Making Friends

I was desperate for something to eat on the bicycle ride back from the museum, so I stopped along West Lake at the first reputable looking restaurant that I saw. When I entered the established, all the waiters had the deer in the headlights look on their faces, but they were friendly just the same, so I sat down and ordered a beer and tried to order some food. The menu wasn't in English of course, so I ended up going to where I could see the cooks cooking, and the cook showed me what he was going to make for me, which ended up being cooked, shredded beef, noodles, shallots, spinach, and lots of garlic served cold. It was really good and perfect after the hot bike ride.

When I was trying to settle the bill, one of the guys from another table where there was a large party going on helped me figure out the price that the waiter was trying to tell me. After I paid, the guy who helped me, Khanh, sat down, and we talked for awhile, since he spoke a little English. He said his girlfriend had been taking English classes for two years at a university in Hanoi, and that was how he was able to practice English. He said that he and his co-workers worked in social services, I believe, getting troubled youth off the streets and rehabilitating them. He was really friendly and invited me over to their table for some more beers and some of the food that they had ordered. They were having a whole fish boiled in a stew with spinach, noodles and lots of other veggies. There were some other people in the group who were really friendly. Khanh's boss really liked to take pictures and took some pictures of the group hanging out. There were also a couple of soldiers who watched over HCM's body inside the tomb I had just visited! They viewed this job as an honor. In general, the Vietnamese people I have met so far are really proud of HCM, because for the first time in their history in a long time, they are truly independent.

It started raining really hard outside, and I wasn't in a hurry to ride my bike around in the deluge, so we stayed at the restaurant for most of the afternoon, talking and snacking on food. When the rain finally began to let up, the group wanted to go for karaoke, so I offered to take them since they wouldn't let me pay for anything at the restaurant, which I felt bad about because I was near the oldest at the table and I was the foreigner. The karaoke place was near some tennis courts that I had passed earlier (incidentally, I saw people playing tennis in this rainy weather!), but we had to go to an ATM first so I could get some more money, which involved me getting on the back of Khanh's motorbike.

I thought I would be more scared being on a motorbike, but it wasn't that different from the bicycle riding along crowded streets that I had done earlier, but at a little faster speed. Khanh bought me a bien mah which was delicious ( a baguette stuffed with sausage and spicy vegetables), and we ate the baguettes as we drove back to the karaoke place. Karaoke involved me listening to a lot of people singing Vietnamese soul, but I did get to sing "Yesterday" and "The Sounds of Silence," two of the small number of English songs that the karaoke place had.

Khanh invited me to stay at his place, but I didn't want to deal with the bike ride in the morning, so I came home. But they were the friendliest people I have met in my travels so far.