Reunion - What a time!

So much to do and no time for writing, luckily the next 5 hrs I will sit in a bus - should be well enough time to catch up.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Again I slept well and enjoyed the big-bun-breakfast. I had company from Australia - the poor guy had been traveling for a few months now, but got hurt in a motorcycle accident and now can barely walk. All he does is taking pain killers and waits for his flight back to Australia to go see a proper doctor. One reason not to ride a motorcycle on those crazy streets of Saigon... Then I left the cute Phan Anh Hostel to find the place Anna had booked for us - Green Suites Hotel. It did not look very far on the map... so I decided for walking... How hard could it possibly be!? One has to know, that most little streets do not have their own street names, but are found by the number at which they divert from the main street... thing is, if there is another tiny street branching off the smaller street... you end up in a mess of numbers... So I wandered off... round the corner, through small alleys, ... Can anyone guess how heavy a backpack can feel all the sudden. Who in the world had the idea of walking anyway?! But I found the place quickly and since the others were not there yet, I figured I could really need an iced coffee - and I really don´t mind where the water for the ice is coming from... it just needs to be really cold. And I made myself comfortable at the GO2. Right at the corner of a busy street I picked the best spot to people-watch and what I saw was astonishing... I took out the camera and must have taken pictures of about 20 motorcycles... They have been fascinating me for a couple of days now... the Vietnamese just transport everything on their bikes - be it boxes, food or 4 people. They even use their bikes to have a place to sleep away during lunch time. My guess is that every second inhabitant of Saigon must have a motorcycle, which leads to crowded streets all the time. Looking out of a taxi all one sees is an ocean of motorcycles right beside you - unbelievable. For some reason and despite the fact of my acquaintance this morning it seems like there are not too many accidents at all. They just seem to recognize things faster and react accordingly. Then the sound of Bon Jovi`s "It´s my life" came out of the speakers and I was as happy as one can be.

Short time later Anna messaged, that they had made it to the hotel, so I went back. Reunion in Saigon - had not seen her in months... This is what we always do :-) With her were 4 other friends. They had been traveling up to Saigon since early morning and were pretty hungry so we sat down at a little street kitchen. They did not speak a lot of English there, so we picked according to the pictures in the menue - and everything tasted fantastic. Obviously they were not prepared to serve beer around that time of the day, because one guy quickly got on his motorcycle only to come back with a six pack... service quality is everything! Afterwards we headed to the tailor. Since we would spend a couple of days here, it made perfect sense to have some shirts tailor-made - especially since they were only round 15 USD. It felt like it must have taken 2 hours until we all had decided for a fabric, color, were measured and had our pictures taken. The store was tiny and the aircondition could hardly handle 5 people and 3 tailors in there. Scissors, catalogs and sewing material was laying around everywhere. It seemed like the three vietnamese girls were unable to cope - or was it us? Out on the street again, the next iced coffee was calling and we had the time to catch up a bit and make plans for the next few days.

Since we still had a few hours till twilight would kick in, we took a taxi to Colon - the Chinese quarter. According to Lonely Planet there was supposed to be an architecturally valuable market hall. When we stood in front of it, we were knocked out for a loop. The whole place was crowded with Chinese people, it smelled and at least from the outside the market hall did not look that special at all. Let´s give it a try... But inside the picture did not get exactly that much better - there were tiny stalls everywhere - loaded with cheap clothing, on two floors, the stairs run down. And Martin needed two shirts... So here we go. Considering the mess it was amazing, how they could find other sizes, colors, etc. if one asked for it. But after all, the fake shirts did not seem to have the worst quality.
Since we were in the Chinese quarter we decided to have a look at the surrounding pagodas and started walking. This part of Saigon really did not make it to my "favorite places"-list. It seemed to have a little more of everything - dirt, dust, poverty, unfinished housing, ... At one of the pagodas a service took place, but we were still allowed to go inside. They were playing some instruments and singing... it sounded like unpleasant noise to our ears, but their gods probably liked it. To make sure, they are forgiven their sins and wrongdoings they burned money and other valuable things. A lot of it too. Like 4 huge plastic bags filled with that kind of stuff. Crazy. But the pagoda itself was nice and cozy - dark wood, red and golden decoration everywhere, and I got to see the first monks in orange robes.
While we were in the pagoda, a thunderstorm started and it was pouring rain, when we wanted to head out again. We walked to the next intersection and were waving at taxis but none stopped. Some friendly Vietnamese people tried to help, but unsuccessfully. After 30 minutes in the rain we were soaking wet, but eventually got into a cab and drove home. On hour way we saw the funniest things - rain coats for 4 people on a motorcycle. That is what I need when doing a city tour with guests in Hamburg!! Awesome!

After a shower we were all ready for dinner and went to the Nha Hang Ngon. The place was soooo relaxing and the food really good. The only quite irritating fact was, that there was a constant hum of waiters around us - like one for each person on the table. At least a few of us finished the day with beers and cocktails on Pham Ngu Lao...