Day 2: Saigon!

The plan was to meet Terry and his boss, Hoe, (also my friend whom I travelled with to Tibet) for breakfast at 9:15. Terry met me at the Dong Do, my hotel, and we walked a couple of blocks to the restaurant. It turns out that 'The Quiet American' was filmed there as well as a movie about a Vietnamese spy during the war so it's a place of notariety and action. After strong and sweet Vietnamese coffee and beef pho we went to another place for tea and fruit. After discussing politics: Hilary vs. Obama, the US economy, Vietnamese culture and other such things we decided upon a light lunch. 'Light lunch' has no meaning here apparently. We had a big bowl of rice, papaya, fish pot, spinich w garlic, and something else with shrimp in it - - more than I normally eat for any meal! It was wonderful and the outdoor seating in a bamboo garden was like a movie set.

After paying the police and some other people who watched his BMW while it parked illegally on the street we took off to my hotel where Hoe dropped me off to head to a trip with his family to Nha Trang, a beach community about 30 minutes' flight from Saigon. We will meet again on Tuesday night for dinner and a night of partying before he and Terry head out of town again. The hotel doorman must wonder about me due to the amount of various men that have dropped me off: Terry, Binh, Son, and now Hoe. And I've only stayed here one night so far! Those American women, he must think. Little does he know the circumstances.

I caught up on the blog, sent emails, and made some Skype calls before sleeping soundly for 2 hours while the traffic roared outside. Pure bliss to me. Terry picked me up at 6:30, allowing me about 20 minutes to get ready this time! Fortunately I'm low maintenance when it comes to getting ready or I'd be in trouble here! We walked to dinner near the river where I have been before and greatly enjoyed a feast of spinich/garlic, fish pot, rice, spring rolls, shrimp in salt/pepper and mango. Perfection for about $10. After dinner we took a taxi to Sheridan's, an Irish pub with a great band. We listened to music for a few hours and drank far too many beers and talked all night. The band was fantastic but they have no CD to buy. Maybe it's because they just sing other people's songs and not their own; maybe there'd be copyright issues but Asia is full of bootleg CDs - - I wished I had my moving camera so I could record the sound; theses guys were great. A delightful evening! It reminded each of us of a night on my first visit in 2000 when we went to a bar on the beach in Nha Trang and sat until closing time. We had similar conversation only now we're 8 years older and have far more to add to the same stories!

I came home and talked to my 3 year old niece, Lily on the phone who told me all about her pretty butterfly dresses and how there were apple skins on the floor from her apple and that she found all the candy and wondered if I was in Florida? A good way to end the day!