When I turn 46, I say "No more nonsense": Super Blue Red Sai Gon nights ... and days ...

Where were we?

Right!
Walking from Ga Sai Gon to out hotel; hoping that we will be able to see the total lunar eclipse tonight in Ho Chi Minh City !

Seeing the moon CHANGE while we walk only increases my panic to get there early!

The receptionist kid shows us to our rooms. It's a pretty good guess that he has NEVER seen a lunar eclipse before and that he doesn't even know that one is happening right now. My first move is to jump to the window to check whether the moon is visible from my room. Visible? LOL. The Veranda chairs are facing straight East. The terrace is Prime Eclipse Viewing territory !
I point out to the kid that the moon is missing a corner and his eyes go WIDE. Knew it, LOL ;-)

The kid heads back downstairs and Zu and I stare at the moon ....

I walk back down to reception, to show them the first photos on my camera screen, and invite the staff up to the room just in case they want to see some more moon.

There is a shy knock on the door 10 minutes later. It's Receptionist Boy. I'm glad I invited them because he stares at the spectacle and when I tell him that this is the 2nd time I see it, he points at himself and only whispers "1st time !".

Always take care of those younger than you before yourself. You have lived already; they still need some of that !

Receptionist Boy (1.5 years later known as I'll-give-you-the-shirt-off-my-back Chuong) leaves a few minutes later to 'take care of reception business'. That might be the case, but he is also WAY TOO SHY to hang out in a guest's room for long.

10 minutes later, the about 32 year old reception woman has come up. She ain't shy at all: she takes one look at the moon and with a mock voice and a grin says "This guy! So small !"

But she stays for the next HOUR to show me areas of Viet Nam on my computer that I have never even HEARD of, let alone seen. After 20 minutes her colleague downstairs calls my room phone to see whether she is OK, LOL.

This announces that the show is more than half over ....

We spend less and less time on the eclipse but on areas of Viet Nam worth visiting:

A quick summary

Ha Giang alone will give me days of open-mouth travel, LOL

Then there are tea plantations and plum blossoms in Moc Chau:

And of course there is Nam Du

Show is almost over

Receptionist woman (now 1.5 years later known as Friend & Nose Biter Huyen) would have shown us pictures all night, but I almost feel bad to point out to her that we still have to eat.

Young receptionist downstairs exclaims "I know why moon is red: Miss Moon is bleeding". Is he Native? "To have one's moon: means the same in Native speak.

Zu enjoying some festive Coke ;-)

Schwein, as Alan would call it

Mackerel, of course

The four hours I slept in the train yesterday have their effect. I get up at 4:00 without hesitation, start laundry, and try to nail down last night in words and pictures before it all fades away.

The sun rises over the skyline at 6:35. Zu is still sleeping but I've done laundry, extended my credit card travel advisory, read all the news worth reading, and finished my bottle of wine. Coopmart opens at 7:30 so the supply is secure, LOL.

Time to do what I HATE most. Go shopping for clothes ....

Just before reaching the infamous Ben Tanh Market (the density of tourists increases exponentially as one approaches it and so does the number of Viet trinket sellers hoping to be able to eat at the end of the day), there is a hole-in-the-wall backpack store. And I can't resist that North Face backpack for US$ 16 .....

Saigon Centre is next...

I find a pair of EXPENSIVE pants that might pass muster in my next destination (can't show up in a Swiss bank building in shorts)

On the way back, we're both thirsty and make the mistake of entering this very flashy but also very expensive place:

We actually pay > 200,000 VND for a G&T and an orange juice. And the place is frequented by 50-year-old bleach-blond expats, of course ....

Viet booty !

18:00

While we're eating our octopus & chicken skewers, we notice something ODD going on across the street: A LINE-UP at a Bun Cha place !
So I check it out on TripAdvisor.....

TripAdvisor rates 145 Bun Cha as #8 of ~ 3800 restaurants in HCMC! I guess we'll be having Bun Chan tomorrow, LOL. I'm not sure which time-zone I'm currently living in at the moment, but I can't keep my eyes open any longer at 20:00 !

4:00. Wide awake. This doesn't bode well because that translates to midnight in Istanbul. If anyone asks me where I live, I'll have to say "In Jet-lag-land".

I call Grandma. She hit her head on the stove top. It's the WALKER'S FAULT. WHY would anyone say that???? Think who organized the walker for her !

Good thing Coopmart and its wine reserves are only a 10 minute walk away, LOL. Baguette & Gouda complement the breakfast !

I read about a Chilliwack woman who at 30 years of age has visited 200 countries. When people ask her "How do you afford to go away so much" she just answers "With Vancouver's high cost of living HOW can you afford to stay?". I know EXACTLY what she is saying, LOL.

HOW MUCH can one person SLEEP ???

Time to hit HSBC.

NOPE. Another SOTS (Slave Of The System) tells me that I can NOT open a US$ account. Which is bullshit, of course (I already have one in Vietnam), but then I wouldn't want to force my money on a bank, LOL.

OMG. In 72 hours I will have just arrived in my hotel in Istanbul.

13:30

Let's try that Bun Cha place ....

(I finish this post 14 months after the fact and I'm SHOCKED to read that THIS is the FIRST time I'm eating here, LOL)

There is a line-up again....

There are no tables on the side-walk? There is a line-up and the owner could EASILY triple the number of tables of his restaurant. ..... but he doesn't .....

We sit down.

Garlic & Chili .... a good omen

the ever-smiling owner on the left ...

eating instructions

We eat Bun Cha.

I've had Bun Cha in street restaurant in Ha Noi. This one is just the same. Heaven in a bowl. I get confused by feelings of gratitude and privilege to be able to eat here.

This gets worse when I pay. 2 portions of Bun Cha, one half a liter bia Sai Gon & 1 can of coke. 115,000 VND.

We just paid CAD$ 2.50 each for one of the TOP meals I've ever eaten in Viet Nam. But this one was on one of the busiest tourist streets in Viet Nam. And the owner refused to succumb to greed. ...... still so much to learn ....

Cam on rat nhieu !!

16:00

It's time to walk across town to visit Uncle Ho !

Uncle Ho ! Without this guy, Viet Nam would NOT be what it is today.....

We're still on the square when we are approached by Vietnamese youth bearing EGG CARTONS..... They are looking for participants for a game that needs 12 participants..... every egg carton contains 12 eggs...... 10 of which are hard boiled and two of which are raw...... the objective of the game ..... to pick an egg and then to slam it into your forehead..... and hope it was boiled hard....

The objective of the whole exercise? Knowing Vietnamese a little bit..... to practice their English skills.

After a while, a group of 12 willing participants has been assembled..... a potpourri of nations..... surprising how many people refuse to participate.... but then that would have been me only a very few years ago.....

NO, we don't all slam the eggs into our foreheads simultaneously, like in a Cult mass suicide gathering...... the Viet kids know how to heighten the suspense....

We stand in a large circle and we get to slam an egg into our forehead one by one, while everyone else stares, talks, laughs, jumps around, exhales in relief of disappointment that another egg was boiled (remember, every other hard-boiled egg increases the chances of anyone up-the-line that they have one of the soft-boiled eggs), or screams and sticks out glibbery fingers and shouts out loud and, depending on whether the raw egg is on their forehead or whether they only saw the wetness explode.

Oh, you are hoping to engage in some Schadenfreude? Sorry, both Zu and I had cooked eggs, as did the Vietnamese organizers, who naturally participated, but that overdressed Japanese or Korean girl wasn't as lucky...