Ok, let's start from the beginning.
A few days ago, a Canadian guy named Ryan messaged me on Facebook to let me know he had a motorbike he was selling. He must have known I was in the market to buy. I went and took a look at it, seemed decent for the price he was asking for, and we made an arrangement to make the transaction on Saturday.
Fast forward to... later that day. Ryan messages me again to tell me that he and some friends were going out for food at 8 as a going-away of sorts for him since he was moving to Singapore on Sunday. I say, "Ok." He says, "Cool." I'm paraphrasing here but that's pretty much how it went.
So we meet up with some of his other friends at an American BBQ place about two hops and a half jump away from where I was staying. One is Nathan, an Illinoisian who's lived in VN for 5 years, and his wife Minh. Another was Brian, who's from DC and is a local MC/DJ at a few clubs around town. And also Chris, who has lived in VN for several years and is a teacher/recruiter.
After dinner we all head to the north side of D1 to a bar called Acoustic where Brian is performing for the second time that day. It's a cozy little place where the Budweiser flows like $6 Budwe... woah wait a second holy shit you want $6 for a BUDWEISER? But the music was pretty good, there was a Philipino guy that did a hell of a reggae accent, all good. Once Brian was done we left there for his next gig which was a place called Cargo.
Cargo is a rave/dubstep club that's semi indoor-outdoor, it's basically a gigantic tent. The beer was thankfully much cheaper there at 50k for a Tiger, but the cover to get in was 200k! Now back home a $9-10 cover is not unusual but for a place like Vietnam that's pretty steep. Luckily Brian pulled some strings for us since he was performing and got us in for free.
The show was good, definitely a counter-culture/skater/stoner vibe inside, which I got a kick out of since most of Vietnam is so conservative. Brian rapped over some dubstep/house, and there was a violinist that also accompanied them that gave it a really cool sound. I had a really good time (especially once I'd had a few beers and hit the dance floor), but it's one of those places I'd go once in a while, the super loud club vibe hasn't been my thing since about 22.
Since then I've been touring around D1/D2/Binh Thanh on my new motorbike and getting lost. Actually mostly getting lost. But I'm pretty proud of myself for not having ran over anyone yet, or broken a major traffic rule (not that there are any here). What's supposed to be a 15 minute drive in the city takes me 25-30 because I have to pull over every so often to re-check google maps, or take a u-turn when I go the wrong way.
I've met several new friends in the last few days. It's nice actually having someone to talk to rather than being alone in a sea of strangers. I'm still doing 95% of things by myself, but as I meet more people and get better about inviting new friends out to eat that should change. Tonight I went out and had some Japanese food then took my camera out to Saigon Times Square and Bui Vien for some photography. The photos from that will be up on a separate blog post.
Later ya'll.
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