A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Since I've been here almost five months, I've developed a rather dull routine, and these days I seldom venture far from my familiar haunts. But in the last couple of weeks I've ended up in several places where I'd swear I was one of the first foreigners in the neighborhood. I know what it is to be a zoo animal.

Last Monday I went to celebrate a friend's birthday in a neighborhood not far from the main downtown market here in Saigon. The "restaurant" at which we were celebrating (really more of a draft beer cafe that served food on the side) was on a virtually deserted street, something I didn't think was possible here. When I left the other revelers at around midnight and walked out front to find a cab or motorbike driver to take me home, it was only to discover that there were absolutely no moving vehicles to be seen. In Saigon! Imagine that! The street was quite residential, and after a very confusing conversation in Vietnamese with a couple of drunk guys out front, I set off walking in an attempt to find a busier intersection.

OK, right now I know my mother is shuddering at this whole story. I mean, what kind of idiot starts walking down a dark deserted street in a foreign country at midnight? A slightly drunk one, that's who. Clearly my judgment was somewhat impaired from the "bia hoi" (draft or "fresh" beer) we were consuming by the two liter plastic bottle. That stuff is strong, and I fully believe it is laced with some kind of amphetamine, considering how perky it makes me.

In any event, I jauntily pranced down the deserted street until I came to an absolute beehive of activity, but certainly not the kind I expected. All of a sudden there were lights everywhere, makeshift coffee shops set up, and hundreds of people hauling baskets around and supervising and sorting piles of vegetables and fruits in the middle of a wide street. Since I don't believe this street actually has a market during the day, I had obviously managed to happen upon a market clearinghouse, where large trucks from the countryside drop off their goods which are sorted and shuttled to local markets.

You can imagine the looks I was getting there. I mean, it can't be too often that they get a foreign woman picking her way through their huge piles of veggies, dodging hand carts and motorbikes in an attempt to find a street with a taxicab. I managed to make it through with many friendly "hello"s coming my way, and found a motorbike guy to take me home just a couple blocks later.

© 2003 Katy Warren

posted by Katy at 3:24 AM