Hope you are all settled down to read this one because it's going to be a long one, as the weekend in Saigon alone was so full of incident that I could write all night about it.
PART ONE: THE FOLKS ARE IN TOWN
My parents arrived in Hoi An this week, for a quick 24 hours on a tour of Vietnam. Having been soaked to the skin with almost torrential rain in the north, their arrival in Hoi An coincided with a spell of pretty nice weather. Having met them for lunch in a rather flash restaurant (posh for me, as I normally eat street food for a ridiculous price of 12,000 dong (30 pence). After lunch we walked around the warm and sunny 'old town' taking in the bizarre sight of a river decoration turtle being transported over land (see picture below)...
After a relaxing coffee by the river we called in at my office, to introduce my colleagues to my parents. This was not without incident, as my neighbour, (who had very kindly offered to give my dad a lift on his motorbike) clearly got confused and left my dad standing alone outside the orphanage! Something was definitely 'lost in translation'. After finding my dad, and bringing him to my office for introductions, I dropped the folks off at their rather swanky hotel, with beautiful pool. I was quick to join them in their nice resort for an evening swim, before heading off into the nicely lit old town for a nice meal at the 'Before & Now' restaurant,, where the chef tried to convince us to eat the biggest sized shrimps & prawns I have ever seen... we politely declined and went for the more renowned pasta speciality. A short walk around the town at night was followed by a return to the folk's resort, before I left on my motorbike to come back to my house.
Breakfast was next on the itinerary, as I joined mum and dad at their hotel once more, for a bite to eat, before they were heading off to Nha Trang for 2 nights. It was a short but eventful visit to Hoi An, and my neighbours were telling my folks how lovely I was... no prompting required! Honestly! Though my work colleagues (especially Miss Lai) were far more interested in telling my parents about my social activities, or at least their version of my social movements, which weren't all complimentary! Cheeky buggers!!!PART TWO: A WEEKEND IN SAIGON
Friday I flew to Ho Chi Minh City on Friday morning, but not before I faced the dilemma of how to get to the airport in Da Nang. I was desperately trying to find a cheaper way to get to the airport other than take a 200,000+ dong (£7) taxi. I was considering hiring a motorbike for the three days and leaving it at the airport over the weekend, when my neighbours very kindly offered to help me out. My neighbour two doors down, (who I rent the motorbike from) said I could have a motorbike for free, whilst my next door neighbour said she's come with me to the airport (45 minutes drive away) and drive the motorbike back. to Hoi An. HOW NICE!!!! This kind of help and generosity are the kind of things that I will always remember. So after arriving in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) I did the local thing ans instead of getting the $15 taxi, I took the 3000 Dong (10 pence) local bus to the city centre, which took me right into the centre of the tourist district, and less than 5 minute walk from my hotel! Bargain!!
Checking into my room took some serious persuasion on my part, as I had received no email confirmation and the receptionist was assuring me there were no single room available... we eventually realised, after a phone call to the other end of the country, (the booking agent) that because my name was written as Taniel, instead of Daniel.. clearly this was too much of a difference for the receptionist to realise I could be one and the same person!
The reason for the weekend in Saigon was because my parents were there as was my good Canadian friend Jessica, who I first met in Bangkok in 2002. Jess was in Saigon with her husband Jason, who I hadn't met, I hadn't seen Jess since 2003... I'd arranged to meet Jess for lunch, but hadn't decided where to meet... I thought I'd just wander to her hotel, but she had exactly the same thought and began wandering to my hotel... rather bizarrely, in this city of 8.5 million people, (and 3.5 million motorcycles!) Jess saw me passing by on the street!! This was to be the first of a few strange (chance encounters). After a nice lunch and the opportunity to finally meet her husband, I returned to my hotel, but not before finding a large group of people gathered around a street corner. When I investigated further, it was none other than Jeremy Clarkson (TV presenter) and the 'Top Gear - television programme' team! (see picture below).
