos. But apparently people do get hurt. There are something like 1000 traffic related deaths a month in Vietnam. It looks like people should be getting hit every five seconds, but I haven’t seen an accident yet.
We arrived safely at a sidewalk restaurant where five or six plastic children’s play tables were pulled together along with 10 tiny plastic children’s chairs. We all sat down. I never saw anybody look at a menu, but the food just started coming. First we each got a little dish of nuoc mam and another of salt, pepper and chili with a lime that I saw other people squeezing into the mix, so I did the same. Beers were brought and the toasts started and continued about every minute and a half throughout the meal. ‘Yo!’ The first dish was steamed clams with lemongrass and ginger.

Everybody just dug right into the hot clams, pulling them right out of the bowl with their fingers. Delicious and so fresh! Next were eggs on little soft-boiled egg stands. I love eggs, but then Jackie’s brother-in-law, Qui, told me with that ever-present twinkle in his eye exactly what it was. "The baby’s still inside!” Yes, I’d heard of these and probably saw Anthony Bourdain eat them on one of his shows, but I couldn’t do it. Everybody else did, of course, and loved them. Next was some kind of baby conch. I did try those. Not bad, if a little chewy, but the claw-like foot thing was a little too sharp and pointy to eat. Then we each got soup. It was kind of a barley-clam-pepper gelatinous stew that was delicious. ‘Yo!’ Some sort of snail in a caramely kind of sweet sauce was next. I have actually never eaten snails before, but after passing on the baby chick, I decided I had to try everything else. And what’s a snail next to a baby chick in a shell?

The snails were actually very tasty. There was a sort of hard plastic-like barrier you had to get past to get to the snail. I’m not sure what that was, but it didn’t seem to dissolve or chew, so I just spit that out. There were also mussels with crushed peanuts and scallions.

Quite nice. And again, everything so fresh! Next came the giant prawns! Wow! Huge! Practically a baby lobster. I guess they were grilled or maybe broiled since the shells were slightly blackened. They were too hot to eat, but I kept trying. I ripped the head off and peeled the shell, but kept having to put it down and wait for it to cool. Jackie’s dad just grabbed one and took a bite right out of the head. He ate every bit of that poor mini-lobster. It never had a chance!
So while we’re sitting there eating this amazing meal, there’s a whole scene going on on the street: traffic flying by, horns honking, scooters buzzing. A woman walked up to the table and stood there across from me holding a durian, aka stinky fruit, in each hand. She just stood there staring at me, I guess because I was the only person at the table who made the mistake of making eye contact with her. She just stood there with those horrible prickly things, holding them out to me, waiting for me to say, ‘Sure, I’ll take both!’ or something. Unfortunately for both of us, I have not yet acquired the taste for that odd delicacy. Next was a woman with a folding tray of cigarettes. Qui examined her collection for quite a while, but I lost track of whether or not he ever bought any. Then there were young girls and old women who came around selling lottery tickets. There was a very dirty woman holding a baby who had no underwear or diaper on. I think she was just asking for change. There was a boy squatting on the sidewalk scrubbing something. I couldn’t see what it was that he was scrubbing because he was on the other side of the table and behind a bicycle. Finally he stood up and it looked like he was holding these white strings, kind of like he was doing a magic act. ‘These strings are the same length. Now this one’s longer. Where’d the knot go?’ I noticed there was a pair of running shoes next to him and finally, I realized he’d been scrubbing the laces. At first I thought they were his shoes and how odd it was that everybody else seems to be hustling one way or another, but here he is scrubbing his own shoelaces. Finally, I saw him after he had re-laced the shoes take them over to a big table of men who were sitting behind us. The one they belonged to seem to be dissatisfied with the job, pointing to spots on the rubber that I guess weren’t up to par. The trials of the modern shoeshine boy. But every time he passed our table, he gave me the sweetest smile.

At the table next to us was a little family: mom, dad and son. Dad was a big guy who seemed like a hard, tough businessman. Not necessarily a suit and tie type of businessman, but definitely a guy who takes care of business. Obviously ‘successful’ and ‘the boss.’ Mom had a lot of makeup on and a silly, but probably expensive Cleopatra-type haircut and I don’t think she said more than two words during the whole meal. Actually, nobody seemed to talk much, or smile. Quite a contrast from our boisterous animated table. Anyway, she seemed bored and distracted. Almost like a barely necessary appendage. It was all about Junior. He sat between them at the head of the table. He was such a chip off the old block, a perfect ‘mini-me’ of his father. He was maybe ten years old and was close to being as cocky and self-assured as his dad looked. He sat just like his father, like a bulldog, and disinterestedly tried the different things his dad kept giving him to eat. Until his father gave him a taste of the juice from the inside of the giant prawn head. He got this strange expression on his face, kind of pursed his lips and then turned his head and spit it out right onto the sidewalk. Then a couple of seconds later he turned his head and spit out some more.
People kept showing up throughout the meal and our table kept expanding. Fortunately there was plenty of food for everybody. I think we ended up with about 15 people. When the check came, it went to Jackie’s brother-in-law who was sitting next to me and I snuck a peek. I was dying to know how much a feast like this had cost. 1,880,000 dong. Just one hundred dollars!

