"Nam..phlam..phlam..phow..frrrrr.bam..."
First Day in Ho Chi Minh.
My lovely Hotel asked me to change rooms, they had one on the eighth floor with a window that the guest dd not want, they requested no window so the management suggested I get a window and they get none. I have a window, it has a view and when I have taken a picture I will share it with you!
After that adventure I tripped out into HCMC, and took my very precious antique watch to the antique watch street, where after one false start it was given a new strap and declared to be very old, at least 1930's possibly 40's and made in Switzerland. Good, but no one could say what make it is as it has no branding and could have been made by a specific watchmaker for a client or a larger watchmaking business..It is valuable though and that is good to know.
Followed that with a self-directed walking and eating tour and was enjoying some fragrant Pho when an sms came in with directions to visit L'Usine, and meet a friend of a friend who works there. It was her day off but it was a superb find, a very chic second floor design cafe and showroom, in an old building, food looks amazing, the clientele were uber-trendy..what can I say: men in very chic clothes, and young business women with gorgeous shoes..
I resumed my 'cultural' tour and as I was about to enter the grey museum I was waylaid by a cyclo driver who decided to 'kidnap' me for the rest of the day. I told him I would go to the Remnants of War Museum with his cyclo as I liked his attitude towards the 'sell', then there he told me he would wait for me and take me to the Pagoda, I didn't know if I wanted to go to a Pagoda, but he didn't want me to pay him and pushed me away into the Remnants of War. I didn't want to insist, as I didn't know how so I thought I would just go along and see what happened.
I am still not sure which Pagoda I went to because the Remnants of War were so upsetting I couldn't really think at all..I bought some goldfish in a daze and threw them to certain death in a pond and was told it would bring me luck..breadcrumbs and dead gold fish floated on the green surface..I am not so sure, but I wasn't thinking about luck. However the gold fish may have ensured I got back to the centre of town. And I ended up paying not so much. I would have asked for a lot more to cycle and push my European frame through the swerving afternoon traffic in the sweltering heat.
In the midst of it I thought of the beautiful Vietnamese film Three Seasons and decided not to be scared of the traffic...the Remnants of War had scared me far more.
My lovely Hotel asked me to change rooms, they had one on the eighth floor with a window that the guest dd not want, they requested no window so the management suggested I get a window and they get none. I have a window, it has a view and when I have taken a picture I will share it with you!
After that adventure I tripped out into HCMC, and took my very precious antique watch to the antique watch street, where after one false start it was given a new strap and declared to be very old, at least 1930's possibly 40's and made in Switzerland. Good, but no one could say what make it is as it has no branding and could have been made by a specific watchmaker for a client or a larger watchmaking business..It is valuable though and that is good to know.
Followed that with a self-directed walking and eating tour and was enjoying some fragrant Pho when an sms came in with directions to visit L'Usine, and meet a friend of a friend who works there. It was her day off but it was a superb find, a very chic second floor design cafe and showroom, in an old building, food looks amazing, the clientele were uber-trendy..what can I say: men in very chic clothes, and young business women with gorgeous shoes..
I resumed my 'cultural' tour and as I was about to enter the grey museum I was waylaid by a cyclo driver who decided to 'kidnap' me for the rest of the day. I told him I would go to the Remnants of War Museum with his cyclo as I liked his attitude towards the 'sell', then there he told me he would wait for me and take me to the Pagoda, I didn't know if I wanted to go to a Pagoda, but he didn't want me to pay him and pushed me away into the Remnants of War. I didn't want to insist, as I didn't know how so I thought I would just go along and see what happened.
I am still not sure which Pagoda I went to because the Remnants of War were so upsetting I couldn't really think at all..I bought some goldfish in a daze and threw them to certain death in a pond and was told it would bring me luck..breadcrumbs and dead gold fish floated on the green surface..I am not so sure, but I wasn't thinking about luck. However the gold fish may have ensured I got back to the centre of town. And I ended up paying not so much. I would have asked for a lot more to cycle and push my European frame through the swerving afternoon traffic in the sweltering heat.
In the midst of it I thought of the beautiful Vietnamese film Three Seasons and decided not to be scared of the traffic...the Remnants of War had scared me far more.
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