I had my yogurt, fruit, and bread for breakfast. Yay for yummy breakfast! I hadn't scheduled myself to give any presentations on the last half day, because when the trip was first planned the e-commerce seminar was set to overlap. However, they rescheduled the e-commerce seminar to accommodate me and I had an easy morning. Lunch was more marigolds. These had the flowers included, which I hadn't had before. They were a little like the tender inner leaves of an artichoke.
The minibus on the ride back was a tad rickety and I feared for its power of forward motion, but we arrived without incident. J and S were going back to the Renaissance Riverside hotel, and I was checking into the Majestic Hotel as it was my conference location. It was quite nice, with a complimentary fruit bowl and water. The lovely wooden floors did rather accentuate the endless tapping of high heels above me (I later learned I was below the ballroom, which was being prepped, I can only assume for a wedding). The bathroom was hilariously opulent.I emailed J and S, as we had planned to go to the market together. Two hours later they still hadn't responded so I set off on my own. The market's location seems evident on the map, but I couldn't quite triangulate myself to the right location. I kept wandering down shady looking (but well-populated) streets that smelled of either sour milk or urine. I later learned that the renownedly stinky durian fruit is experienced by some as sour milk, so that mystery was cleared up. I willed myself, with some success, not to feel uncomfortable. I live in a neighborhood that an outsider might find uncomfortable, but it is not actually dangerous and I just assumed it was the same in Vietnam.
I finally oriented myself to the circle and realized I had to cross it. Here's how you cross the street: you just do it. The traffic never stops, not even for red lights. They will swerve around you (usually), but they won't stop. So you just step out into the road into oncoming traffic. Seriously, without even getting hit it really diminishes your life expectancy because of the sheer strain on your heart. By this time, the market proper was closing so only the outdoor stalls of knockoffs and such were open. I had noticed some purses covered in fabric roses in shop windows. I found one on the street and the asking prices was 100.000 Dong. I talked the girl down to 50.000, around $3.50. I wasn't sure whether this was good or bad, but later I checked out prices on the purses and they were 100.000 everywhere, so think my first bargaining experience was successful.I also found an alley of food markets, which was full of locals. Here is where they hide all the vegetables! There was also much meat. There were no beans anywhere. They appear just not to be eaten here. I really don't think I could live in Vietnam because I freaking love beans. They are a vegetarian's best friend--a low fat, high fiber source of protein. Well, with that nutrition profile they should be everyone's best friend. As to the side effects, your body's enzyme balance quickly adjusts if you eat a lot of them and they have no ill effects on my digestion system whatsoever.
I had to re-cross the circle to get to the Tin Nghia (Buddhist) Vegetarian Restaurant. I took a break in the park that wedges into the circle, where some sort of aerobics was going on. But it just involved holding your arms above your head and waving them in time to clubby music, and then making a quarter turn and doing the same thing. There were a lot of people participating, but then they all sort of realized that there was not going to be any more to it than the waving of the arms (I, too, kept waiting for the dance portion to kick in) and people started to drop out.
The restaurant is the epitome of a hole-in-the-wall, literally. While it has a metal grate they can close at night, it does not have a wall for a door facing the street. I ordered a spring roll, stir fried mushrooms and snow peas (the latter were DIVINE), and mushrooms and wheat gluten in pepper sauce--actual spicy food! woot!, rice, and a large water. I'm sure this was more food than one person should politely order, but I'd been starving in the provinces all week! I was finally full and only felt semi-gross about it. The total was around 50.000.
I walked back to the hotel along Dong Khoi. I stopped at the little strip of park with a fountain in front of the opera house. It was kid central and the sellers of balloon animals on sticks were cleaning up. I sat at the fountain, which I later noticed was one of those abstract family sculpture things, just enjoying it.
A woman sat next to me and we had a nice conversation. Her English was impressive, though I sometimes had a hard time with her her pronunciation. She asked me if I was married, of course. We turned out to be around the same age. It was a very pleasant encounter. I think she invited me back to her home, but (1) I couldn't really tell, and (2) it felt weird. Thinking back on it, I can see that if I ran across a French speaking tourist in DC who was helping me practice French and seemed nice and normal I might invite her home so I guess it's not that weird. She let me take pictures of her daughter, who loved seeing herself on the camera.I stopped into a store with this really cool pleated gingham silk skirts. The pleats were gathered so that the yoke of the skirt appeared to be solid and then opened out from there, similar in concept to Vogue 8353. I asked the price and was told "Ninety-five." Only later did I realize this was in USD and was glad they hadn't had my size.
I sat in the hotel lobby and had a "Happy Saigon," some sort of fruity cocktail, while prepping for my conference the next day. A hilariously mournful jazz band played and Russians sat next to me. I was so caught up in it all that I accidentally went to bed late.
You can see all the photos of Saigon, and all photos from this trip if you'd like.
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