An American, A Vietnamese, a Brit, and a Scot walk into a bar...

and at some point they all end up at the same table talking about french philosophy, world trade partnerships, language exchanges, and the best vietnamese beer.

This, of course, is not a joke but how my Friday night went. All people, young and old, come out and eat and drink socially almost every night. This leads to crowded streets, crowded bars, and endless opportunities to meet interesting people.

I was sitting in the apartment and getting to know Phillipe, an older British man who was renting out another room there, when Lam showed up. Lam is Vietnamese, and has been an instructor of English here in Ho Chi Minh City for years. He is a close friend of Lotus, who is the person that rents out the unit. Lam told us that if we were hungry he could take us out to eat and for beers, we told him we were indeed hungry and that that sounded great.

So we set off for Bui Vien/Pham Ngu Lao streets, which is the main backpacker/tourist area. Now I'm not sure I want to be hanging around the super touristy areas much while I'm here, but at least for the time being it'd be kind of nice to see semi-familiar faces. On our way there we passed a pho stall that looked too good to pass up, so the woman set up a table for us and we sat on the little plastic stools that are so ubiquitous here.

The pho was very good. I'm no food critic so I couldn't say how it compared to the pho available back home, but I can say the ambience was much more interesting. Seated on the sidewalk, with motorbikes whizzing past just a few feet away, we sat and ate the delicious beef soup and talked about Vietnam with our guide Lam. Once we'd had our fill we paid 35,000 (~$1.50) each and set back off towards the bar scene.

Bui Vien is the main street for expats, backpackers, and tourists, and probably the best neighborhood for cheap beer and great people watching. I would estimate that 40-50% of the people we passed there were non-vietnamese. Lam took us to what he promised was the best place for cheap beer, a nearly empty restaurant called Grill & Chill. I can't say for sure that the beer here was cheaper than anywhere else, but at 12,000-25,000 ($0.50-$1.10) per beer, I'm not complaining.

The only other patron was an older white man who ended up joining our table after hearing us talk about Britain. It turns out he's from Scotland, which was plainly obvious from the moment he spoke! I think it's interesting that he said he hasn't been there for 50 years, but still had a very thick accent. So there we were, 4 men of 4 different nationalities, drinking beer, talking about many different things, telling jokes, laughing, and watching passersby.

On the walk home I decided to take a video of the scene, it was just too interesting not too. Weekend warriors, long term expatriates, and locals all combined to socialize, drink, and enjoy the moment. Sitting and thinking of it now, I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to do this, to travel to the other side of the world and meet so many people of so many backgrounds. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am. Anyways, here is the video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.