Binh Thanh

Today is my first Saturday off in two weeks--time for an adventure! Dyana, a kindergarden teacher from Canada, and I took the 102 bus to District 1. Our mission was to book a trip with a local travel agent to Da Lat for the long holiday. The long holiday is September 1st and 2nd, and it seems that most of the teachers take off for the long weekend. The bus dropped us off in District 1 and we walked down to the travel agency in the backpackers district--many westerners. No luck! I needed the original paper ticket to change the reservations (long story), but the most exciting part of the adventure began when we ducked into a small Vietnamese restaurant, ate a bowl of Pad Thai, talked to a dude from Ireland and then, it began to rain. Rats ran for shelter, children ran barefoot in the streets, bikers covered themselves with ponchos, and I sat and observed. Mesmerized by the children laughing and stomping in the rain and the mud, I must have watched for a good twenty minutes. After watching rain, the size of marbles, I looked up. As you can see in one of the pictures below, there are about 100 electric wires bunched up in the same place. I didn't notice this fact at first, but when I did, I started to laugh. Laughing because I see something surreal everyday. 

After the rain stopped, we walked to the Binh Thanh market. This was my second visit to the Binh Thanh market, so this time I knew how to navigate my way through the women "madame, madame  a shirt, a hat..." I made my way back to the food market to browse through the seafood, fruits, beans, rice, coffee. I love looking at all the different colors and shapes, colors and shapes I have not seen before. Today I saw a basket of frogs, water snakes, women getting a pedicure on the street, and weasel coffee. If you have been to Saigon before, I'm sure you know the sounds and the smells but if not, look at the pictures below and imagine walking through crowded rows of goods to be purchased.