Travel Diary

Is it Monday now? Daytime? Nighttime? Where am I? Ah, yes, back in the Nam. Okay, I slept in a lot, but this trip has a timeline and it’s time to get moving. The girls are off exploring and shopping, so I meet up with Terry and we decide to head to a cool coffee shop. I’m brining the laptop and drone just in case of great opportunities to record.

We ponder getting two Grab scooters but the car price is about the same total so for the same cost, might as well take the safer option. This worked fine, although probably somewhat slower as motorbikes can maneuver much better in traffic. The coffee shop is something like Workshop Coffee or maybe Workspace Coffee (I think it’s the former, but I also think both are there). It’s three floors up and once inside it feels more like a place you’d find in Seattle rather than Saigon. The prices are fair. Not exceptional, but not too steep either. Also, no rush. One can just hang out there for a long time. I had an espresso and one of their flavored coffees. Both great. I also had to try their cinnamon roll, which was quite tasty and a unique style (for me at least). It was braided and folded up into a muffin design. A nice breakfast.

One thing was pressing: I needed to get WIFI. I was on my second day of Verizon travel fees, and it was $12 per day, so I didn’t want to use that much longer. There was an app called Nomad which charged about $16 for 20 gigs of data over 45 days. I likely didn’t need that much, but it was not much more than 10 gigs and I wanted to avoid running out. I set that up before leaving the cafe. Then the Verizon charges stopped for the rest of the trip.

We walked around a bit. We tried to record a live Coffee and Cookies broadcast, but the feed was too weak to make that work. Oh well. Anything else would have be pre-recorded. The Airbnb WIFI was also quite weak.

Next, we decided to ascend the huge building that apparently some recognize from comic book movies like “Iron Man,” or what not. I never watched too many of them, so I had no idea until someone commented from the posted photos. The tickets to the viewing level were nicely priced. And the weather was great for viewing. So we bought tix and went up. It offered a great view all around. I took some video and photos and even sat in the touristy bike-chair for a photo. Before heading down, I wanted to do a narrated recording, but then found my DJI mic case was gone. Oh no! After searching my bag, I knew it was not in there. But thankfully, we found it in the touristy bike-chair, where it had slipped out about five minutes prior. I recorded my video at last, although later discovered my mic was not turned on. Yeah, I had about three or four such incidents during the trip. I then started checking after every recording.

Walking around the city more, we met up with Lesly and had a nice lunch at a highly-rated place. The food was wonderful. My hunger was light but I had a little. Then we toured some markets and saw the myriad of items for sale. Certainly, many fakes and knockoffs, but if one isn’t buying, it matters naught.

After returning to the Airbnb, Terry had mentioned an affordable massage place nearby. Okay, why not. Something to do at least once in Vietnam. We headed over there. The prices were good. Basically, for $23 you get two full hours of treatment. I could go for that. Once inside, they bring a list of options and you check off what you want done. I passed on the shave, but got a full back massage and hair wash. I selected strong for the intensity. Soon, two petit Vietnamese women led us to the massage rooms.

So they start by having you change into what basically can be called pajamas, and then, for me, the foot wash starts. Ah, yeah. That is totally worth doing. No pedicures or anything like that, but just a foot wash and stone scrub. Was very relaxing. For the next hour or so, it was mainly a back and arm massage. I can be rather ticklish at times, but I survived without laughing too much, or at least held it in. The final part is the hair wash and scalp massage. I think two hours probably was a little long as the hair wash part just went on too long, and plus, I was getting a little cold as my head was now wet and the A/C was lower than I usually keep it. But overall, a great time and investment in relaxation.

Afterwards, it was time to change back and then downstairs for watermelon and tea. Both were nice. For payment, we were not sure if they expected tips, but both ladies were waiting out there, with a sort of expected look on their faces. Yeah, tipping was fairly standard. We paid the main fee and then 100k ($3.80) for the tip. So the whole experience for the two-hour massage...$25. Try to find that price back in the States.

But wait. There’s more. The night wasn’t done yet. We met up with Lesly and decided to try an extremely highly rated Banh Mi place in town. I guess it’s raved about my many influencers. Now certainly, other places are likley just as good, but now that everyone has one particular favorite recommendation, it’s the place to go. And I imagine that they will keep quality high to remain top of the charts. Thus, I had to try it.

The price was fair: about $2.50, and you get quite a meal. For those unawares, it’s essentially a large loaf filled with a meat (liver I think) mix in the middle. You then add a lot of sprouts and veggies. For the price, you get a lot of food. I made mine last about three days, although again, small stomach. We walked around more and found a spot to sit and relax some. Across the street, we noticed quite a few very attractive ladies starting to arrive at a place called Empire. We surmised it was a bar and go-go dancer club. It also looked quite fancy, like a dress code to even get in. Yeah, we were certainly not going inside there. I was also quite tired at that point, so I bid the others farewell and headed back.

On the way, I passed down the party street again. This time, a lot of the pretty ladies working outside tried to entice me to come inside. If you make eye contact, this only amplifies things. I wasn’t entering any of these places, especially since I was not going to be drinking anyway, but to be honest, it is kind of fun being what can almost be described at cat-called from the beautiful women. Yeah, they are only interested in my money and not me, but regardless, it still feels nice.

Getting help from Google maps, I managed to reach the Airbnb. After that, I was pretty worn out, so I returned to my sleeping and adjusting to the new timezone and location.