The Heat in Saigon

I have heard a lot of not so good stories about this place that it lessened my excitement for the whole trip.


With those low expectations came a lot of nice surprises for this friendly city very close to home.

The first thing we did was exchange money, and when we saw the rates our brain cells stopped working at 1am. Should we get the 1 usd=19750 or the 1 usd=19300? We didn't know that one shop has 3% commission and the other doesn't have. Anyway, thank God for pinoy exchange forums and its very helpful tips, we knew where to exchange for Dongs, the second shop from the left (never mind the math).

With PEX tips on my mind, we knew what taxi fleet to avoid in the airport. So we didn't pay attention to the persistent guy who followed us to the water closet (Yes, that’s what they call ‘em there) and ask where we're going. We took Vina Taxi which charged us 130,000 dong.

It should've been 90,000 dong only. Anyway, it was early morning so we didn't mind the additional 40,000 dong or 50 pesos.

After 20 minutes, the cab dropped us off in a dark alley with people sleeping on make-shift beds along the alley. It was a scary sight but then we saw another batch of tourists behind us, so we figured this alley must be the guesthouse lane, Pham Ngu Lao. We rang the doorbell three times before anybody opened the door for us. The "front desk" officer was already asleep so we woke her up.

The place we'll be staying at is called Blue River but the girl at the reception didn't understand at first what we're saying. After a few exchanges, she was able to explain to us that we're at the wrong address, we should be at Blue River 2.

At 2am, we realized we were starving. So Tim, Noe and I decided to eat first before heading for Blue River 2.

Our first pho was at a busy street corner full of locals and a few tourists at 3am. The pho was good and only 30,000 dong or 70 pesos.

Then what followed is an assortment of adventures and mis-adventures with a lot of mini- discoveries. The city had a lot of nice surprises that reaffirmed the mantra; it's the journey not the destination.

Here are a few of my discoveries:

1. The locals prefer speaking French over English

2. Shell and Caltex left, only state-owned company like Petrolimex are the controlling Vietnam's oil industry

3. Catholics from the north moved to the south during the war

4. Two things they know about the Philippines, Abu Sayaff and Ampatuan massacre

5. Guide doesn't have passport because he doesn't want anything to do with the government

6. They like taking babies (yes even infants) for a motorcyle ride and just cover ‘em up with a mini-mosquito net

7. Almost everyone is friendly

8. A driver can clean his ears using an ice-pick looking gadget while driving

9. Lottery numbers are displayed along the road

10. Local channels outnumber foreign ones in cable

11. They put octane number (MOGAS 92) on the pumps, di uso branding, no price board

12 You'll rarely see English signage unless it's a brand

13 Shows and movies are dubbed with only one voice overlaid with the original English dialogue (ang hirap intindihin)

14 Bihira matataba dito

15 10 million people in saigon, 7 million motorbikes

16 They don’t show Oscars (what is that anyway?) here

17 15 people die everyday because of motorcycle accidents

18 there are no one-way streets, everybody can drive whichever direction they want to

19 Despite the seemingly "crazy streets", they actually have traffic rules and driving license tests (but I met a Filipino who has been driving a motorcycle for 4 years with no license)

20 Don’t rely on traffic lights, motorists don’t follow them anyway

21 When you cross, don't stop, just walk and the motorcycles will just avoid you

22 US embargo from 1975 to 1990 (Bill Clinton lifted the embargo in 1990s)

23 China and Viet nam learned their lessons from communist governments which failed

24 Music is a decade behind (imagine Ace of Base and Rick Astley) hillary our busmate said because they didn't have a youth culture then

25 Vietnamese are really friendly to pinoys (halika kayo!)

Amazing Connections

I thought I have heard enough stories showing how closely people are connected, the six degrees of separation don't look like they're six after all.

But last weekend, in Quan An Ngon, where we ate three times in three days in Saigon; Noe, Tim and I were chatting and the topic came around pets. (Tim and Noe met for the first time. I just introduced them to each other before our flight.)

Yes dinner just for two in Quan An Ngon

Noe started telling this story of her officemates' friend getting a chow chow dog from China. When the pet was delivered, everything seemed normal until a few weeks later, when the pet started walking on its two feet.

The puppy is acually a cub!

Somewhere along the way, the pet request got lost in translation.

When Noe finished her story, Tim said he heard that exact same story before from two of his friends who actually know the person who bought the cub. Two people whom I just introduced to each other know the person who bought a cub.

Talk about overlapping connections.

Packing

I’ve moped about this way in advance. Now that moving is imminent, so imminent, I have become numb. I’m just going through the motions of cleaning and packing as if it’s one of the most natural things I do.

I have first stepped into these corridors six years ago. And I didn’t know it was going to be the start of a six-year relationship.

As I think about this, I realized this imposing structure is not the company. I didn’t stay that long on this company because of the wonderful view from the 40th floor. I even sometimes forget which floor I am at. Come to think of it, I have only enjoyed the view a few times in one year.

In business, there should be no emotional attachment to anything. Business is business.

If there’s something I dread about moving, it’s having to commute again and having less lunch outs. I would again waste a considerable amount of time commuting and would have different lunch dates.

As much as I want stay in 1200, I have to move to 1550 with the knowledge that a company is defined by its people and its culture, not by its zip code.

But then again, hasn’t the culture been diluted by something bigger, well, that’s another story.

