Back to Saigon

It seems that everyone calls Ho Chi Minh City by its old name, Saigon. That makes me think that dear old Ho Chi Minh was not so highly thought of. For whatever reason, the old name has hung on. So, after packing my little-ish bag, I caught a taxi to the bus station. It was fairly cheap. But, taking the taxi from the station in Saigon was a bit pricier since we had to travel quite a distance to the hostel that I had stayed at last time I was here: Vietnam Inn Saigon.

As we were coming into the city center, we passed by a McCafe! Wow! This was quite a revelation to me! You mean there's actually a McDonald's in Vietnam? So far I hadn't seen any. So, after I had taken my bags to my bunk, I went down to the front desk and asked one of the English-speaking staff if there was a McD's anywhere. Turns out, there's one right down the street!

 While walking in the park one day in the merry, merry month of March, through the trees all around, what to my wondering eyes should appear but two golden arches of a McDonald's Restaurant!


 

 I know it's pathetic, but I really, really needed a cup of coffee. What I had been drinking for over 3 weeks was flavoured syrup water of some strange, yucky stuff. Sorry. My personal interpretation.


 

It's a lovely park that runs the length of the street right outside of the hostel where I'm staying. You'll spot loads and loads of Westerners from all over the world. 

There's a bit of water, like a stream in the park, surrounded by fencing and sitting there were these two boats. The bigger river boat is still under construction.





Coffee first, market second. These are crocodile heads. Obviously. Any animal rights activists reading this? Well, if you're of the mind, you can come here and throw paint on these guys. They cost a fortune too! I think they're asking $75 US. Come on! I don't even know what they're good for. At first I thought they were really ugly wallets. I even thought you could open the mouth to put your money in. But, not. They are some sort of strange and different ornament. I can just see somebody taking one home and putting it on their coffee table to scare the poop out of their visitors. Then, little Jonny gets the bright idea to sneak up on Grandma and wave a crocodile head in her face. (I'm way ahead of you guys. Don't DO such a thing to your poor, sweet granny!)

 This shop totally fascinated me because of all the pretty trinkets and utterly useless junk they had. But I wanted to buy it all. Don't ask me why! There was a shell I had a particular attachment to but it was outrageously priced. They cut the price down a quarter and I almost got away but another lady took my arm and remonstrated how she hadn't sold ANYTHING ALL DAY because it was SO HOT today. She seemed so sincere that I almost believed her. Then she cut the price in half. Although it was still too high, I CAVED. Now I am a proud owner of a totally useless sea shell. But it's SO PRETTY.

 She's the younger, cute shop vendor. I mean she's cute, not the shop. What the heck IS all this stuff?

 Ok, it's useless clutter, but, isn't most everything we buy? A guy at another booth very proudly showed me his buffalo horn pickle forks. I mean, shouldn't everyone have a buffalo horn pickle fork?

If I could afford it, I'd buy two of these for everyone I know and ship it to them because I DON'T have a HOUSE TO PUT THEM IN! Ha! Saves me from buying a lot of clutter.

                                                                                 A colourful fruit stand.

 Even up close, these plastic flowers look real. When I saw a guy spraying them with water, it made me think they were alive. I had to go and touch a stem to see it was plastic.






 Pretty but fake. But, still pretty.

 Wait a minute. What's that over there? Can you see it? YES! A coffee shop!

I couldn't resist. I ordered a cappuccino and was pleasantly surprised to get a nice big bowl-sized cup!

Vinh Long City

Here's the hotel room where I stayed for 10 days or so. It was comfortable with air con and a fan as well as a hot/cold shower, Western toilet, large flat screen TV, cable and double bed. All this for only 120,000 Dong per day/night. (If you only stay at night, the price is less.)

The cleaning ladies would come in every three days or so, but I have to say, their floor washing water smelled like cat pee. I don't think they put cleaner in their water. One time, I took the cleaning lady's mop and sprayed it with a green cleaner I'd bought for the bathroom. She was really perturbed when she caught me red-handed spraying her mop. I told her, "It smells nice. Don't worry." in sign-language.

 Here's my motorcycle gang. We travel in gangs here. Down back alleys, over pot-holes, bouncing through gullies and over narrow strips of gravel road. It's adventurous. If you like that kind of thing.

 Here we are at some reputable restaurant hidden out in the jungle somewhere that I'd never be able to find again. You know, even if I really loved the food and wanted to return.

 I don't remember seeing a name on the place. Maybe they should call it "Red and Blue Little Stool Restaurant". The funny thing is, they bring you the food and you get to cook it yourself on a bar-b-que type cooker thingy that heats up the place even more.

                            One of the students. She kindly co-operated to have her picture taken.

Here's Harry trying to teach me some Vietnamese. I learned to count to ten and a few other things.

