I arrived in Saigon on Friday evening.
It was a journey with little excitement and a little loss.
The Hungarian Restaurant
Mũi Né didn’t give me the experience of the second Hungarian restaurant.
I took a taxi to the part of town where my bus left and where the Hungarian restaurant was. I had to go to a café, that’s where my bus left from. The Hungarian restaurant was ahead of me on my way. I didn’t have enough cash with me to buy myself a Hungarian meal, so I had to find an ATM first.
It started to rain. It rains every day. And when it rains, it rains a lot here. I was forced to hide under a small roof and wait. But I wasted time. It had become a rule for me to always arrive earlier than the bus departure, because the departure time here is just informational information.
While waiting, I noticed a woman waving from a restaurant on the other side of the road for me to go there. I had to make a decision. I didn’t have time to go to the nearest ATM, go back to the restaurant, and then catch the bus in time. I accepted the invitation. I knew I still had enough money for fried rice.
I really appreciate the hospitality and problem-solving skills of the people here. The woman didn’t speak any English. All I wanted to know was if I could pay with a credit card. Since she didn’t understand the question, I didn’t feel like translating it, so I took out my card and showed it to her.
She immediately called someone. Then she gave me the phone to talk to this person. I didn’t understand, so I started talking to a stranger, assuming we both spoke English. I repeated the question. And she replied, “Sit down and eat something. We’ll figure something out!” This was such a nice gesture that I would probably accept it even if there was no other way to proceed. If I couldn’t pay by card and didn’t have enough cash, I can’t imagine what the solution would have been, but I would have trusted the person. Maybe I should have washed the dishes.
I showed the woman my last change, which was just enough for a rice and a Coke.
From there I hurried on to the bus.
I would have hurried. But I couldn’t. Instead, I thought a lot about the ancestors of the city’s architects. All the sidewalks are covered with beautiful, marble-like tiles. It’s really beautiful. But in the rain, it’s impossible to walk fast on them because they’re terribly slippery. This probably isn’t a problem for others because I’m the only one walking for miles here. And I’m faced with the fact that you can only go half-steam ahead.
Luckily, I finally got there on time. The bus, of course, left exceptionally on time.
On the bus
I got a ticket for a sleeper bus. So I fell asleep right away. The space was tight, but in the past few months I have become a black belt in living in tight spaces. I will slowly be able to fit in a space the size of a handkerchief.
I got off at the first stop, I was going to find the bathroom. When the bus stops at these places, they usually unload a big box of slippers so that you don’t have to take your shoes back. Which you have to take off when you get on the bus. In such cases, they always give you a bag to put your shoes in. At the end of the trip, I can look everywhere for the discarded bags.
Well, this time the box with the slippers was not there. So I had to go back to the bus to get my slippers. Which – to my greatest surprise – were dumped from my bed onto the floor. “Bus! Saigon! Bus!” From these words I understood that I had to change to another bus.
I think I will never understand this. Why can’t we do a three-hour trip on a bus? Or rather, I buy a ticket for a sleeper bus, and then I have to change to a seated bus 45 minutes before the destination. So why is this trip called a sleeper bus? Whatever.
Saigon is a huge city. I arrived in the evening, in the dark. The many tall, illuminated buildings were impressive. But I will write about the city another time.
The city and the accommodation
I set off for my accommodation.
After a few kilometers, I arrived.
A rather run-down hostel, where I managed to rent a room. The condition of the accommodation is always a bit of a surprise, because the pictures taken of it usually differ from reality.
This was not the unpleasant surprise!
When I got to the reception, I wanted to put my headphones in their box.
I left them.
Today, Saturday, it would have been a month since I bought these, my fifth headphones. I will not comment on this incident now. Anyone who reads my posts knows exactly that I have become a black belt in headphone abandonment.
Today I have to buy a new one, because unfortunately this device is so much a part of my everyday life that it has become an elementary necessity.
I took a long walk in the evening city.
I ate a cheap and very delicious soup. I sat down for an hour (until closing time) at my favorite Highlands Café. I met a lot of rats on the streets. A lot, I mean that.
I ended my walk with an exciting race. I saw a long line of military personnel walking on the other side of the street. A military policeman on a motorcycle closed the line. They were marching.
I decided to make a little race for myself. I left the entire column behind. Moving meter by meter, I slowly reached the end of the column. At that moment, life passed me back to the starting field. The traffic light was green on their side, red on mine. They left me behind.
But I didn’t give up. I put the car into gear and finally left the entire line behind. Right at the corner leading to my hostel, I won the race I had invented, which no one was interested in. It was a good game.
I worked in the hostel until 3:30 in the morning, then went to sleep. My bed is comfortable. A bit rough, but I slept well.
So it’s Saturday morning.
I opened my laptop to see what the exact model of my headphones were.
Oops!
I also accidentally wrote this post in a nice little street cafe.
I’m going to go and buy a new device now.
And I don’t have much hope that I’ll keep this one.
Buy me a coffee?
If you enjoyed this story, you can buy me a coffee. You don’t have to – but it means a lot and I always turn it into a new adventure.
Buy a coffee for Steve
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