For now, I’ll continue packing and throwing numerous useless things I accumulated over the years.

Hubris

Good riddance, a phrase not commonplace in my vocabulary. One manifestation, I’m such a pack rat. I refuse to throw away anything even a boarding pass a few years old. That is just a boarding pass with sentimental value. Anyway, I think I threw it away already after debating with myself for a while.


In friendships, I sometimes try so hard to bridge distances even if some gaps may seem too wide. I try. As one friend said, “Ang tyaga mong mag e-mail ah.”

As Gary Chapman said in his book, each person has different love languages. As if on cue, last weekend, a few friends and I try to figure out our own love language using a standard set of questions taken from the book. And it turned out for me; my primary love language is quality time. A strong second would be words of affirmation and acts of service. I don’t know how accurate this 30-questionnaire test is but I tend to agree with it.

Bonds are formed when people’s love language are in synch. But it doesn’t mean that people with different love languages won’t be able to gel, it just takes a little adjustment. As I saw in a bookmark, the ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but to hold hands.

Walang Nagbago (Eraserheads)

I heard they're releasing a boxed set collection of all Eraserheads albums, headset. That's probably why this song has been playing on my head. 


Nung ikaw ay bata pa
Ang lahat ay masaya
Umiikot ang mundo
At hindi humihinto
Ang lahat ng makita mo ay bago

At ngayon may edad ka na
At lunod sa problema
Nangangarap na ibalik
Ang kahapon hindi mo malaman
Kung bakit kailangang
Magbago ang lahat
Magbago ang lahat sa buhay mo

Umaaraw, umuulan
Noon pa ma'y sadyang ganyan
At kung ngayon lahat ng panaginip mo'y
Biglang naglaho
Pare-pareho lamang tayo
Isipin mong walang nagbago

Kung ano tayo noon
Ay ganon pa rin ngayon
Umiikot ang mundo
At hindi humihinto
Ngunit ang kalagayan mo
Ay hindi nagbabago

Birthday Race

Nowadays, I only watch TV for news and Amazing Race. I love this show. I even dream of joining one someday. Someday.


On my 31st birthday, a friend came up with a race for me. And I realized I may not that be ready to be in a real amazing race just yet. Although the tasks I had to do were sort of "easy" compared with what they do on the show.

So before I forget the overall experience, here's a narrative designed to bore the reader but excite me.

Task 1
I live behind the Makati fire station. I walk past it every day but I haven't given it a second look.

The first task was going down a fireman's pole without any harness. I always see firemen do this on TV and they make it look easy. But looking down on the elevation from which I'm going to slide, it took a while before I summoned enough courage to slide down the pole. But slid I did.

The fireman tried to convince me to do it again to build up my confidence just in case I need to slide down a pole again. I said “No thanks”, once is enough for me.

After doing this, I ran to the nearest MRT station.


Task 2

Slum dog moment.

Remember when Jamal knew all the answers to the questions because he already had an encounter related to the question? This task sort of felt like this. It involved looking for the biggest Christian bookstore in the country and looking for a manga-inspired bible. Just like how Jamal see his questions, this challenge was a walk in the park. I'm familiar with the bookstore since I do my Christmas shopping here. And finding the book was easy because a friend asked me about this manga before.

Task 3

This task was the most physical of all the tasks, running 10km on the treadmill. I run but just for fun. And the farthest I ran is 5 km. So being asked to run 10km was definitely a challenge for me. But ran I did but it took me almost 1.5 hours. Phew.

Task 4

With my energy spent and not having eaten anything besides a power bar and a banana, I was looking forward to this task, eating in a nice old familiar place, Chocolate Kiss with a good friend. It was a much-needed breather and my favorite beef stroganoff never tasted that good.

Task 5

After eating, I proceeded to the place where I had my first spa experience. The only challenge on this task is looking for the place since it has been seven years since I went here. I had to call a friend for directions.

All these happened from 10am to 7pm. What a good way to spend this day.

Camping 101

With January as our birth month, my high school friend Jo Anne and I decided to give camping a try. And we chose Nagsasa Cove as the site of our birthday experiment.

Nagsasa Cove

Then, I found out a wonderful coincidence that on that same weekend, a CS group is also going there. So we joined them and what a blast we all had.

Sunset in Nagsasa

The last time I slept on a tent, I was 12 years old. And now 19 years later, in a remote cove in Zambales where the main source of illumination is the blue moon, I was able to relive a fond childhood memory.

the camping ground

Visiting this part of the country for the second time validated my initial observation that this place deserves to be at the top of my list for the most photogenic part of our beautiful country. My point and shoot camera cannot give justice to the different colors of the mountainside.

moonset

At first we thought that pitching the tent would be a difficult task but it turned out to be a walk in the park.

early morning, I was the one of the early birds

The weekend trip was even made more special with the second full moon for January. On a night where the only thing that separates my back from the cold earth is a blanket, sitting in front of a bonfire was a wonderful treat.

blue moonrise

One of the highlights of the full moon party was the lighting of the sky lantern which floated so high into the air. It was the first time I saw one of these fire balloons that I felt like a kid admiring a new toy.

bonfire on the beach

After this birthday trip, I came to two conclusions; I’d definitely go camping again soon. I’ll never get tired saying that we live in a very beautiful country.

sunset

a fallen tree which serves a bridge