Cholon, also known as Chinatown

The girls (Wakana, Tomoyo and Wynn) and I went to Cholon today.  Cholon means Chinatown and we even got a little bit of history from the taxi driver on the way there.  We only understood about half of it but it was something along the lines of the name of the district changed depending on who was occupying Vietnam.  So in otherwords, it changed a lot.  I’m continuously shocked by how huge Saigon is.  You can drive for 30 minutes in any direction and not even get close to the city limits.  I suppose that’s what

Chinese treats

6 million people feels like.  I love big cities, I dig them and they get me, it’s perfect. 

So we hit up the biggest indoor market in Cholon, Bin Tay.  Most of the markets are in these huge concrete buildings with few windows so they get very hot.  The heat is added to by people and goods being crammed into the space.  Goods spill out of their stalls til each stall is only a foot and a half from each other.  You have to climb over things to make it from one end to the other.  You’re so close to the stuff that it towers over you.  To use a Canadian analogy, it’s kinda like walking in a narrow space between two tall snow banks, you can’t see over them.  There’s so much stuff that it gets quieter the farther you walk into the belly of the market, kinda like a cave.  Saigon is a loud place and the dulling of the noise was something we all noticed.  And the market is divided up into little districts, so a fabric district, shoe district, hair accesories, kitchen goods etc etc.  This saves people from running around I guess.  It was a cave of purses, dried mushrooms and stationary, I loved it. 

What I don’t love is being ripped off.  Today Wakana bought a beautil pair of silk capri pants.  They charged her 80,000 (about 5 bucks).  I walk over to the same vendor to ask about a light white cotton shirt, something obviously less expensive than silk pants, and the price is 150,000 (10 bucks!).  I was pissed.  I asked why and tried to barter but they said no.  It happened at every clothing stall I went to!  They hand out these empty reasons for why it’s expensive, like it’s imported or something.  I looked at a nice purple vest and they wanted 7 or 8 bucks for it, I said no and again, tried to barter, and wanna know what the girl said to me as a reason for it being so amazing it couldn’t possibly be any less than 7 bucks?  “It’s made in China.”  I actually stared at her blankly for a minute with my mouth open.  “Everything’s made in China!”  was my response.  She wasn’t pleased.  I know what you’re saying, seven to ten bucks or a shirt isn’t bad.  I know.  But why should I pay more than some rich Japanese girl, cus I’m white?  No god damn way!  I’m no different.  I’ve put loads of money into their economy by being there, I’m learning their language and living their culture everyday! 

I did manage to find a nice restaurant very close thanks to my trusty guidebook.  That book is awesome, I have everyone believeing in it.  The really fun thing about today was that Wynn, who is from China, got to speak Chinese today.  She doesn’t get to use it here because the Chinese population is small and far away.

A pretty good day.

Karaoke

I’ve been struck down by yet another head cold.  This one doesn’t seem to be as bad as the last one, no fever or anything like that.  Just stuffed up and sore throat. 

Karaoke fas was super fun.  It took a couple of beers but then I hit my stride and did 5 songs, well one was duet, but still pretty good.  My friends were gracious and said I sang well, but I couldn’t hold a candle to them.  Asians are beautiful singers, especialy the girls.  We went to the Saigon Hotel.  They have a karaoke bar on the 10th floor so we had an amazing view of the city at night.  We could see the river and all the signs lit up.  Saigon is much prettier at night.  You can’t see all the garbage and all the lights on the motorbikes and signs light up and it looks like a real city.  (I’ve fallen in love with scooters by the way.  I want one.)  I think Tomoyo, the birthday girl, had a really good time.  I love her.  I want to take her home with me. 

On another note, I’ve booked my flight home.  I leave on the 11th and get home on the 11th, oh the magic of time zones.

Goods accumulation.

Today, Saigon and I had the perfect day. Why you might ask? Because it didn’t piss me off. I figured out how to get Saigon to like me…any guesses? Spend money. And it’s not just me, Saigon would like Hitler if he spent money here. I found two great bookstores today. Sure they’re government run and have no current affairs/poli sci books to speak of but they have great classics sections. The larger of the two stores had books in French, English, Vietnamese, Korean and even some Japanese. Of course in the same government run bookstore there was a section where you could buy knock off handbags and wallets. Figure that out.

I am off to a birthday celebration tomorrow night. Tomoyo, a fellow classmate from Japan, is turning 21 tomorrow so we are going for dinner and then…wait for it…karaoke! I’m gonna be the only white novice karaoke singer in a room full of seasoned Asians. Yikes. Maybe I’ll just watch. Plan B is to fill up with truth serum/ liquid courage and go for it.

Saigon Zoo

We went to the zoo this afternoon and then dinner and drinks.  The zoo was disappointing and sad.  There weren’t that many animals most of them looked pretty sad.  The zoo is right next to the canal and the water level is up so it seeps into the animals pens.  Gross.  The animals drink it and wade  around in it.  Not good. All the girls from class went so two Japanese, one Korean, one Chinese and me.  So lots of pictures and giving the peace sign in every shot.  I forgot my camera at home of course but the girls are going to e-mail me the pics.  I also found the best juice ever!  It’s in a bottle shaped like a kitty in overalls.  So cute!

