Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City
Arriving tired from his Dubai adventures, our hero catches a taxi to the Pham Ngo Lau area. His taxi driver has taken him for a ride, charging him 20 us dollars, when half that would have done nicely. Never mind hero.
He crosses the road slowly as instructed, with eyes closed, as seems right. It is so busy he will either die, or a miracle will occur. He makes it. Miracles 1, Mr Death 0. He has booked his hotel before arriving, so is quickly settled. His room noisy, right next to reception. Neuman! he exclaims.
He goes to sleep early and wakes up at 2am and finds the tv fairly boresome till noon.Wandering around, he locates a coffee shop, meets up with and AFL stars sister and is generally scared. He finds a few bars and susses them out. They are OK. He buys a photocopied book for too much money. He drinks Saigon beer at Go2 Cafe, and Allez boo and Le Bar.
The next day, being perhaps a Thursday, he plans to tour the mekong delta at 8am catching a bus. He sleeps till 2pm and misses the bus, losing his 10 USD. Coffee and a german girl complain will shortly ensue.
He discovers Notre Dame Cathedral and goes to mass there, in Vietnamese. He goes to confession with a priest that can barely speak english. He gives himself 1 decade of the rosary as penance as the priest seems to have forgotten that. This is OK, as he likes to assign to himself more than the customary 1 hail mary.
He is still tired from his Dubai experience of chasing the girl and not feeling at home.
He spends a restless night watching tv and plans to travel to An Hoi, as he has heard good things about their tailoring. His flight leaves at 3pm. He travels there and is greeted at the airport by his hotel taxi driver.
His room is not ready. They give him another, with 3 beds and fantastic finishings. He likes.
He sleeps at 2am. He likes An Hoi, it is quieter than Saigon.
He meets a friend and has beers for 12p each. He likes this place. He seems some temple ruins without much explanation. His tour guide is called Spider man.
He eats again, and says goodbye to his friend Emily he has seen here. He feels human for 10 minutes today and nearly has optimism.
Will he go to Thailand or fly home straight from Singapore? He will sleep on it. He is reading Ian Rankin's last Detective Rebus novel and wants to buy his first.
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