Tam Biet, Vietnam

So Now I'm in Hong Kong awaiting the next leg of my journey...and a good thing, since it turned out my Vietnam visa expires on Tuesday. I got the day/month thing mixed up.

So, since I'm not in the spirit for a lengthy introspection, I'd just like to say that I appreciate all the people I met in the last year and I'll miss you...at least until September.

More Like 'Singariche'

The best way I can describe Singapore is basically as a very luxurious retirement community. It's warm. It's clean. It's well-organized. There are plenty of laws to keep the young'uns from getting out of hand, cheap and cautiously spicy Asian food, and non-threatening English-speaking minorities.

Also there are shopping malls everywhere. If there's a global recession on, you wouldn't know it from Singapore. The shopping, dining, and construction is blazing ahead at a rate that makes HCMC look quiet and indecisive.

Setnoas: A kitschy little island to the south of Singapore proper, with theme rides and beaches and aquariums and other stuff for children and their grandparents.

The Esplanade: A durian-shaped performing arts center (and shopping mall, of course) right on the bay.

Singapore Art Museum: A charming modern-art museum with some rather bizarre exhibits, such as a video of a Vietnamese artist cutting up dozens of pieces of pork, putting them into glass boxes and placing said boxes on the subway escalators.

Sir Raffles believed that ethnic groups should each have their own little enclaves, and so:

Little India
Chinatown
The Colonial District
The Arab Quarter

All pretty much what you'd imagine them to be, with the appropriate restaurants, shops and temples.

Then I was late for my flight and had to spend all day in the airport. I suppose you could argue most of Singapore is basically an airport mall, but it still wasn't fun...

Oh, and the Merlion! Half fish, half lion, it's the national symbol of the city-state which in an odd way manages to represent the dual East-West nature of Singapore itself, or so I just made up.

Dragon Smile

Walking around Saigon one is sometimes struck by the hideous grinning teeth all over the place with 'Nha Khoa' (Tooth House) written above. Some of them are straight-up dentist offices but many of them offer teeth-whitening and similar services.

Since I've always wanted to whiten my smile (and for the low price of only 1.5 million dong) I decided to go ahead with it. It hurt like hell (I had to sit with my mouth pried open for about an hour) but hey hey, my teeth are as bright and white and shining as the rest of me.

Saigon Spirits

I;m still recovering slightly from last night, which was the closing of the 1st Annual Saigon Beer Festival. After bargaining the guy at the door down from the absurd entrance price of 400,000 VND I got in and found myself in a quasi-nightclub/bar where about 25 different kinds of beer were on offer. Also there were:

- Many many English teachers (and Westerners of all kinds)
- a Filipino cover band
- pool and foosball tables
- Chasids

The last were having a spot of trouble as they were unable to eat any of the food avialable, which was invariably of the fried and Bratwurst variety, and so had to down their beers without the consolation of calories. Unluckily, I forgot my new tailored shirt in the cab on the ride over. It only cost $20 but I really liked it and now I gotta go make another one.

Man Bites Dog

So I suppose I might as well admit it: I ate a dog the other day. Don't judge me!

It wasn't an accident, some mystery meat from a street vendor. A Swedish friend of mine had vowed that he would not leave Vietnam without eating dog, and he brought me along for moral support.

Traditionally, dog is eaten more in the North of Vietnam than in the South, probably because it is considered a 'warming' food and the South is hot enough already.

As for the taste, it was rather like lamb, only even greasier. That's the reason it warms you up so quickly - there's so much fat. It wasn't terrible but I won't be eating it again anytime soon. For some reason you can definitely tell it's a dog; you can almost taste the barking and I find it a little unsettling.