Dinner was ok.  The Vietnamese have an annoying habit of standing over you until you have ordered.  They stand and stand.  But it’s like that in stores too.  There are just random clerks standing around looking bored and waiting for you to need something.  They have way too many people working in one place.  I ordered ribs and they were out but they didn’t tell us that so I just sat and waited but it didn’t come.  Finally I asked where my food was and they said they were out of ribs.  What the hell!  They don’t bother to tell you to order something else!  Strange.

Oh and I saw another t-shirt today:

“Santa…I can explain.”  Love it.

Nonsensical clothing

I’ve seen a string of shirts over here that have nonsensical English phrases on them. They usually make me chuckle, but today I saw one that made me follow the person wearing it so I could make sure I was reading it right.

The winning phrase:
“Sniffing glue doesn’t help families.”

No joke. Golden eh?

Moped Game

Things I saw balanced on a moped this week:

1) A palm tree

2) 7 flats of Heineken beer

3) 13 of those big blue water barrels, empty thank god.

En Francais

I mailed four post cards today on my way home from school.  For those of you who still want one cough up your address. Sending for of them via air mail cost about $2.50.  They should be to you within the next 5-10 days.  Enjoy.

School was fun today.  I had my lecture class on Vietnamese history and culture.  Today’s subject was Vietnamese Buddhism: past and present and a Mahayana monk taught us!  Very cool.  He was lovely and gave us a lot of info about the formation of all the different Zen schools in Vietnamese history and the current state of the religion.  So good.  I was almost giddy.  He also gave each of us a copy of his book.  It was just published.  He signed it and everything.  He said I looked too young to be in fourth year university and guessed that I has a high school student.  I let that one slide cus he gave me sweet swag.

Also I used my French today for the first time, very randomly I might add.  I was sitting waiting for the bus when the man beside me started asking me question in French.  I asked him how he knew I spoke French.  He said it was the only foreign language he knew and took a chance because I was obviously not from around these parts.  He said French was only common with tourists.  He asked me what I was doing here and I told him I was a student studying Vietnamese.  I was impressed but then I had to go cus my bus showed up.  Pretty cool.  I talk to the most random people waiting for the bus.  I girl around my age saw me one day and asked if she could practice her English with me.  I said “Sure.”

Snail Mail

Forgot to mention earlier…I have a stack of postcards burning a hole in my pocket.  If you want one you gotta give up your address.  Either post it or e-mail me: gykvm@stu.ca.

Sights galore

Ho Chi Minh’s old digs

Fancy room inside the Palace

Maps inside the tunnels beneath the Palace

“Gentlemen! You can’t fight in here! This is the war room!”

The National Post Office. Huge French building.

Today was field trip day.  Thi and I went to the Independence Palace, Saint Marie Cathedral and the National Post Office.  Was pretty good.  They are all right next to each other.  And they’re mere blocks away from the University Campus which I didn’t realize at all.  Stupid tourist.

The Palace was the most impressive.  It’s huge and very modern, by 1960s standards.  It’s dated by the decor but still very imposing.  Rooms were lush but very minimalistic at the same time.  Understated beauty.  Thi explained the meaning behind the colour schemes of the rooms, why they were so big and everything else you could think of.  The tunnels beneath the Palace were my favorite.  They’re more a big system of bunkers than tunnels.  They had map rooms, communication rooms, code rooms, a war room, etc.  Pretty cool.  I saw the jeep Ho Chi Minh rode in to surrender to the North.  The grounds were great too.

The food of Vietnam

So y’all know I’ve been having trouble with the food.  I can’t read everything here so I’m afraid I’ll ingest dog or snake or something along those lines.  Don’t laugh it’s a real concern over here.  I have nailed down three dishes that I like and can now order competently.  Obviously that will have to be broadened in time.

The food in general is pretty good.  Some stuff is a little bland but there is always a bunch of mint, lime, bean sprouts etc on the table to liven things up a bit.  I think Ms Van, my land lady, is concerned with me eating because the Vietnamese are big eaters I don’t seem to be by their standards.  They are huge grazers, they go out after dinner for coffee and more food.

So tonight she showed me around the neighborhood so I could get a feel for all the different stalls etc.  There is a great fruit market close to the guest house.  To get there you have to go through muddy back streets.  I had only been sticking to the main roads.  I get the sense this is where the real Vietnam is, in these back streets.  Most places are run out of peoples houses so you can eat and watch someones TV at the same time.  They are big on smoothies here so she showed me the place she goes to.  The woman is very nice.  She made me a strawberry avocado smoothie with a little bit of sweetened condensed milk.  Whoa!  Amazing!  You gotta try it.  The same woman also makes “hot  dogs.”  They take a George Foreman sandwich maker and pour a sweet batter into it, place strips of hot dog and soft cheese, hold the cheese for me obviously, and cook it.  Once again, amazing.  Smoothie and hot dog thing for under a buck.  So cheap here.  Two huge apples for 60 cents.  I’ve been promised cherries for tomorrow night.