So Farr's long-awaited visit to Indochina finally took place. He arrived late Friday night and took up residence in Stefan's dress shop along Hai Ba Trung.
He took to the difficulties of Southeast Asia - the traffic, the crowds, the constant demands for charity - with surprising equanimity, as if it were all local color. He was also agog over the low prices and took to photographing all of his meals.
The one thing neither of us could really take was the heat. After an hour or two of exploring we'd be forced to find an air-conditioned cafe and restore ourselves with a cold drink or two.
We did the usual tour things - War Museum, Reunification Palace, Cu Chi Tunnels. We also went in search of a tailored shirt that would meet his exacting standards (no luck( as well as cheap DVDs and various Vietnam trinkets (success). John was particularly taken with a shop selling old propaganda posters, urging the Vietnamese to raise more pigs and fight imperialism and so on.
Then, Angkor Wat, which are not any less magnificent for having seen them already. The usual swarms of postcard-hawkers were there, though they seem to have absorbed a great deal of information about the Obama family, which they used to gain our sympathy (and money).
It was all over before we knew it, and we each went our separate ways again. Until November.
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