My birthday: yay!
So Kisondra and I had lunch at Frizz. I finally found Banh Chiao, which is the Khmer version of the Vietnamese Bánh xèo. It is a yellow crepe filled with bean sprouts and meat served with vegetables and some kind of sauce.
At 1:30 PM, I leave all this to Saigon. There were ar0und 10 people on this Phnom Penh Sorya Bus, which costs me $9 one way. Mekong Express runs more often but also wanted $12 for the extra "cake" and guide. Fortunately, I knew there was no real sight seeing on the way and spared myself from the more expensive ride. There was not that much conversation on the bus. A girl in her late twenties, who is working in the fashion trading business in China, is the only one that has been there. I smothered her with questions about My Tho, Can Tho, Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc and staying at Saigon.
We left at 1:30 and arrived at around 8:30. The girl working in China led everyone to District One's backpacker area. However, she was unable to get a deal better than $12 per night with a herd of Caucasians. I split and found 玉梅旅社, which is just 100 feet away from Crazy Buffalo. There was a pretty Vietnamese girl there with a man that spoke Chinese. He whispered in Chinese so the hotel owners could not hear that he would lead me to a cheap place.
Here we are! At $4 per night, it is probably the cheapest in this area. No AC and walking 8 plights of stairs kill. But hey, at least I have got water, a TV, and a roommate across! I will meet him later, I bet. I swear, it is hot walking up those stairs.
You have to go out to see the night life in Saigon.
Here we have Crazy Buffalo, which open late and is part of the same empire that owns Allez Booz and Go2. I also went to Apocalyse Now, which had a nice crowd. I talked up a cute Vietnamese girl, who is a traveller agent also. Man, so many of those. I leave around 11:30 pm to arrive at Lush, which was nearly empty. Had a drink there and a moto driver take me back for 5,000 VNDs. I think I am living the life of a budget tourist.
I get back to Crazy Buffalo, and hopped back and forth between that and Go2, which is just across the street. I ran into several people from back on the bus, who claimed that they also split up when a hotel only had a room for 2. I split again and found myself walking around the block to Allez Booz. Two girls approached me and grabbed me. About 10-15 meters after I got rid of them, I realized that my Canon was gone. I walked back and they were obviously gone. I wrote up an account of what transpired and asked the security officer and the manager of Allez Booz, who both saw the incident, to sign it. Thank god for insurance!
People eating at street corners!
Be careful of thieves! I was back at home by 2:30 AM and as soon as I entered, my roommate woke up and asked me blank if I was Chinese. His story is that he has been heartbroken since his last year of college. He is 26 and his ex is in Xian while he is in Beijing. He quit his job so that he could please his parents by travelling. Planning to earn a small amount of money in Indonesia, he hopes to travel in Thailand when he gets enough money from working in Chinatown in Indonesia. What a day! I was only going to get 3 hours of sleep, though.
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