Cultural unit: War Remnants Museum. Declan tells me that it used to be called something like “War Atrocities Museum”. It’s not fun and and gets progressively more horrific. I miss the museums in the North that were for the captured Americans, where they reportedly got to sample Vietnamese local foods and go on cultural day trips. Captured communist Vietnamese in the south had a rougher time…
Luxury unit: Trung Nguyen Legend coffee and two (!) cool bars.
Premium coffee chain Trung Nguyen Legend is now the only place Declan will have his brew. The cashier does a world class upsell. I try and order my coffee and she says this is too sweet, and I am instructed to order a more expensive coffee. When ordering Declan’s, she says that this is instant coffee, do I really want this? She can make with real coffee, I say ‘uhhh okay’ and am only then told ‘the price, the price is different’. But with names like the ‘legend’ coffee and the ‘success’ coffee, this is a small price to pay for greatness. Coming in at around $10aud each, this counts as 0.1 luxury units. CR.Sitting on your motorcycle right in the middle of the footpath, shoes off, smoking ciggies, is key to relaxation in Vietnamese cities. CR. The sound of the legendarily expensive iced coffee being prepared by me in Trung Nguyen restaurant. Other things to do on the footpath: hammer a chair. CR.After you’ve veered onto the highway to avoid the man hammering his chair, remember that footpath is a state of mind and not a physical thing. Don’t be phased – imagine you are on a footpath and vehicles will treat you as if you are on a footpath. CR.Just don’t step in the footpath effigy, that enrages the traffic spirits. CR.Yes it’s a zebra crossing. No, no vehicle treats this different to any other stretch of road. Yes, the zebra crossing is chained off from the rest of the foot path. Again, all a mental battle. Follow sensi-declan, he will guide you. CR.When you travel with Caitlin you have to listen to her refuse to wear long sleeve shorts and then immediately demand a pit stop when outside to apply sunscreen. This is exasperating for well-prepared and sensibly attired boyfriends. DW. I don’t remember looking so angry but I guess I am yelling at Declan to leave me in peace and let me sunscreen. Only out of respect to journalistic freedom does this photo get to live. CR.Mmm, noodles. Mmm, crab ball. CR.Lunch time at the boys highschool, where they are learning critical parts of Vietnamese culture, like driving on the footpath. CR.The cafes across the road from the school do a roaring trade at lunch time. This is hotly contested real estate. CR. As the weather gets more humid further south, lunch break naps for tradies become more visible – common in southern Malaysia and Singapore as well. CR.‘Easy riders’ are extremely common in Vietnam, particularly so in Saigon. You book it on an app just like an uber but instead of a car arriving, you hop on the back of the motorcycle. They give you a helmet of suspect quality. It’s so cheap to do I don’t really know how the riders make a profit. I looked up a 5 minute trip on the app out of curiosity and it was $1aud. CR.This was a bad idea, no matter how world famous Eddies milkshakes purport to be. At this point, Declan says “you were right, I’m glad we didn’t get the large shake”. Also I have no idea why he is using a fork to scoop cream. CR.This photo was taken specifically for dad (read the sign). The entrance to this bookshop, which had a small collection of new and second hand books, dropped about 70cm vertically down onto the street – possibly they couldn’t be bothered building the rest of the staircase? We had to use an alternative entrance via an underground car park. But it was all worth it because I could finally donate those books we’d been carrying everywhere, though it was not a clean break. When telling the cashier (who, for a specifically english language bookshop, spoke very little english and was not prepared for this customer interaction) I’d like to donate the books, she gave me an extremely apprehensive look and sort of stretched her lips over her teeth like 😬. With urgency you wouldn’t expect from a tiny bookshop in a random alleyway with no front entrance, she got the owner on the mobile and thrust it to me. The owner gratefullly asked “we don’t get donations, this is very unusual, what can I give you?” I say nothing, but after the phone call and as we’re leaving the attendant trys to give us a knitted octopus knick knack that they sell. We have to run away before they offer us the deed to their shop. Declan thinks I am violating some cultural principle and bringing shame on the people with my persistence to donate second hand books. CR.TNL take two. Another hit to the luxury fund. CR.Cocktails with Luke Nguyen’s restaurant in the background (CR: it’s the one on the corner). Caitlin has strongly hinted she intends to go there… I’ll have to check how far we can squeeze the credit card. I don’t think Luke is competing with street vendors and the Lamborghini dealership down the street probably has him as a regular. DW. Declan tries to spot Luke exiting from Selina’s Spa next to his restaurant, which is a 95% likelihood of being a brothel. Or else the middle aged Vietnamese ladies hanging out the front just enjoy wearing bikinis while sitting on their little plastic stools. CR. Loaded fries, Vietnamese style. Our waitress stresses these are not fries like we imagine, they are ‘potato dots’. The way she delivers this information is so serious that she’s obviously had so many Westerners complain that the it is not a thin rectangle. They are as Vietnamese as Declan’s cookie and cream shake earlier in the day but so good. Chips transcend culture. CR.Let this be proof that I take Caitlin on fun times. DWCaitlin promptly managed to fling her hairtie off the top of the rooftop bar. Further proof you can’t take her anywhere. DWView looking down from the bar. Thank you Declan. CR.
