This morning I organise travel for the next few days. I find a travel agent on the street and book a tour for tomorrow, my bus to Hue and a flight from Hue back to Saigon. I’m the first customer so I get special ‘morning price’! Her daughter runs a massage and spa next door so I get a Thai massage, also for ‘special morning price’. During the massage the mood was interrupted a couple of times – once by the masseuse answering her mobile while continuing to massage me one handed and secondly from cigarette smoke wafting in from a neighbouring room. I wanted a coffee next so I was taken next door to the masseuse’s cousin who runs a cafe. No talk of ‘special morning price’ here but it is very cheap and genuine anyway. The cousin’s husband sees me going through the Lonely Plants guide and sits down for a chat. His English is good and we have a long and interesting discussion about the state of affairs in Vietnam. He has a very educated knowledge of world affairs as well as his country’s history. He is frustrated with the powerful over-controlling government and not being able to do anything about it. Vietnam is managed by a communist regime and the people don’t get to decide by vote who is in charge. Hero, my guide from the bike tour, has a more upbeat view of things. He describes the administration of Vietnam as being more ‘socialist’ than ‘communist’. My more pessimistic (or pragmatic) new friend sees thinks not. The corruption that is a big part of political life here is disparing and he doesn’t see that changing. There is big money flowing into a developing Vietnam and corrupt leaders are helping themselves. Positive change can only be influenced by powerful forces from outside of Vietnam. He sees a lot of pain to come for Vietnam because the growing economy is un-sustainable for many people. They have temporary wealth.
The afternoon is about a first fitting of my clothes. In just 24 hours my two pair of trousers, two pair of shorts and three shirts are ready for a fitting – amazing! Tourist pass through here so if they want to capture that market they have to be fast. I’m here for only three nights and my gear will easily be ready.
From there it’s a wander down to the river to a very old part of town. There is a famous old bridge built by the Japanese community here in the 1950s to connect them with the Chinese quarters across a stream. It’s beautiful down here and there are a mix of markets, some genuine and others for tourists.
angusmccoll 