               It was Mei's birthday so she's opening some presents while we wait for our lunch...

                                                                      Here's the cooker thingy.

 It does warm up the place but you get to cook your own food. What did we cook? Mostly frogs!

 This is my boss, Ms Theu. She is actually married with two kids but calls herself "Ms".

                             Harry offered to take my picture with the group. That's me in the red.

Ms Theu told me that the gov't required an official letter from the CEO of my former school stating that I had worked for him for 5 years. So, I waited for two weeks to get an official letter from him that never came. I guess it's a good idea to prepare this kind of thing ahead of time. After 2 weeks waiting for the letter, I decided to leave. Besides, this kind of small town mentality just wasn't my cup of tea. No offense, but I hate being gawked at by the locals. After a while, you start to feel like a circus freak show. It's just really annoying. And I say that with all the empathy I can muster.

I taught for 5 days at the school. They asked me to come in at 7:30 on Saturday morning but I simply couldn't make it after having stayed awake most of the previous night. (There's a huge window in my room with no curtain on it, just a thin layer of mac-tac that doesn't keep out the light from two fluorescent lights that are directly outside of said window.) Ms. Theu called at 8 am or so and I ambled into the school a while later. Had I known they had no intention of paying me, I would have stayed back at the hotel that morning.

After the fifth day of teaching, I asked about my salary. The next day, I got a call from a teacher telling me that the Police had come to the school so I shouldn't come in that day. They wanted me to wait for my visa. (That's when alarm bells started to go off and I thought, "I'm sure they'll pay me. They wouldn't not pay me, would they?")

Three days later, with no reply from my former school, I decided I should move on. I needed a job and this town just wasn't cutting it for me. I mean, it was boring. I guess if I had some vocabulary of Vietnamese, I could have made some local friends, but, who knows?

By the time I moved out, I had to pay a 10-day hotel bill and the school only paid half of it. They told me it was a "donation" from the school because I was really only "playing" with the kids. Lesson learned: Always communicate up front about your salary. One day of free teaching is fine, but I never expected to work 4-hours a day teaching several different classes and not get paid for it. Most schools I have worked for will provide housing and food as well as a salary. But, not in this school. I have yet to discover how other schools in Vietnam operate.

I was very polite but I informed Ms. Theu that I could not afford to work for free. I asked her if she could afford to work for free and she said, "No." She said that other foreigners would do it, so that's why she thought I would. But, then she also said that the Police had shown up at her school conveniently right after I had asked about my salary. My reply was that I was surprised that anyone could afford to work for free.

Usually, if you're looking for work, it's because you need the money.

                                                                           My bowl. It's octopus. Chewy.

                They really cooked the frogs well until they were black. But the octopus didn't turn dark.

  Frog! Does it taste like chicken? I DON'T KNOW! I WOULDN'T EAT IT. Call me a chicken.

Vietnam is a Relaxing Place to Visit!

Here's a cute little turquoise house with a flat roof. Notice the mess of electrical wires overhead. Electricity is run out to these rural areas nowadays but the power is not totally dependable. It does tend to go off every once in a while.

 
 
 Here's a picturesque little shelter. It may be for the farm hands to take a nap in.

 

                              Dragon fruit trees sheltering their red fruit like hens under their feathers.

                                                                                Nothing fancy but it's home.

                                    Getting close to the city, we can see a pagoda off in the distance...

 There it is! Ho Chi Minh City... or as most people here call it, Saigon. Coming into the city, we were immediately surrounded by passing motorcycles by the droves. There are zillions of them!

 Vietnam is socialist, they say, but I'm thinking there are lots of communist type posters around. Albeit, the Police or Military never jump onto the bus to check your ID in Vietnam as they do in Thailand. In Thailand, we wouldn't be on a bus for more than half an hour before the bus was boarded by Military men checking identification. Maybe they were looking for criminals. But they asked me once to show them my passport. Mind you, it only happened once and they were very polite about it.

On the Road in Vietnam

 I was snapping pictures from the bus. I didn't always get what I focused on. This is part of the Mekong River, I think. The Mekong is a very long and well-known river than runs through Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

 This made me laugh out loud. A couple is bringing home a chicken for dinner. But, it has poked its head out of the plastic bag and is enjoying the breeze from the ride to its death. It's as though this was its last wish... to ride a motor cycle and feel the breeze in its feathers!

 an orchard of trees

 The farmers pile up hay or something into these bulbous piles. I guess it's food for the animals.

 Sheets laid out on the ground to dry stuff...

Trees with low-rising mountains in the background.

 A typical little farm house with lots of ducks in front.

 I guess these are rice paddy fields...

 A peaceful pastoral scene.

I saw many homes like this one. Such a simple, uncomplicated life with everything you need.