Lectures and 5:00 fiestas

We took the bus to Vietnam National University this morning, and on the way we passed this bakery store where motorcycles just drive up to order their breakfast.  

This was our scene for the day where we had three lectures about the Chinese in Vietnam, two of which were splendid, one with a translator, and one was ghastly.

This is the last speaker, the Dean of Oriental Studies, with his translator who was fantastic.  He looked about as Chinese as I do, but he claimed that his ancestry was Chinese although they came before 17th century and had assimilated so thoroughly that he cannot be sure.  I wanted to tell him that he was Irish, but what good would that do?

When we got back, I went to this mall which has a place that sells lacquer for bargaining on the top floor.  It was an exhausting exercise in discipline, and I ended up spending far too much for junkie little bracelets of shells and beads; however, the two young girls with whom I was bargaining were so funny that I didn't care.  When they began to give me the schpiel about  needing the money, I said, "Yes, I know, and your babies have no food and your mother has a deadly disease."  They joined in the game and said, "Yes, and we haven't eaten meat for over a month."  I just loved their senses of humor and gave them way too much, but the process was fun, and the girls were funny.

Then we went to the Rex Hotel where they have a wonderful bar on the 5th floor - outside and overlooking the city, on top of which they have a happy hour, two for one special, so we all ordered fancy schmancy drinks except me because I just wanted a beer but got two.  THIS is the new house drink that tasted and looked green; I think it was called something like 5:00 Festival, and it had cucumber and zucchini in it.  They were trying to determine whether it was worth putting on the menu for real; some of our party voted yes, but my friend John gave it only a B.  

Here is a photo of the bar itself; all these delicate lanterns hung throughout the outside deck and it was lovely.

Ho Chi Minh City from the 5th floor looks pretty glitzy, and indeed, it has gotten MUCH more glamorous than I recall from about 5 years ago, if that; however, I may have gotten a lopsided backpackers' view of the place because I was on my own dime and staying in the typical dives that I love to patronize where I always meet other interesting, adventurous people.  Staying in places like the Continental exposes one to a narrow clientele, people who are not usually that fascinating, deep, broad (other than of beam) or quirky.  It's a mundane crowd, one that has money to burn and too much time to shop.

Tomorrow we pile into the bus at 7:30 and head to Can Tho in the Delta, a place that makes my heart go pit-a-pat.  Now I learn that the majority of the Chinese had migrated to the Delta; what could be better?  I am unable to find Vietnamese writers in English translations though, and that is my specialty; I'm the literature/literary member of the group.  HA!