Tag: Alley

Saigon alley

I left W Palm Beach where some called “paradise” for Saigon alley.

Going from beach to bunker, I got a bump up in  the Happiness index.

Costa Rica for example has led this chart for quite sometime.

Vietnam, according to latest survey, ranked behind Costa Rica. In fact, having moved up on the Happiness  Index, it is de-listed from Singaporean Hardship Index (expat executives are no longer granted extra compensation for coming to work here).

Saigon got seasonal fruits, sea foods and sunshine.

Its nearest beach, Vung Tau, is quite crowded over the big holidays.

People in the alley know one another. They hang out at the corner coffee and eat the same meal.

District 1 and its alleys are geared for backpackers and tourists.

I had ended up first at the outer skirt then moved closer to city ‘s center.

Landlords are nice and respectful.

Neighbors are caring. Strangers leave you alone, although gossip behind your back.

Once in a while, a white-face is seen on scooters, with helmet and all.

A Viet Kieu from Australia told me after more than two decades, he could barely crack the culture code.

One dollar is still equal roughly 20,000 VND.

But aside from that, nothing seems easy. I miss the cinemas. Those old facilities have been turned into textile factory, print shop or opera school.

Valuable real estate.

Live shows here could be heard from the street. Some even stood on their scooters to take a peak (coi cop).

Karaoke houses still make money.

On summer nights, lovers  just ride around for ventilation .

They do that year-round, since it’s hot, flat and crowded here.

Neighbors would ask me to come over for tea.

Children run around, and young parents struggle to contain them.

Raising a family on two-wheelers is of course hard.

Worker bees know they have to show up on time, rain or shine.

Wages barely cover the essentials.

So coffee, coffee and occasional “ken” (Heineken) is a treat.

Birthday celebrations have become more prevalent. This is to show Vietnam’s transition from the old (memorial for the dead -a collectivistic and clanish event) to the new (futuristic and individual-oriented occasion).

Young students are catching on with overseas peers, at least in appearance (T-shirt and jeans).

IT workers at software parks also try to catch up : LTE, 4-G and IPV6.

The best about Vietnam is that it rides on two horses: the venerable and heroic tradition ; and the insatiable desire to integrate globally.

No where explains this better than Saigon’s latest tourism expo.

It’s held in the city’s water park, to show case local cuisine and at the same time, destination exotic.

Individual cubicle at work blends perfectly with shared rice cooker.

Saigon, the city, and its alleys, home to many extended families.

Pax Saigonese. It’s peace time, so don’t send war journalists here.

Just move about, and enjoy the counter-intuitive trends that co-exist.

Saigon alley, my home for half a year. Paradise or purgatory? Hardship or Happiness? Or just Peace inside out.

Deadly respectful!

On the way to the gym, I saw a casket being carried out of an alley (with funeral band playing “Soi Da cung can co nhau” – pebble and stone still need each other). Then to my amazement, the pall-bearers swung the casket around 180 degrees, dipped it three times without spilling the whiskey glasses on top then, another 180 degrees to resume forward march.

The dead even bowed and bid farewell to his/her beloved alley. I felt a lump in my throat.

Di thua ve gui (you say Good Morning and Goodnight as you come and go).

This takes it to a whole different level (in China, people not only burned incense to honor the dead, they burnt fake dollars and I-pads).

Farewell from both the living and the dead.

Who says the dead show no respect.

At least I, the living, have learned something new.

Go work out, trim down that fat, but at the same time, adjust that attitude.

You will have to bow sooner or later. Better be respectful, than being dead and still respectful.  First learn respect, then learn the 3 R’s (Tien hoc le, hau hoc van). We all leaned that early in life, and now I saw it in death.

(Shinning) House in the Alley

Instead of a snow-bound scenario in a vacated hotel, we have  a newly-wed couple of  the House in the Alley

The bloody ax, the shattering glass and the medium-rare steak.

We were placed immediately inside a rain storm. That fateful night, like in Misery,  the first domino that starts a chain of mishaps: married sex life, career, personal safety and destruction of property.

We got two layers of deterioration: psychological and paranormal .

Low lighting, fear and dread, all taken its mark on our man (the Shinning role reversal) good physique aside.

The House in the Alley could have been in Seoul, Tokyo or Manila.

But it’s set here in Saigon, where Dan and I shared a pizza last night.

