but the hotel i found a couple of nights ago is the best deal so far, just 100,000 dong or $6 a nite. clean, cute cleaning staff, good security and away from the tourist area. id rather not be limited to the backpacker district, which is much like staying in times square: catering to a ton of whiteys everywhere with hundreds of hotels back to back, travel agents ready to send you just about anywhere, restaurants with menus in english, crap souvenir shops, atms and of course plenty of hookers handy, some of them actual females. but once anybody knows better, 42nd and 8th ave is the last place youd want to be. wondering aimlessly, i found a lowbrow area (shocking) near the bus station in a district that caters to locals. essentially, ive stumbled upon queens, and while im not much of a fan of my parents', archie bunker's and rosie odonell's home town, im simply luvin how real it is. plus, as the token 6 foot tall Caucasian on the street, i may as well be vin diesel. i get so many looks, hellos from small children, i should carry a sharpie and distribute signatures.
but finding a permanent place to live is anything but easy. i had someone write down how "apt/room for rent" is written so i can recognize it when signs posted. prob is, i dont get any of the other copy on the flier. could say rat infested, or directly above a smelting plant and I wouldn’t know. calling the number, its unlikely anyone who picks up will speak a lick of English other than hello, which seems to have been adopted as the way to answer calls. i found two real estate offices with a list of rooms for rent that cost between $30 and $50, im guessing per week. Unfortunately, complete communication disconnect, so i took their card, and will return with a vietnamese friend. i am also considering enrolling in language classes. I don't do very much here that I need a large vocabulary, just the same stuff I trip over daily.
for instance, this morning, my coffee came black. So I motioned the universal hand language of pouring something into the glass. She held up the sugar, so it seemed like we were heading in the right direction, but then the communication lines broke down. She went into the kitchen for a long time and when she emerged with a tea kettle, I wondered what gesture that was not obcene could impart the idea of something extracted from a cows boob. Next she brought out a cup of tepid water. Not just room temp, but sort of half boiled. Lovely. I shook my head no once more, and was presented with a large mug of iced tea which accompanies most meals, and u dont pay for, no matter how many u throw back. Not the sickeningly sweet Country Time reconstituted chemicals and food colorings variety, but some unsweetened green tea. this shouldnt be so difficult a concept to impart!
Finally someone English speaking showed up and explained one possibility I hadnt considered. They were out of milk.
finding permanent housing? how long are you planning on staying?
ReplyDeletei have a return flight in july, but one never knows. i met a vietnamese guy over beers last night, and today we moved into an apartment together. i dont even know his last name, and if i did, how the hell to pronounce it.
ReplyDeleteits in a cute residential neighborhood, across the bridge from the area where all westerners stay. but this also means ive got to brush up on my vietnamese, since far fewer people can communicate with me here. just choosing the flavor of my ice cream shake at the internet cafe required 3 waiters and a lengthy conversation between them, but in the end, they got it right.
the bigger question is if i will find my way back to the place. having only been there once and by day, i wonder if i have any chance of finding it again. hope so. all my stuff is there.