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page April 18, 2001
I found a nice little open-air restaurant on De Tham street that served a wide variety of food, including spaghetti with seafood sauce and a real steak with mushroom sauce.
There was a young boy who acted as a greeter, encouraging passers-by to
enter the restaurant and eat. He invited me inside, and my stomach encouraged
me to oblige him. I watched him work as I ate and was impressed by his
success at enticing tourists to stop and eat. One group of seven Japanese
tourists were walking by when Truc convinced them to stop for lunch. Later,
he came over and talked with me for a while and offered to take me around
Saigon to see various sights. He had no motorbike, only a bicycle, so
we decided to rent a motorbike and tour the city. I waited until he finished
work and we departed on our Amateur Motorbike Tour.
We stopped at the Notre Dame Cathedral, one of the city's most prominent
landmarks. It is located in the middle of a square, surrounded on all
sides by streets and their accompanying traffic. If you want to actually
visit the cathedral, you must play a game of Frogger with the motorbike
traffic.
Nearby was the Saigon Zoo. The zoo was located in a lovely park, but did
not have alot of animals. There were elephants, which are surprisingly
abundant in Asia, as well as many species of smaller native animals. Of
course, it would be unfair to compare it with the
San Diego Zoo.
For the children, and adults who think like children, there were fake
dinosaurs with which to play.
We also visited the museum located within the park. It had a sparse collection
of native archaeological treats. It was included in the entrance fee to
the zoo, so we went.
Across the park was a lovely Buddhist pagoda surrounded by ancient trees
reported to be several hundred years old. The day was very hot and after
several hours in the hot sun we returned to the hotel to cool off. We
took the motorbike back to the owner and I said goodbye to Truc. I would
see him practically every day thereafter, as his restaurant was in the
middle of most of my activities.
In the evening, I finally got my chance to meet Autumn, my dear friend
who had consistently written emails to me for the previous seven months.
She introduced me to her friend, Chinh, and we took a taxi to a small
sidewalk restaurant several blocks away to eat. We enjoyed a meal consisting
of a fish soup with noodles and vegetables. Autumn taught me the proper
way to eat fish soup without swallowing the bones. The soup was delicious,
but very light. It never completely filled me up. Soon, I was hungry again
and looking for snacks.
We then proceeded to a Rock and Roll Bar on Cach Mang Thang Tam (CMT8),
which had a large buffalo head on the front of the bar. The bar was full
of cute boys and pretty girls, and the music was very loud. We sat near
the middle of the bar so we could see, but the music nearly blasted us
out of the bar. I must remember to bring my ear plugs next time. Since
Autumn and Chinh both needed to go to work the next day, we left early
and went back to the hotel.
All evening long, at the New World Hotel across the street from the Thanh
Long Hotel, there was a terrace party by the pool. The terrace was on
the fourth floor above 3 levels of parking and offices. The live band
could be heard 2 blocks away, especially if you were above street level.
I kept waiting for one of the musicians to fall into the pool with his
electric guitar. A very large cluster of red and white balloons were fastened
across the entry to the pool area. Gradually, as the evening progressed,
the wind velocity increased, much to the delight of the people who had
been sweltering in the oppressive heat all day. Suddenly, the wind grabbed
the cluster of balloons and tore them from their moorings. I noticed them
break free and expected them to float away into the night sky. But, since
they were not filled with helium, they drifted over the safety railing
of the building and downward toward the street below. When the balloons
descended to about 20 feet above the street, the people below noticed
them and a frenzy began. Even before they reached the Earth, the balloons
were attacked by a gleeful mob. People grabbed and pulled at the balloons
as if they were bags of money.
The cluster became entangled in a tree, and several young guys scampered
up the tree to free the balloons. One industrious young boy managed to
grab a small cluster of about 25 balloons and bolted down the sidewalk
into the darkness. I imagine he sold them very quickly. I was stunned
at the reaction of the crowd. I had not seen such excitement during my
entire trip. People were laughing and cheering and chasing any balloon
that managed to break
free from the cluster, which by now was many smaller clusters. Cars, trucks
and motorbikes stopped in the middle of the street, as their occupants
joined in the frenzy.
After about 15 minutes, once all the balloons were claimed, the crowd
dispersed and the usual crowd of people on the sidewalk showed off their
trophies. I was impressed by the childlike exhuberance of the people here.
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