I am also a fan of what the Vietnamese call "chom chom" (I have no idea how that's spelled); they're kind of like lychees (lichees?) but they're more colorful and spikier on the outside. Mmmm...And this is what gets me through the day--well, about four of these:
Vietnamese coffee, for those who haven't had it, is strong and sweet. (For the Chicago folks, if you go to Noodles on 57th, they make a good cup of it.) You can get it iced or hot from street vendors, and I get an iced one every morning and then make a bunch more at work.I'm not really going to write about commercial zoning, but I have observed something that seems like zoning in this city, except that I can't imagine why the government would want to do so in this way. To preface this, what I noticed (and got spoiled by) in Paris was the proximity of everything. Within a few-block radius of anywhere you were bound to find at least one pharmacy, lock & key, small grocery, hair salon, bakery, etc. While Ho Chi Minh City is not huge, it is not so easy to just walk out the door and find what you need. You will never find just one store selling something, but rather 5 or 6 in a row; in my neighborhood, for example, you will find almost nothing but motorbike mechanics. I have seen whole blocks selling nothing but furniture, guitars, car parts, baby food, bike helmets, and--weirdly enough--model ships. It's like the only way to compete with a business is to open one next door. Moreover, with the lack of public transportation and the tricky-to-navigate sidewalks, it means that if I do need to go over to the furniture neighborhood I have to hail a xe om (that's the motorbike taxi) and pay to go there. I actually am going to try to walk over to get some furniture tomorrow, and we'll see what happens. First I have to find the right street.
8 comments:
Hi Arielle,
I linked to your Blog from my daughter Katherine's Sydney "Walkabout" blog
http://kat-walkabout.blogspot.com/
and am glad that I did. I've read it all, starting with your first entry... Nice work!
Hi, Arielle. The reason shops cluster has nothing to do with government. It's more like, if you want to sell shoes you open up shop where the other shoe stores are, because that's where people go to shop. The Vietnamese, evidently, have not yet got our concept of "shopping mall" that has everything, or the neighborhood mix that Paris has.
This could potentially be awesome. For instance, is there a puppy neighborhood?
Haha my dad posted. I noticed the same thing about shops in Thailand...the richer (?) areas had shopping mall places but the poorer areas had cluster shops (as I will now call them). The fruit is pretty!
mmmm noodles.
Hi Arielle, I don't have your regular Email address, so I'm sorry to write this off-topic note to your Blog... I was driving my daughter's PT Cruiser today here in So. California and she had your a cappella CD, Ransom Notes, loaded into the car's CD player! I listened to and liked the CD so much that I downloaded it into iTunes on my MacBook. I'm a Regina Spektor fan and thought that your arrangement of "On the Radio" was brilliant and the alto soloist, Miriam, sang beautifully! I should have known that you "had the music in you," because I remember a few years ago when I took you and my daughter Katherine to see "We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre on Tottenham Court Road in London... You two girls were rocking out to all the Queen songs and I was amazed that you both knew all the words! I'll get your regular Email address from Katherine so that I don't have to swing your Blog so far off track!
Love & Best to you.
I had my first Vietnamese coffee today at Noodles and thought of you! Love love love. And I also second Miriam's question about the puppy neighborhood. I want to go THERE.
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but kitties are so much better than puppies ;) hahaha
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