christovietnam: another day in Sai Gon

So, it finally rained a bit last night. Noone seemed the least bit surprised, so I guess it's not so uncommon after all. The scooters don't stop, the riders just don plastic jackets and ponchos. The rain serves the useful purpose of washing everything off.

I ran into a scam a few days ago. Turns out it's a fairly common one here and elsewhere. A young girl (maybe 12) who spoke the best English of any Vietnamese I've met here approached me to buy post cards, a common trade. I declined and she asked if I needed help with anything. I needed to buy a card for the public telephones here, so she took me to a market and showed me how to buy it. She then enquired if I could help her out. 'Maybe'. 'I live with my baby sister and take care of her because our mother died and right now she needs baby formula to drink. Can you buy some for us?' 'OK, maybe'. 'I'll take you to the store and you can buy it there'. So we enter a very high-end mall (this was in the upscale part of Sai Gon near the Caravelle Hotel) and went to a grocery store on the top floor and to the baby aisle. She points to a $35 giant can of baby formula and says that's the one she needs. $35 here is a huge amount of money. It was about a 10 lb. can of formula. I said no and offered to buy a smaller one. 'I only need the big one' was the reply. At this point I knew it was a scam and turned and began to leave. She followed me out pleading to please help her and her sister (she wasn't a good actor anymore!). The scam is that they either return it later for a cash refund or resell it. The whole baby orphan story is just to get you to lay out some cash. Or maybe I'm just a hardened cynic?

Took a cyclo ride today. That's a 3-wheeled bike with 2 wheels in the front. See the photos below. In Vietnamese it's 'xich lo'. Get it? xich lo = cyclo. Vietnamese is so easy! I've been regaling the locals ever since with my perfect Vietnamese. They're so good at acting like they don't understand. I only did this cyclo ride because they're a vanishing breed and have a hard time making a living these days. The government has already banned them from certain streets because they slow the traffic flow. But it was fun. The driver had a limited English vocabulary and used every opportunity to impress me with it. He was very good at pointing out markets, dogs, motorbikes, and not much else. He also knew the locations of all the massage parlors. Every one we passed was accompanied by a harsh jolting rub of my shoulders with his calloused hands and a dry raspy laugh. I declined his offers to stop at any. He's paid by the hour, you see.

I have 3 more days here in Sai Gon and then it's off to Ha Noi and other parts.

Some more photos below and a short movie of the cyclo ride through one of Sai Gon's many traffic circles where the traffic gets particularly chaotic and hectic. All yield to the might xich lo!

My xich lo driver and his finely tuned machine. As you can see this is a strictly first class mode of transport.

Some detail inside a pagoda during my xich lo tour. There are numerous of these Buddhist worship temples scattered throughout Vietnam. They are all incredibly artisticly constructed, inside and out.