Buses, Ice Cream and a Few Good Meals

Today I woke up at a proper hour, ate breakfast at a nearby restaurant (pho, if I recall correctly), and came back to the homestay to get ready to head out to expedition the city.

I think I should mention that I'm still washing my hair with water alone. I could be deceiving myself, but I think it might be starting to acclimate to the change. Before my shower, my hair had been almost unimaginably oily. Snape's got nothing on my natural body oils, there's just no competition. Seriously, that photo from a few days ago where my hair was standing up like the Eiffel Tower? That was just after I washed it with cold water.

I don't think cold water does much of a job of eliminating oil, so for that day and a few following, my hair was just spectacularly oily, and would hold form because of it. I got a couple people back in Hoi An asking what I put in my hair, and the reality was that I washed with water, and oil remained.

Why am I doing this? Well, experimentation, really. I'm trying to grow out my hair to shoulder-ish length, such that something like this might occur in a few months. Now, I should say that I really don't know if I'll get that far. Seriously. Growing my hair that long will take so much time and probably more determination than I actually have. I think I'm going starting the rat-tail/mullet phase right now; I may or may not continue. But, if my strength fails, I may turn and recall that a young lady back home somehow, spontaneously, inexplicably turned her hair into dreadlocks.

I should leave it there. I'm going through the growing pains or whatever, and with some mass of determination, I'll end up on the other side, at least better for having tried something new (this also happens to be why there's hair on my face).

And, to some degree, that's what this whole trip is about. Trying new things.

Like riding a Vietnamese city bus. After a while, the whole Vietnamese driving thing just doesn't bother you anymore. I'm fairly confident, as a rider in a bus and as a pedestrian, that I'm at least as safe here in Vietnam as I am back home. It's weird how a more chaotic traffic situation can be safer, but I honestly think that's the case.

Interesting fact: most of the time, when I use Google maps to calculate the times for riding the bus and walking, the walking time is actually less than the bus time. I could be wrong about this, but I know that they're at least close in some cases.

Anyway, I got on a bus this afternoon, and went again toward what I assume is downtown, and again missed the Notre Dame Cathedral. Visitors aren't allowed after four, and most likely it closes at five, then. Well, the reality is that, being in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, I was within a mile or two of thousands of interesting things. Food, sights, busy roads, parks...just a lot.

I had an orange yogurt juice thing (something like Jamba juice, but they had shakes and smoothies and yogurt + juice things) at a tiny little place called Book and Juices, if I recall correctly. There was a large book store directly adjacent it, and that's probably what the book part was. They were connected by a very small passage way.

I ate some crab noodle soup of some sort, back closer to Quang's homestay, which was good, if very hot (both temperature and spiciness). It was reasonably priced, tasted good, and hasn't yet caused me any problems. Heh heh.

As I couldn't visit the Cathedral today, I chose to go to the Ho Chi Minh City Market. This is something like the Hoi An market, in that it's a large building surrounded by stalls and containing even more stalls and vendors. I wasn't able to find much I was interested in, and it was crowded to the point where this poor introvert wanted out.

After a while, having taken some more photos at and around the Cathedral (but not inside), I decided I wanted some ice cream; unfortunately, it was rather hard to find. I searched on Google maps for another Baskin Robbins, which is where Hung, the girls, and I ate back in Da Nang. I ended up going to one within a food court on the fourth floor of an office building, which contained three other floors of department stores.

The Baskin Robbins was kind of an express sort of deal, where I ended up getting a trio of scoops, one Frozen Yogurt flavored, one "Gold Medal" flavor, and another Pralines and Cream, if I remember correctly. I far preferred the latter two, as the frozen yogurt had...I guess not as much creamy taste to it. The ice cream was excellent, the frozen yogurt either clashed with the other two, or I just didn't like it.

I think I really mean excellent, by the way. The taste was delicious, and despite the pretty high price (178,000 dong, $8-$9, which might serve two or three, if I was more social and not a glutton), I look forward to another opportunity to spend money there.

 Also sometime today (the course of events is confused beyond imagining in this post), I went to a sort of large square, where I believe they celebrated Tet a couple weeks ago. There were a fair variety of travellers and locals here, some good shots to be had, and some people were having fun. I did some photography and  moved on.

Unsurprisingly, the night was sort of the richest part of today. Quang arrived around 9:30 and introduced himself; plans had been to go out with a couple of Singaporean girls, which I'd been keen on, but apparently they were already out and wouldn't be expected back until later. Very late.

So we went alone. Quang and I went out to a restaurant near the homestay which is apparently one of the better ones here. We had pork and rice, which included some spices and a fish sauce. I enjoyed it, and we discussed the kinds of gamers we were, travely stuff, and I ended up discovering more about who I am. I'm not the sort of person who makes opinions easily, I think.

As an example, I discussed how I enjoy many of the games in the Battlefield series, and can see the points of view of those who prefer, for instance, Bad Company 2. But when I look back on my own experience, while it was fun and I really think I'd enjoy it, going back now, I can't think of why I enjoyed it so much, specifically the ways that I enjoyed it relative or in contrast to the later Battlefield 3 and 4 games. I enjoyed all of these games, and I know they were all imperfect (to be generous), but to put one above the other would be exceedingly difficult.

I don't feel like I can see the whole picture and make a judgement on something like that. It just seems too big and complicated; I feel like I don't know enough, even having spent over a thousand hours in Battlefield 3, and probably a few hundred (minimum) in the other two.

I'm kind of tangenting here, but it was a very good conversation. I don't know if Quang felt the same way, but it was enlightening for me, and I appreciate the fact that he endured it, or initiated it, or supported it. It was good.

I'm well, and Saigon no longer hates me. I learned how to tie a bow tie, as evidenced by one of the earlier photos in this post, and I'm way too proud of it. I'm enjoying my time here, and Quang surprised me by asking me when I'd be leaving. I scheduled three days here, and apparently I'm going to be moving on tomorrow. I think.

I need to decide where I'm going next, when, and how. I feel like I should fly to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, do what I want to in Cambodia, and come back to Vietnam, hopefully within a week or...probably not two. I've been told Angkor Wat is not to be missed, and I really want to fire an RPG, maybe an AK or M60. Besides that, I'd prefer to remain in Vietnam and spend my time here.


!Noah!