{"id":835,"date":"2008-02-18T20:01:45","date_gmt":"2008-02-19T03:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/18\/saigon-at-night\/"},"modified":"2012-01-15T10:57:43","modified_gmt":"2012-01-15T17:57:43","slug":"saigon-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/18\/saigon-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Archives: Saigon at Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Saigon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I love this picture that J. took as we were walking to our table at a restaurant in Saigon. It perfectly captures the feeling of being there, the noisy blurry mess, the vibrancy, the off kilter feeling, everything. (It’s probably a good time for a reminder that J. takes a lot of the pictures you see here on NEV, he has an excellent eye and a steady hand.)<\/p>\n

It was a hot night and we were going to eat BBQ in a courtyard restaurant that’s popular with locals and expats. The place was packed, the waiter was expecting us. The ceiling was covered with geckos, the air was fuzzy with smoke. We sat at a rickety table in the back and drank Tiger beer by the bottle. I was frustrated by the menu – there was nothing I wanted – and ordered badly.<\/p>\n

J. had crocodile, which he ate after grilling the raw meat over a charcoal burner. I’m sure the waiters don’t get hazard pay but they earn it, hefting blazing hot ceramic buckets full of smoking charcoals over your head and placing them in the middle of the table on a metal plate. I had fish, it was fried and dry and full of bones. I tasted the crocodile – I found it a weird cross between chicken and fish; I’d probably overcooked it because it was tough and chewy.<\/p>\n

After dinner we went to the rooftop bar at the Rex Hotel, a fancy place with a cover band playing the Greatest Hits of the 70s. The Carpenters are alive and well in Saigon, Simon is still singing with Garfunkel, A Daydream Believer can still hook up with a Homecoming Queen. I filled my unsatisfied belly with coconut ice cream, eaten out of a real coconut and washed it down with Perrier. It was, without question, the most expensive thing I ate in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

As soon as I’d finished, I was finished. I had to go back to the hotel right away, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. There were a few instances during our travels when I was so utterly overstimulated, so completely undone by sensory overload that I had to get into my room as fast as my feet would take me. This was one of them. I was cooked.<\/p>\n

People typically ask the same questions about the trip. “Was it fun? Did you have a GREAT<\/em> time?” If I hesitate in reply it’s not because it wasn’t fun or because I had a lousy time. Yeah, it was fun, yeah, yeah I had a great time. But that’s nowhere near enough. The socially appropriate answer is probably, “Yep, it was fab.” But the more honest answer is that it was intense.<\/p>\n

It’s why I like that picture so much. Sure, those people are out having a great time. But wow, so much more is going on.<\/p>\n

There are a few pics of Saigon added to the SE Asia set, here<\/a>. Also, almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a piece<\/a> about how much I wanted to go to Vietnam. How ’bout that?!<\/p>\n

[tags]Saigon[\/tags]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love this picture that J. took as we were walking to our table at a restaurant in Saigon. It perfectly captures the feeling of being there, the noisy blurry mess, the vibrancy, the off kilter feeling, everything. (It’s probably a good time for a reminder that J. takes a lot of the pictures you … <\/p>\n


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