Tonight I have been exempted from viewing the festive flower show, safe here in the gated community of The Rex Hotel, downtown Saigon, famously the haunt of journalists during the Vietnam War. Music plays from a Trio that wouldn't have been out of place before World War II, this is real peace compared with the armies of people outside.
In the run up to New Year's Eve (tomorrow) the populous can't seem to resist the temptation to be even more crowded together than usual. The streets that aren't closed to traffic are grid-locked with mopeds, the ones that are shut have an uncountable seething carpet of pedestrians .
Comparison to that other Hogmanay experience comes to mind, 'The Biggest Alcohol-Fuelled Street Party in Europe' etc etc. Perhaps my own lack of sociability unless fully 'tanked up' is the clue to the desire to hide in The Rex Hotel?
All these masses of predominantly young people, no violence and no one puking their guts up.
There's a lot of things they don't have in Vietnam; Thrash metal, Graffitti, War Memorials listing the dead and another one of them is the morning after 'pavement pizza'.
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You might not have heard that UK children ranked lowest out of the 21 surveyed "western" countries for "Quality of life". I suspect we would also have rated under Vietnam, had it been included.
Side bar 1: Since you are swanning around probably most of Vietnam's recommended restaurants, I've got to replace J's stove in her living room.
Any tips? Tell me now if I need to weld anything, because I haven't a clue.
Side bar 2: Extreme blogging continues. I shall soon be adding another country to your Visitor's list.
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