He already had his mind on the upcoming project, perhaps in Dalat, his hometown where he finished high school.

For now, he can’t wait to get home to Laguna Beach “to have bite of that In-and-Out Burger“.  Instead, we ended up with laughable kid-burgers along with pizza.

House in the Alley got charming sidekicks, male and female. The supporting actress was trying to cheer up her troubled friend with traffic crash stories (occured every five minutes in this city).

“Have you listened to any of this”? I understand….”

We know the actress did try hard to scratch the surface of this very personal subject (the mother-in-law also had a miscarriage, but she had steeled herself and moved on).

So we lost a few fingers on this one, but there is, perhaps, a happy ending (from stormy open to sunny beach ending ), if one doesn’t look in the rearview mirror. Be afraid. The House in the Ally is now On Sale.

Dan is making sure of that, having run a real estate loan company himself.

Living in horror shop

This Valentine Day, Vietnam dating scene will be scary!

That is, if they picked  “House in the Alley” for a date movie.

Dan rented a house in District 3, and during the course of trying to find the right film treatment, discovered something about the house in the alley which he had rented (French villa).

http://t.co/NOmCihEI

I shared a Chamber of Commerce dinner with Dan not too long ago. We discussed films such as Joyeux Noel (WWI cease-fire for soldiers to celebrate Christmas. Opposite sides crawled out of their fox holes to fraternize on this snowy holiday in peace and brotherhood. No animosity, just humanity).

Dan’s knowledge and passion for movies clearly showed even then.

Or else, why would a Venture Capitalist decided to “risk”” a chunk of change to produce something that is scarry to him, financially!

I wish him all the success.

Superstition is alive and well, everywhere, but more predominantly in Vietnam, still an agricultural society (the long-breasted ghost tale..)

Now, even ghosts move to the city, and occupy the alley.

I live in the Alley (see Moon Alley).  After three-months here, I can pass as native and not banana (yellow outside, white inside).

My survival instincts long dormant start to kick in when I feel danger or threat.

You gotta to be on your guard, but not to the point of “throwing the baby out with the bath water”.

Dan and his crew (even him got lonely and called me on New Year‘s day) just have to exercise their imagination and creativity.

But, the impact I suspect will be greater for Viet Kieu overseas, since it will carry an underlying theme of nostalgia (missing even the ghosts one had left behind).

I guess, the worst case scenario for Dan is to break even, with interests paid in Underworld dollars.

They burned a lot of those last week, I heard, even I-pads, for the dead to “live” (no punt intended) in digital and 3-D.

One can hardly be lonely, not when living in a Vietnam’s alley.

Moon Alley

Last night, when I got back to my alley, I thought they had turned on extra lighting.

Turned out I did not notice that it was full moon. No wonder people were going to the Temple, buying and selling fake dollars for the dead.

It was supposed to be the second important date on the Buddhist calendar, second to his birthday.

Here in Vietnam, the consumer confidence index is on the rise.

You thought I must be kidding!

A war-torn country with a higher consumer index in the midst of a global recession?

Don’t take my word for it. Check out Nielsen data source.

College students are back from Tet holidays: dictionaries, backpacks, Samsung phones, and facemasks.

Ready to roll!

The old (money for the dead) and the new (studying a foreign language, preferably certified by an European  Language center) co-exist.

I also noticed all sorts of snack items: hot-dogs of all types, fish balls, fertilized eggs (in the Philippines, they call “Ba-Lut”), chips, corns etc.. The young demographics are poised for the likes of KFC.

Fast food on the fast lane.

If they can redesign the stores to accommodate ride-in (scooters nation)

In fact, some sandwich stores located at street corners are doing just that.

Nearby you will also find hamburgers on wheels (xe-lam) or food carts at the curb.

Living in a dead-end alley affords me some peace and quiet.

It’s also safer, although not well-lit.

Until last night, with full-moon.

Moon Alley.

Where children learn to walk and the old do exercise.

Neighbors turned on their karaoke machines… so loud it took over my reading concentration.

Still I love my Moon Alley. I know no one is waiting for me, except my parents’ pictures on the altar.

Felt like a kid every time, walking in the door.

Still, for me, there is no need for food offering and burning of fake money.

Their memories are well-preserved in my mind, and their advice well-heeded.

i.e. Just be a good kid. Bring honors to the dead and the living.

And remember to floss your teeth.

Moon Alley.