« Cambodia in Transit | 28 Feb-3 March 2005 | Main | Vietnam | Hanoi Part 1 | 7-8 March | Hanoi Part 2 | 12 March »
April 17, 2005
Vietnam | Saigon weekend with the boys | 3-7 March
Upon arrival in Saigon I bought myself a Vietnamese sim card and tried to get in touch with Brandon (who I had taught with in Cambodia). After a time, I got through and we planned to meet up after his classes (9pm). This became a common meeting time (and still is to the day I’m writing this – he’s a hard working machine!).
I quickly met many of Brandon’s teaching friends and other local friends, and just like in Cambodia, most of them know very well how to party. Needless to go into the descriptions, but the weekend had already been planned to be a big one and I joined in the fun – Some of the locations including: Heart of Darkness, Bia Hoi (local beer), Lost in Saigon, Apocalypse Now, Sahara, Kim Bar, GO2, local houses and the strangest ‘late night room’ I’ve ever been to.
The ‘late night room’ is one of a bunch of single rooms in a 5 storey apartment building (most at the top), with lounges, a hefty sound system, drinks on order and a cubicle of a bathroom. The shades are drawn, the lights go almost out (or, as in one case, completely out with the addition of candles), the heavy beats and breaks inside and daylight breaks outside. A pretty cool place to hang out if you want to stay up after a big night. The cubicle, which I had to frequent, consists of literally that. There’s a hose, a bucket and a small hole (like the size of a coin). This is a shower, toilet, etc. I couldn’t believe it, not even a full drain, or squat toilet – just a hole! I didn’t have my camera with me, but one of my friends took a pic with his phone – I’ll have to try and get a copy of it…
Seeing as Kel would be arriving on the 20th and I wanted to see most of northern Vietnam before she got here, I flew straight to Hanoi (train/bus would take more than 48 hours) on Monday evening.
Posted by Dan at April 17, 2005 08:08 AM