Allow me a rant ....
Asia can be VERY frustrating at times .... it does't happen often, but it just happened again ... so I thought the best thing to do was to slip out of the street chaos and into an internet cafe and type it out of my system! It may have somethng to do witht he fact that I have to get a wisdom tooth pulled tomorrow ... but I doubt it ...
There are so many people here. Many more people than there is work ... particularly for young men it seems. (Many of the women, who seem to do most of the work, often are quite busy .. cooking, cleaning looking after the kids ....) Underemployment is one of the biggest challenges Asia faces. Living standards are rising .... there's enough food .... but not enough for people to do .. and expectations that always exceed income. There are far more services .. and products that there is people with money to buy them. As a westerner you are the prime target ... a walking ATM machine ...
It's most critical for young men I think ... they often lurk about trying to do anything to get your attention to sell you something or provide a service. You can buy ANYTHING ... transportation, ciggarettes, sunglasses, postcards, their sister ..... Everywhere you are being watched. Let your eyes glance at something and they pounce.
The motorcycle taxi drivers and the cyclo drivers here in Saigon are the worst. The will do anything to attract your attention ... like waving ... shouting ... putting their hand up as if to stop you ... standing in front of you and asking where you are going ... or putting thier arms around and asking how you are ... in the more agressive they will grab your arm and pull you toward their bike or cyclo or whatever they are selling
... and it doesn't end with no ... they keep at it ... getting mad is the worst thing you can do ... but some days it challenges my equanimity ... today anyways ...
It's got so I don't wear my leather sneakers when I go out ... so I don't get hassled so much by the shoe shine guys ...
Damn!! It happened again
.... I can't even type this rant without getting interupted ... this time by the gal trying to wheel her motorcycle past me ... and all the other customers IN this internet cafe ...
Motorcycles are everywhere!!! Millions of them ... first it was the Honda Dream I'm told ... strong relaible, and affordable. Then they made the "Wave" and then everyone else started making them ... a Chinese knockoff goes for $600 new .. so everyone has got one .. they are everywhere ... you cant use any of the sidewalks ... they are motorcycle parking lots ... they fill hotel lobbies ... access to restaurants ... you can't move for bikes ...
Crossing the road is a trip .... the way u do it is to just walk out into the stream of bikes ... and they go around you ... you hope. Most unerving ... but the only way to do it ..
Oh the noise!!!! Everyone beeps their horn ... it's like they are bats navigating by sound. The busses and trucks ... which you get out of the way of ... pronto ... have air horns and can scare the bejesus out of you!!
So anyways ... I can't wait to get out of Saigon ... don't get me wrong .. it's an amazing vibrant city ... but a bit of shock after my nine idyllic days in my beach bungalow at Mui Ne, listening to the surf.
I head off to Krabi Thailand via Singapore on the 22nd ..... a few more days of beach I hope .. then it's up to Bangkok and home to Canada on May 5. At this point I'm having problems getting flights from Vancouver to S'toon but I'll figure something out ...
I've got some pictures of Mui Ne I'll try and put up ... and a couple I love of a Vienamese version of the car seat ... who says safety isn't important!!!
Darn again!!! This computer is set to Korean ... it's a conspiracy I know ... I can handle putting this blog up in Korean coz I know where to click even if I don't understand what's written on the buttons ... but the software to resize my pictures so I can put them on my blog is in German .. and I don't know it .. so I'm pooched! The problem in these internet places where international riff raff hang out ..
Ahh well later for the pics ...
There are so many people here. Many more people than there is work ... particularly for young men it seems. (Many of the women, who seem to do most of the work, often are quite busy .. cooking, cleaning looking after the kids ....) Underemployment is one of the biggest challenges Asia faces. Living standards are rising .... there's enough food .... but not enough for people to do .. and expectations that always exceed income. There are far more services .. and products that there is people with money to buy them. As a westerner you are the prime target ... a walking ATM machine ...
It's most critical for young men I think ... they often lurk about trying to do anything to get your attention to sell you something or provide a service. You can buy ANYTHING ... transportation, ciggarettes, sunglasses, postcards, their sister ..... Everywhere you are being watched. Let your eyes glance at something and they pounce.
The motorcycle taxi drivers and the cyclo drivers here in Saigon are the worst. The will do anything to attract your attention ... like waving ... shouting ... putting their hand up as if to stop you ... standing in front of you and asking where you are going ... or putting thier arms around and asking how you are ... in the more agressive they will grab your arm and pull you toward their bike or cyclo or whatever they are selling
... and it doesn't end with no ... they keep at it ... getting mad is the worst thing you can do ... but some days it challenges my equanimity ... today anyways ...
It's got so I don't wear my leather sneakers when I go out ... so I don't get hassled so much by the shoe shine guys ...
Damn!! It happened again
.... I can't even type this rant without getting interupted ... this time by the gal trying to wheel her motorcycle past me ... and all the other customers IN this internet cafe ...
Motorcycles are everywhere!!! Millions of them ... first it was the Honda Dream I'm told ... strong relaible, and affordable. Then they made the "Wave" and then everyone else started making them ... a Chinese knockoff goes for $600 new .. so everyone has got one .. they are everywhere ... you cant use any of the sidewalks ... they are motorcycle parking lots ... they fill hotel lobbies ... access to restaurants ... you can't move for bikes ...
Crossing the road is a trip .... the way u do it is to just walk out into the stream of bikes ... and they go around you ... you hope. Most unerving ... but the only way to do it ..
Oh the noise!!!! Everyone beeps their horn ... it's like they are bats navigating by sound. The busses and trucks ... which you get out of the way of ... pronto ... have air horns and can scare the bejesus out of you!!
So anyways ... I can't wait to get out of Saigon ... don't get me wrong .. it's an amazing vibrant city ... but a bit of shock after my nine idyllic days in my beach bungalow at Mui Ne, listening to the surf.
I head off to Krabi Thailand via Singapore on the 22nd ..... a few more days of beach I hope .. then it's up to Bangkok and home to Canada on May 5. At this point I'm having problems getting flights from Vancouver to S'toon but I'll figure something out ...
I've got some pictures of Mui Ne I'll try and put up ... and a couple I love of a Vienamese version of the car seat ... who says safety isn't important!!!
Darn again!!! This computer is set to Korean ... it's a conspiracy I know ... I can handle putting this blog up in Korean coz I know where to click even if I don't understand what's written on the buttons ... but the software to resize my pictures so I can put them on my blog is in German .. and I don't know it .. so I'm pooched! The problem in these internet places where international riff raff hang out ..
Ahh well later for the pics ...
posted by Andrew Smith at 3:14 AM
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