Recovery

Monday night until Wednesday morning I was really sick with something and spent all that time holed up in my room. It got to the point where I thought I might have appendicitis and became one of those freaks who tries to Google every symptom and make a diagnosis (WebMD is going to be my professional enemy, I can tell, it makes everyone think they have cancer). I started to worry about a foreign hospital visit and made a list of the doctors that I could see on my travel insurance. Who can I call for help and support? What medicines do I buy? How can I get more electrolytes if they don't sell Gatorade?!

It really was the first time I truly missed home and my parents.

Well the stomach virus is gone and so today I went out and about with some expat friends who showed me the uber touristy area:

Tay Ba lo is slang for "western backpacker"

and this area is all about the foreign backpackers. Not the uber rich foreigners, no there are huge department stores and designer shops for them (more expensive than in US because retailers pay 100% import tax, WHAT?!) - this area is all about the fake dvds (13000D for one, 150000 for box set - it's incredible! That's right, the entire Sopranos series Dan bought for less than $10), cool print tshirts, artwork, and hip bars and restaurants serving all sorts of cuisine.



With Linh (She's from Chicago, lived here for 2 years) sending a message to our mutual friend

I had a chicken sandwich with a salad and potatoes for 75,000 D. The salad was small (it's okay! they advertise that they wash everything in purified bottled water and make their ice from that too!) and I got three little potato sticks - but it was a piece of Western food that I'd really missed.

And the music? Tracy Chapman to Beatles to Red Hot Chili Peppers.

It was nothing like I'd ever expect in Vietnam, yet somehow as I walked around with Linh and Dan afterwards, a part of me was fascinated and yet also disappointed.

Who really comes to Ho Chi Minh City to go to sleazy bars and eat pizza?? Right at the main intersection of this "Tay Balo" area, they are building a huge 3 story nightclub that advertises hiphop dance floor...there is a donut shop around the corner...

This is not Vietnam, this is not Ho Chi Minh City.