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Sixth Day,
Went shopping today with Miss Hong and Miss Tuyet. The market is much like I remember it from my last visit to Vietnam, it's much like a flea market on steroids. I was able to purchase a step down transformer for the power supply for my PDA. I also did my gift shopping. Got gifts for Alice, Todd, and Chris plus a spare gift, I'm not sure what I'll do with. I also picked up a pair of sandals. The heat and humidity here make wearing western style shoes and socks really uncomfortable. The ladies all did their shopping while I stood around waiting. We ate at a nearby restaurant, really crappy food. Note to self, the cabs running around with their windows up, are the ones with air conditioning.
I was wondering about the quality of this driver, he seemed to be having a lot of trouble finding his way to Xai's house. At one of the intersections near Xai's home is a hole where a man cover is missing. As we approached this hole, I wondered to myself, has this idiot noticed it? BANG!! Well, that answered my question. The driver successfully managed to drop the right front tire down into the hole. Thankfully we were surrounded by a crowd of amused onlookers. With their help we were quickly able to extract the car and be on our way.
In the evening, me and Thu went to visit Mr and Miss Hong. They were separated a few months back, and Mr Hong is trying to get Miss Hong to come back. He remodeled their home and it looks really nice now. This is where I stayed on my previous visits and we were hopping to stay here again, but those hopes were dashed when the Hongs separated. While the house hasn't been completely remodeled, it has seen a lot of improvements. Not the least of which is AIR CONDITIONING. This is the first private home I've visited that's had air conditioning. Oh how wonderful it felt.
AC in Vietnam is really expensive. To have one room equipped with AC can cost about $450. That's in American dollars. In addition, Saigon has variable electric rates depending on usage. If you use over a certain amount of electricity, the rates above that will double.
We sat there and chatted with them for a while. It's clear that Mr Hong wants his wife to come back, but she's looking a little skeptical. Well, I hope they can patch things together. After about an hour we headed home. As we walked home I took note of a new church that's being constructed in the neighborhood. Pretty impressive looking. It's an open structure, so the wind can just blow throw it and keep everyone cool. Even though it's not finished, I've noticed that when services are held, it's so crowded that people are left standing outside.
Finally got a chance to try that step down transformer, everything works. Thank you God. I can now access my Ebooks. |
Date(s): June 22, 2004. Album by Steven W Dugger. 1 - 2 of 2 Total. 229 Visits. |
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