Still suffering from a stomach bug, not from food I think but just something going around. It would be very easy for viruses to spread here on the streets, especially when eating street food. To maximize my health for Japan I spend most if the day in bed. Food is no motivation for getting out because my appetite is suppressed but I do go for a walk in the early evening. It’s my last night in Ho Chi Minh City so I call I to a barber shop for haircut and shave.
I have a very uncomplicated hairstyle so that is easy to communicate to my non-English speaking barber. The shave is the first time I’ve ever been shaved by someone else and with a cut-throat razor. What a daunting prospect. Here I am with my totally exposed and in the hands of a perfect stranger wielding possible the sharpest blade on the planet. All sorts of thoughts fly. Do we know each other and have I ever pissed him off? Highly unlikely. Did his grandfather and father tell him stories about the Vietnam War, should I declaring straight up that I’m not American? That would make for a strange conversation. “Can I have a haircut and a shave, and I’m not American”!
All went well and not a drop of blood is dropped.
angusmccoll 