I went on to meet my folks later that day, as they arrived in Saigon, and enjoyed a free complimentary drink at their rather swanky hotel. Later that night I joined Jess & Jason and their cycling group tour, for their farewell meal, and after a great meal, we hit the city nightlife. the bar we went in was not exactly spectacular, and after only 30 minutes of being in the bar, who was to walk in? (yeah you guessed it - my new celebrity stalker) Jeremy Clarkson and the top gear team.... the world is too small.... and just to prove he is stalking me, he and the film crew were here in Hoi An last night too!!! Maybe I need a restraining order? now just a quick mention of 'street life' in Saigon, during a walk down the street to /from the bar, I had one guy step forward from the side of the pavement, put his finger to his nose and sniff... he was trying to offer drugs! On the way back from the bar, near my hotel, a young Vietnamese girl grabbed my arm, and began asking me if I wanted to have "good time for one hour" in a near by hotel room, needless to say she was 'working'! She spent a good five minutes grabbing hold of my hand trying to persuade me to have "good time" with her... but eventually returned to her area of the street!
Saturday in Saigon was another eventful day as I met my mom and dad in the city centre, before we walked around and did some tourist things, like visiting the markets, where I had to barter with the local traders for my folks as they wanted some souvenirs. When I kept insisting that I was not offering enough money, I explained that I lived in Hoi An, so I was used to cheaper prices... one trader just said - "Hoi An - second hand"!!! Cheeky Bugger! Saturday night whilst me, my mom and dad were looking for places to eat, we randomly bumped into Jess & Jason and two of their friends. We all went for dinner together in a pretty nice restaurant where we all ate a serious amount of non-Vietnamese food!!! After saying good night to my parents, I nipped into the local bar 2 doors down from hotel, to watch the football - Man Utd played Blackburn, and needless to say Man Utd cheated their way to victory after disabling the Blackburn goal keeper! - but enough about that! The point of telling you this story was because this was a bar I had been in before, 5 months ago, and the bar girls were very friendly, and wore English football shirts (see picture).
They remembered me, or so they said, and as one them was finishing up her shift, she came chatting to me. I was desperate to get to a nightclub, after 5 months of a quiet night life, so when Thuy (the bar girl) agreed to take me to a place in town, we soon found ourselves heading back down the road, with her flatmate, and found a fairly obvious tourist style bar! I was pretty surprised to find a 150,000 charge for Vietnamese, (not for westerners) clearly designed to keep local people out... I got suspicious and my suspicions were confirmed as it soon became apparent that there were a number of 'escort/working girls' circling the bar, looking for an interested western customers! The drinks were pretty expensive too, so I was relieved to see both my Vietnamese friends drinking Orangina!!! phew!- As I was paying!We left the club after 3, and after a slow walk home, the girls said they were hungry, so we found a local street food cafe, and sat eating a huge bowl of noodles at 0400!!! It was a real fun and unexpected night, and I have to thank Thuy (in the Arsenal shirt) for showing me the night life!
Sunday was a more relaxing day, as after lunch with Jess & Jason, I met my folks for a coffee in the afternoon, and a teary goodbye with mum, before getting the 10 pence bus back to the airport. All was going well, as I had arrived with plenty of time to spare... I was just contemplating my fun weekend as I took a quick sleep at the gate. Though my 'quick sleep' had overrun, as I awoke to a completely empty airport waiting area, and a realisation that all the other passengers had left.... fortunately I got to the gate as I could hear an announcement saying "this is the last call for passenger Daniel Johnson..." I was lucky to board the plane, and even luckier to be sat between two pretty Vietnamese girls. One girl I had a nice chat with throughout the flight, whilst the other girl appeared so scared of flying that she could barely speak. The plane was quite cold, so I gave the scared girl my jumper to keep her warm, and as we landed back in Da Nang, she leaned over and kissed me, saying thank you for the jumper... this is not normal behaviour here... as we boarded the bus to take us to the terminal building she was stood next to me, and again leaned over and whispered to me " you are very handsome"... I love this place!!! ha ha
Being a fully fledged Hoi An Local - and being desperate to get home in time for the Man City vs Liverpool game...(an amazing come back from Liverpool, eventually winning 2-3), I took a motor bike taxi back home. The only problem with this plan was that the rain had returned to Hoi An, and I got soaked sat on the back of a motorbike for 45 minutes in the rain storm!! A crazy end to a crazy weekend!!!
Enjoy the pictures below, from Saigon
Regards from Vietnam
Dan
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