Salon Day #1

Salon day #1

So Qui, Jackie’s brother-in-law, said he’d take me to a place where they’d wash my hair and give me a scalp massage and a facial. Jackie and I were already planning on getting a manicure and pedicure. Yes, they do that here! Cheap! Surprised? So we went to this little place not very far away. One girl started doing my feet while another girl started on my hands. I had to pick a design for my nails. Not just a color, but one of probably hundreds of designs all painted delicately on fake nails in little plastic cases. I chose goldfish on a pale green background for my toes. I decided to have just a solid color on my fingers: a light peach.


Jackie got a manicure and Qui got a straight shave. There was another girl there who was quite interesting. She was wearing this super tight denim outfit. The pants were beyond skinny jeans. They might have been attractive if it wasn’t for the VPL. The top was a sort of a bustier overflowing with what I suspected and Jackie confirmed were probably fake tits.
Turned out she was getting hair extensions. The extensions were already in and they were combing them out. They looked remarkably real. I made up a story in my head about her being a stripper, but Jackie thought she just had a lot of money and could afford to spend it on pampering herself. Who knows, maybe both stories are true.
It took 3 different girls to complete my nails. One girl did all the prep work on my feet. The girl who did my fingers did the base for my toes and another girl who had been painting some fake nails on a card, possibly new designs, came and finished the detail work on my goldfish toes. I felt quite pampered. We decided to stay there for my shampoo and facial. I was taken upstairs to a room with facial lounge chairs and laid down and the nice girl who had done my finger nails started washing my hair and massaging my scalp. What a massage! And what a shampoo! I think she spent 45 minutes on my head! In between she gave me a facial massage topped with a collagen mask. The best part was when she'd massage my face with her forearms. I have never had anybody do that to me before. Wow! It is wonderful! So soft and gentle. Meanwhile Qui got his hair washed and Jackie watched and drank several beers.
After my very relaxing facial and massage, we went back downstairs where the proceeded to style my hair. Two girls with two blow dryers drying and then with two flat irons straightening. I’ve got quite a bit of hair so even with double duty, it took forever. Then Jackie’s father showed up for a manicure and pedicure.
Once they finished, my hair looked amazing and I felt like a new woman. I was starting to look a little rough around the edges after a very long trip and a pretty full day, no showers and very high temperatures and high humidity. So it was really a wonderful, luxurious thing to do and great timing. Talk about feeling spoiled!
So once they finished, Qui went to the desk with me to pay. He translated for me that for everything I had plus Jackie’s manicure it was 130,000 dong. So Jackie owed me 10,000 and I should give them 50,000 for a tip. The exchange is 18,000 dong for a dollar. Which equals a manicure, manicure/pedicure, shampoo, facial and blow dry/style and a tip for $10!!! Hallelujah! I told Jackie her manicure was on me. And asked Qui, “What time tomorrow?”

New Adventure:Vietnam!

Sitting in an internet cafe next to a goldfish pond with a smiling frog lounging in a bamboo boat and drinking a super sweet iced Vietnamese coffee. How do you order Vietnamese coffee in Vietnam? Guess what! They don't call it Vietnamese coffee. Kind of like how they don't call them french fries in France. Anyway, luckily I'm in an internet cafe and my favorite past-time is googling. So if you're ever in Vietnam and you feel like an iced Vietnamese coffee and you're not in an internet cafe, it's called Ca phe sua da.
I arrived in Saigon two nights ago. I'm here with my friend Jackie and her family. She's from here originally, but has lived in the States since she was 20. We're here for her nephew's wedding. I flew here with Jackie, her parents, her sister and her sister's son, the groom. We're staying at her sister-in-law's second house, a property just around the corner from the house she and her family live in. Not too fancy. Nobody's lived there for a long time. It has the bare necessities. A bed in a bedroom with a/c (thank god!) for Jackie and me, and downstairs the same for Jackie's parents. Finally got the hot water heater working in the bathroom. The only sink is in the kitchen. But we're not going to be there much.


Every member of the family that I've met so far, and it's quite a large extended family, is so sweet and friendly and warm. They don't all speak English, but some do, and little by little I'm getting to know them and all their stories. Pretty amazing stuff. I plan to find out as much as I can about them and post the stories here along with my little adventures and lots o' pix for your entertainment and edification. Check back regularly. I'll do my best to keep up!