One of the really great things about living in Saigon is that, for me, the clock simply doesn’t exist. This is a huge advantage. Decades of touring as a musician and not great sleep patterns to start with have left me with the inability to sleep when most people do. I decided as a young man that sleep was a waste of life and decided, quite deliberately, to train myself to need less. Eight hours per night became 6 by the time I was twenty five or so and that became four before I reached thirty. So for the majority of my life I have slept for about four or five hours every night. This was not such a bad thing, when I was getting up at six every morning to go to the gym before work, but now I have no routine. Accordingly my four or five hours happen anywhere between about 2 am and noon. Quite often I’ll sleep for only two hours then get up and start writing. The advantage of living where I do, is that if I wish, I can get up in the middle of the night and go out, to do something interesting.
Saigon is a twenty-four hour, round the clock, full on, busy city. It really is the city that never sleeps and on the odd day, I have proved it. I recently had a twenty-four hour Saturday. It was excellent, though I would have found it easier when I was younger. Whilst my brain was still in party gear, my body was screaming, enough already! It was though, great fun.
I got up at 6am and wandered round to the local 24 hour store to get some breakfast provisions. Came back and ate some cereal as I looked at my schedule for the weekend’s assignments. Yeah, this was going to be a day off, unless of course you call researching for this, a day off. I decided that I was going to head into town and catch the early morning exercisers in the Park of Hai Ba Trung, I could watch these all day!
The park is a really well appreciated facility by the local people. Hundreds pour in every morning and get their daily exercise. Many just run round the jogging track, whilst others play badminton, volleyball or Da Cau, a kind of badminton for the feet. The skill of these guys has to be seen to be believed. I passed a couple of pleasant hours here, before driving down Hai Ba Trung to the Highlands coffee shop at the back of the Opera House. I like this one, it’s in a great spot and is busy all the time. Saturday is a working day for most in Vietnam and the tradition of doing business in a coffee shop is an old and favoured one.
I had arranged to meet a couple of friends for lunch and Ellen, suggested a traditional old restaurant that she knew from the days when she lived in District 3. We met on Bui Vien in District 1 and rode of on our motor bikes in search of good food. We certainly found it. Great little shrimp savouries, a beef Luc Lac ( which is more associated with Cambodian food) and a meat and noodle dish. It was just the job.
After an hour we drove off following Ellen as she had promised to show myself and Brendan, the other friend, some of the places we hadn’t been to yet. We road through the chaotic streets into district 11 and stopped off at Phu Tho Indoor Sports Centre. It was a big place and was really buzzing with hundreds of locals playing Da Cau, Volleyball, badminton, table tennis and all kinds of things. Brendan got to try his hand, well foot really, at Da Cau. He did well but soon realised as we had all expected, it was far harder than it actually looks, and it looks very hard indeed.
We collected the bikes from the garage, after paying the usual VND4,000 and set off. Parking bikes in Saigon is easy, because there has been a lot of thefts, parking garages are everywhere and they are as cheap as chips. VND4,000 is about eleven pence. We rode across District 11 to the Cong Vien Van Hoa Theme Park. Again as it was weekend, this was incredibly busy. It is a theme park without a theme really, but good fun and great value for all that. There are animal, sea life and bird sections, beautiful lakes and gardens around which to stroll and plenty of smaller fun things to see and do. A guy was strolling about on a suspended bamboo pole, about two feet off the ground, visitors can pay a very small fee and have a go. Nobody succeeded whilst we were there, including Brendan, who I discovered is up for absolutely everything. He was the best of the volunteers, though.
We spent a really enjoyable few hours here and only stopped because I was getting very worn out. A game of pool was suggested so we rode back into District 1 and found a really good pool bar on Le Lai. The Vietnamese love their pool, and billiard halls with tables for both codes are everywhere. The billiards to which they refer, is Carambole, a throw back from the days of French colonialism, it is played on a table with no pockets. We had a few games of pool and a couple of beers and as darkness fell, Brendan and Ellen said their goodbyes and left.
I was a man on a mission so I rode home, dropped off the bike, grabbed a quick shower and caught a taxi back to District 1. I was meeting up with my usual football friends in the Spotted Cow on Bui Vien. This is the best pub in town to watch the game and City were playing. The food is great in here as well, and as the games start the atmosphere builds up, as fans of all the clubs start cheering their teams on. They have one large screen and four TVs so normally there are two or three games on at once.
The football over and three points safely in the bag, I wandered down the street to see my mate Ray who owns and runs Shots bar. It’s a small place with tables and chairs outside. Late at night it’s a great place to sit with friends drinking and watching the world go by. We quite often get on of the waitresses to run down the street and get the kebabs in. They really are superb. We sat here for an hour or two and decided to wander further done Bui Vien and investigate the late nighters. Half way down the street there are a few bars, including a sports bar called Universal. They all have plastic seating outside and as the crowds get bigger, the street gets narrower. Sitting on the edge is certainly not for the faint hearted. Some of the motorbike riders here have no sense of danger at all and they tear up and down the street missing drinkers by inches.
Thankfully there were to be no injuries tonight and as the light started coming up, every appeared to be in one piece, albeit a lot worse for wear. We strolled down the street even further and found a cracking little pho shop. This was selling the best pho I’ve had since arriving. This delicious beef broth is unbelievably tasty and whilst not what Westerners would expect for breakfast, it is just the job.
By now it was 7.00am and the sun was up, the locals were arriving to open the shops, and it was time to start work for another busy Sunday. And so Saigon life goes on day after day night after night. Nothing ever really stope and different people thrive at different times. For me it was time for my bed. I had a feeling that four hours might not just be enough on this occasion.
