Day 2 - Ho Chi Minh City

On my first morning in Vietnam I woke, packed my stuff in my private room into my bags and checked out to walk 30M around the corner to the dorm style accommodation I have booked for the rest of my stay here. I wasnt able to check in until 1pm, so I left my big bag and took just my day pack with all the valuable stuff in it. Even with just a tiny laptop and an MFT system camera, valuables still weigh a ton.

I went out onto the main road to try some delicious baked goods from the bakery recommended to me by the first hostel. They had some pretty tasty stuff, but the place was a big franchise and felt very much like Breadtop back home. I sat outside eating my coffee bun and croissant and a little older Vietnamese lady who was there eating started to talk to me. She asked me where I was from, how long I had been travelling, etc. Then she offered me a massage. I could already see where this was going and told her no, but just in case I had missed her meaning she repeated she would give me massage and "boom boom". At 10am. At a franchise bakery. It seems that being a single male in Vietnam leads to the locals assuming you're a sex tourist.

I set out to explore the city on foot, finding that as a westerner you're expected to never want to walk anywhere. I was continuously hassled by motorbike taxis, who couldn't seem to accept my answer that I just wanted to walk around and get a feel for the place, constantly rebutting with "Where do you want to go?". I didn't want to go anywhere, I just wanted to look around without being accosted damn it.

I ended up at the Ho Chi Minh Museum, an old and massive palace with a marble floored underground bunker, filled with bits and pieces of Vietnam's history. Sadly the English translations left a lot to be desired so I didn't get all that much out of it, but it was a cool building.

I started to get too hot so I went looking for somewhere air conditioned to chill for a bit and found a fancy shopping centre. The place looked expensive, which gave me hope that I'd be able to break on of these stupid 500K Dong notes that the ATM gave me, that pretty much nobody ever has enough change for. I ended up getting lunch there, some fresh spring rolls, pork, eggs and "broken" rice, but the rice seems pretty normal to me. Then I bought a nice ice cream, sesame and tapioca, and sat int eh cool typing up a blog post.

I headed back to the hostel and checked in properly, took my stuff up to my room and then headed out in search of a massage. I ended up finding the place that the first hostel had recommended, which turned out to be run by the HCMC blind society. It was an odd experience being given a massage by a blind man who didn't speak a word of English, not being able to tell him "harder please" or "focus on that right shoulder", but it want bad and it was super cp.

I decided that I had gone two long without practicing poi, so I grabbed a set and went and found a spot over in the park across the road near my hostel. After about 5 minutes I had gathered a small crowd of onlookers and children watching me, and after 10 minutes I was dripping with sweat and needed a rest. Two teenagers from the rcowd approached me and wanted to know if I would talk with them for a while so they could practice their English. I agreed and ended up sitting with them for about an hour, talking and answering questions.