Simple Pleasures

Nha Trang - January 7

We're in a town on the central coast of Vietnam with not much to recommend it except for the fact that it's made two weary travelers feel at home. There's a locals neighborhood we've been spending time in, a nice mix of residential + commercial, where we've never seen another tourist, but also have been made to feel right at home by the residents. We've found a good corner bar, where there are even WOMEN drinking. This makeshift "bar" is actually just a dozen child-sized tables + chairs in front of the owners home, but it's a nice place to relax + enjoy 50 cent beers at the end of the day. Nearby, there's a made-to-order vegetarian restaurant "Co Tam" which makes a tasty cabbage-chicken salad, served with black sesame rice crackers + iced tea for only a dollar. A couple blocks down we do our I-net in what is also just the front room of the home of a very nice family. Only seven computers and only 13 cents an hour. Not bad, huh?! Our guest house is also family run and we scored a large, upstairs room with two black-lacquered double beds, a private bathroom with very hot water and tub, toilet + sink all in dark plum color. The whole effect being somewhat bordello-like and a steal at $5. And then there's breakfast. Fantastic, strong coffee (only 13 cents) served by a beautiful, fortyish Vietnamese woman + her mother who go out of their way, even during the morning rush, to teach us new Vietnamese phrases every day. To go with it, coconut pastries from another woman at a little stall across the street who beams with pride every time we tell here "Ngon lum!" (tasty).

Pleiku - January 10

We're the only foreigners in this central highlands market town. Another place with nothing to recommend it. We spent the last hour or so shopping for makings for dinner. What an experience! The people here are SO curious and really try and engage us. Everyone wants to know what we're buying and when we show them our collection of rice noodles, tofu, vegetables, pickled radish, peanuts + herbs they nod in approval. The magic words "Doi un Chay" and everyone respects that we're vegetarians. Most of the people follow a vegetarian diet at least twice a month in accordance with Buddhist protocol here so it's been very easy to get by. Besides curiosity, they love to laugh, usually at our expense. They tease us constantly about our height (they are very tiny people), our ratty clothing (everyone here takes care with their appearance and wears clean clothing + quite stylish too for the younger generation), and our mispronunciations (one screwed-up word out of our mouths will be accompanied by big belly-laughs while being circulated throughout the market, so that we're serenaded with laughter). None of it's malicious though and we've found the people to be getting more + more friendly as we've headed north from Saigon.

These are just some of the simple pleasures that we've come to treasure as long-term travelers. The longer we're out here, the more we appreciate that it's not always about seeing a "site", but simply strolling through a town and getting a feel for how other peoples' lives differ from our own. Trying to make a friendly connection. Cultural exchange.