I had a lovely Saturday, minus the fact that I was woken up extremely early by both chickens and little children. The 5 year old who lives here had a play date today, and I guess Vietnamese play dates begin quite early in the morning. Needless to say, there was an awful lot of hootin' and hollerin' that kept me from sleeping too late. Since I don't have a window and cannot tell what time of day it is, all the noise downstairs functioned as a very accurate alarm to the start of the day. Since I was up early, I took the opportunity to take a walk towards the backpacking district (which I recently discovered is extremely close), have a nice lunch/breakfast, and read my book. It was very relaxing and nice to be out on my own, even though I tend to get a lot more locals harassing me to buy this and that when I'm alone. Easier target I guess?
Met my pal Steve in the higher-end part of town tonight for some drinks. Our original destination was Panorama Bar on the 33rd floor of the tallest building in Ho Chi Minh. Upon noticing that all the prices were in US dollars, we got out of there quick. We made our way to "Club Carmen", which was much less a club than it was a stage with a Vietnamese band playing Spanish music. I very much enjoyed the Enrique Iglesias and Carlos Santana covers, which were performed very well consideriHereng the singers spoke Vietnamese and very little Spanish.
When Steve discovered that the Manchester United soccer game was on, our plans changed drastically and we headed to a sports bar to watch the game. He was more interested in the football, while I was focused on the Black Eyed Peas album that was playing on repeat. My mother is a huge fan of the Black Eyed Peas so I was rather distracted thinking of home and barely noticed that Man U won the game. Either way, the sports bar was rather enjoyable.
Now I'm home, showered, and cooling down in bed.
We are supposed to have thundershowers (and I use the term 'showers' liberally because it will be an absolute downpour) from Monday through Friday of next week, so I plan on getting some essential shopping done tomorrow. Number 1 on the "must have" list is a comfortable pillow. I happen to be a rather large bed snob, and have had the luxury of sleeping in extremely, overly-comfortable beds my entire life, so my rock hard pillows are making it rather difficult to sleep soundly through the night. In addition to the pillow hunt, I am meeting a Vietnamese friend for coffee and a motorbike ride. I am rather looking forward to a local perspective on Saigon, I always feel that hanging out with the locals give me a much better feel for the place.
So, crossing my fingers that the rain doesn't come early!