Don’t know how to adequately comment on War museum so will just say it’s important and respectful to see these things even if they are upsetting.
You seem to be enjoying Saigon! My favourite photos were the sleeping tradies and the view from the bar and obviously the loaded fries 🙂
Was the cocktail as good as it looked?
You must be nearing the end now cant wait to hear about it all with you personally! Love M xx
Cocktail was excellent! And it was happy hour so only $7aud!
I have really liked Saigon. It’s more westernised so it’s got a mix of shops and eating options at different price points. It’s also helped that our hotel was nice so it’s a comfortable night’s sleep.
By the time you read this you will be home. I am typing the at 8.05 while is when your place is supposed to land. Very excited to have you back in Australia.
The coffee is so Expensive. 10 aud in Asia would be like paying 50 in Sydney. Did the quality justify the price.
So funny that they chained off the zebra crossing as if the crossing posed a safety risk to anyone that was silly enough to use it. Did anyone using the road take any notice of pedestrians using the crossing.
Declan was very brave or silly or both to take the photo of Caitlin applying sunscreen. After years of taking cait to summer music festivals I am continually amazed and disappointed about her choice of wearing black t-shirts in hot weather.
Thanks for the photo of the door with no stairs. We have to source building safety reports all the time. They will find a 3cm raised section of concrete on a footpath which either results in paying someone to grind down the protruding section or painting it fluoro yellow. Would be fascinating to read a report using aus standards on buildings that you have visited. Would also be interesting to see if there are more injuries in those buildings. Apart from possible building collapse my feeling is that I doubt more people are injured especially taking into account the number of people using them. Maybe their safety standards are influenced be their legal system. The more risk of litigation the more seriously companies are in managing safety. I think Declan might be right about you breaking local customs with your book donations. It seems to have caused the staff to become uncomfortable. Did you accept the octopus? If you did you should place it in your favourite reading spot in the mountains.
I totally endorse the luxury fund being used on the cocktails. Wonder if Luke visits his restaurant often (or at all). Did you end up eating in his establishment.
As usual the food photos are making me hungry.
Great selfie photo. You both look happy.
Love the last photo . Always amazed how every cm of space is used along the footpath and road. This photo would make for a very interesting and difficult jigsaw.
The above just took me 30 minutes which explains a lot about how slow I was doing hsc English essays. It is now 8.46 so hopefully you are in the process of disembarking from your plane.
Don’t know how to adequately comment on War museum so will just say it’s important and respectful to see these things even if they are upsetting.
You seem to be enjoying Saigon! My favourite photos were the sleeping tradies and the view from the bar and obviously the loaded fries 🙂
Was the cocktail as good as it looked?
You must be nearing the end now cant wait to hear about it all with you personally! Love M xx
Cocktail was excellent! And it was happy hour so only $7aud!
I have really liked Saigon. It’s more westernised so it’s got a mix of shops and eating options at different price points. It’s also helped that our hotel was nice so it’s a comfortable night’s sleep.
By the time you read this you will be home. I am typing the at 8.05 while is when your place is supposed to land. Very excited to have you back in Australia.
The coffee is so Expensive. 10 aud in Asia would be like paying 50 in Sydney. Did the quality justify the price.
So funny that they chained off the zebra crossing as if the crossing posed a safety risk to anyone that was silly enough to use it. Did anyone using the road take any notice of pedestrians using the crossing.
Declan was very brave or silly or both to take the photo of Caitlin applying sunscreen. After years of taking cait to summer music festivals I am continually amazed and disappointed about her choice of wearing black t-shirts in hot weather.
Thanks for the photo of the door with no stairs. We have to source building safety reports all the time. They will find a 3cm raised section of concrete on a footpath which either results in paying someone to grind down the protruding section or painting it fluoro yellow. Would be fascinating to read a report using aus standards on buildings that you have visited. Would also be interesting to see if there are more injuries in those buildings. Apart from possible building collapse my feeling is that I doubt more people are injured especially taking into account the number of people using them. Maybe their safety standards are influenced be their legal system. The more risk of litigation the more seriously companies are in managing safety. I think Declan might be right about you breaking local customs with your book donations. It seems to have caused the staff to become uncomfortable. Did you accept the octopus? If you did you should place it in your favourite reading spot in the mountains.
I totally endorse the luxury fund being used on the cocktails. Wonder if Luke visits his restaurant often (or at all). Did you end up eating in his establishment.
As usual the food photos are making me hungry.
Great selfie photo. You both look happy.
Love the last photo . Always amazed how every cm of space is used along the footpath and road. This photo would make for a very interesting and difficult jigsaw.
The above just took me 30 minutes which explains a lot about how slow I was doing hsc English essays. It is now 8.46 so hopefully you are in the process of disembarking from your plane.