Lessons I have learned so far about Vietnam...

Trip Start Nov 01, 2007
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Trip End Nov 20, 2007


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Friday, November 9, 2007

I haven't yet fallen in love, or even in like, with Saigon or Vietnam.  Perhaps it's because I thought Cambodia was fantastic and didn't want to leave, or perhaps it's because my first introduction was somewhat inauspicious, I don't know.  So far, I have the nastiest room on the entire planet, I've been soaked in a tropical rainstorm, and last night I hid my passport before I went out to eat and now I can't find the bloody thing.  The latter is entirely my own fault; I've hidden it and about $US200 somewhere sensible but because I was so tired, I can't remember where and it probably wasn't in the least bit sensible either.  Anyway, what have I learned so far.....
 
The Vietnamese are a proud race; they don't like to lose face.  So if you ask a question and they don't know the answer, they make it up so they save face.  Great for them, shit for me.  So last night John and I went out to forage for food and I got this experience first hand.  I was delighted to find a restaurant that did meat (for John) and a full veggie menu for me.  I was excited at the thought of mock duck, so that's what I ordered.  When it came, I looked at it and was somewhat surprised to see bones sticking out of it.  We prodded and poked it and decided it was the genuine dead duck article.  I called the waiter and explained he'd given me the wrong dish.  He assured me he hadn't. I assured him he had so he told me they'd done it because they didn't have any mock duck and I could have chicken instead.  Great!  After some wandering around, he came back and agreed to offer me something else, so I eventually got tofu.  It didn't taste nice either; there was something bitter and unpleasant about it.  Still, it was food and that was good.  Won't be eating there again, though.  John's meal was equally unimpressive so it was just a bad restaurant choice with a small lesson in saving face thrown in for free.
 
What else have I learned?  I've learned that a cheap hotel is not always good, especially if you get a room with no window.  My room is pokey although clean but there's NO WINDOW.  It's depressing, and if you get claustrophobic as I do, you are well and truly fucked.  I felt like it was closing in on me last night and ended up sleeping (fitfully) with the bathroom light on because it's also very dark when you turn the lights off.  In the room next to me I think there's an entire Vietnamese family.  I can hear the baby crying and I saw a toddler being carried in late last night.
 
So, today is Friday and it's early in the morning.  I'm up early because some bastard thought knocking on my door at 6:30 was funny; I didn't.  Decision time for me: not only what do I do today after I find my passport, but do I stick with this shitty hotel or move to somewhere nicer, somewhere with a window.  Answers on a postcard please...
 
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