One More Saigon Beer!

The best way around Ho Chi Minh City is by motorbike ($8 and 2 liters of fuel for 24 hours). But watch your side and speed, motorists flood the city. Vietnamese are more reckless than us Filipinos. They crowd, pass around you and even drive to pedestrian alleys. They turn left and right without looking back their trail.

Drive but always park right with a fee. Ask for the ticket. Without it, your motorbike will be taken. If you don’t want these road hassles, then walk. Believe me! I lost mine when I parked it wrongly.

Ho Chi Minh or Saigon is just like any Philippine metro cities, only peppered with motorbikes, bikes, push vehicles, street vendors with cone hats, short dining tables and chairs, big old buildings and non-English speaking Vietnamese.

Big old buildings like Reunification Hotel, Rex Hotel, People’s Committee Building, Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, Opera House and Hotel Continental bluntly show their influence—the French.  French bread is as common as our pandesal. They are even sold at street food stalls. Is the mix of milk and tea a French thing too? They love duyans.

Vietnamese have very irritating speech. They sound like mutes. Their salesgirls look more beautiful (in my eyes) than our ordinary salesgirls. By the way, their Ben Tanh Market is similar to our Aldevinco or Divisoria. Their Saigon Center is DCLA. Only difference, their North Face apparels are cheaper.

Going to Mui Ne beach will expose you to more localized architecture. Their own bahay kubos are elongated. Middle class houses also are bear that architecture, but built on cement and adorned with French windows and eagle/horse emblems at the forehead of the house. Apparently, they have more houses than us that carry their flag.

Vietnamese must be more nationalistic than us or is it just communism that requires households to carry their flag? It must be a mix of both. Well, Vietnam barely has large billboards that clutter their skies. They have their flags and pop-artsy posters about communism. If they may have, they only carry local products. Now, that is true nationalism. Vietnam has factories of North Face but I have never seen a North Face billboard from Ho Chi Minh-Mui Ne.

They said Vietnam has beautiful beaches like Halong Bay. I would agree, but we have more. Vietnam is a great place, but Philippines is greater, including its oddities. I, however, am not suggesting you not to travel to Vietnam or other countries. Go travel and you will love your country more. But of course, travel light. Travel with great friends. Travel with fun-seeking companions especially those who drink local beers.

One more Saigon beer, please!

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Bless You

Thank you, Lord, for choosing me. I am blessed for choosing me. Thank you for my parents, sisters, and pamangkins. Thank you too for…good friends. Though we rarely see and talk with each other. I know, we have special connections similar to families. Thank you for the sustenance. Thank you for everything, including the sad and painful experiences. They made me better. Thank you for all the people I met. In little ways, I still significantly learned from them.

This is what I prayed yesterday at St. Paul Church mass. I like the priest, particularly his homily on being blessed and chosen. “Mapalad ako!,” he exclaimed. If you open your palad, you can give and receive (blessings).Figuratively, you cannot be mapalad if you do not open your hand—yourself.

He did not only relay the holy message throughout the mass, but also engaged churchgoers to participate in the homily. I almost fell to tears seeing couples and families said each other, “mapalad ako dahil nasa aking buhay ka.”

I was not with Ney and my family, so I just smiled. I quickly texted Ney, Mama, Papa, Ate Mia and Achi after mass. I went home and felt relieved. I am indeed blessed.

Posted via email from pyk's posterous