I spent quite a bit of time finding a hotel in which to stay while I was taking the class. When traveling I usually don't care much where I stay. If I'm only staying for a night or two all I want is a bed and a shower.
I needed a place for a month. I also needed a place where I would feel comfortable, someplace I could do homework and get a good night's sleep. I spent quite a bit of time looking at places. I must have looked at 25 hotels. The one I settled on is the first one with a white sign, the one which has what appears to be an unfortunate name for a hotel.
But this is southern Vietnam, where Dung is pronounced 'yoom'. In the north it's pronounced 'zoom'. It's the name of the owner and also the name of one of the girls who works for her. Two other girls work there, Nhi and Thao. They're all very sweet and helpful. I have felt very much at home.
I was surprised at how many people have asked me about my living arrangements. Here are a couple pix of the room.
The room is quite large. Two beds, a wardrobe, a desk, a refigerator, A/C, cable TV and hot water.
Cost: $300. Per month.
Heck, when I find a job I might actually live in the hotel! If I rent an apartment I'll have to furnish it, pay utilities and find someplace to use the internet. Now all that is included in the cost.
My room also has a balcony overlooking the alley.
At the far end is the hotel where I stayed on my previous visits to Vietnam. I was perfectly happy there for a night or two. Little did I know all I had to do was walk down the alley to find a cleaner, bigger and nicer room for the same price!
My hotel is almost on the corner of Pham Ngu Lao Street, which gives the neighborhood gets its name.
Across the street is a big park. It doesn't look like much here but walk a little further to the left and it's quite nice, with walkways winding around gardens and ponds. In the morning it's packed, as are most city parks in Vietnam, with people walking, playing badminton or doing aerobics.
I've been asked a lot what I'll do for food here. There's no need for me to even think about cooking. I love the food here. Even though I'm staying in the tourist district, which is by definition more expensive, I can get a get a bowl of phổ or bún for 25,000, about $1.50. There is nothing I could buy and cook that cheaply. And it's good!
When you get away from tourists and into the neighborhood it's even cheaper. One of my instructors told me in his neighborhood there's a sidewalk restaurant near his house where he can get meat, rice, veg and soup for 6,000 dong. Which means he can eat three meals a day for exactly one dollar.
I've also felt at home in Saigon because I have a few friends here. Several months ago I took a night "sleeper" bus to Nha Trang, the big beach town in Vietnam. Next to me on the bus was a gorgeous local woman. My first attempts at conversation went nowhere but we ended up talking for hours. She got off in Mui Ne, but we kept in touch.
Thanh is on the left. She's a fashion designer and is working on a graduate degree, so I haven't seen much of her since my return because she's so busy. She introduced me to Thu, who I see quite often. She works in a hotel around the corner from mine so she knows where to find everything. She's been a big help and a good friend.
Thu took me to see "The Hangover" here. I had seen it already, but I thought it would be interesting to see which jokes translated and which didn't. And what the heck, she paid! There were parts where the crowd laughed uproariously and other jokes which didn't get a laugh at all.
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