Thanh Nien, Friends and Co.

As a matter of fact we can call this a day!
I've done many things today... so many that I wonder what I'm gonna do if Thanh Nien is not interesed by my propositions.

But let me summarize quickly the stories for today:

1) I went to search the Thanh Nien News Agency. As I rode my bicycle looking for someone to help me localize the street I quickly realised that I was on the correct road... the one next to my hotel (in fact not exactly "next to", but I said I would summarize). So I began to look for the correct number (248) which is, obviously, not exactly that close.

As I went inside the building yard (yes, they've got a whole building) I was encoutered with locals, apparently loading trees in a bus (WTF?!)... anyway they were all kind and offered me a piece of juicy watermelon (pasteque, quoi!). After a brief hesitation (you know all the crappy ideas that come to your mind about tourista, typhoid feber and all the like) I took it and ate it entirely in a minute and a half.

Then someone gave me a call. It was an english-speaking journalist, enquiring about my venue and the reason for it. I said I contacted "Thuc Minh" and he said that she is the "boss" (...and that seemed funny to him). He also told me to come back tomorrow. We chatted a bit more, I told him about the video project for their website and he told me it was a good idea as they are looking to expand their "traveller's mate section". I said I'm equipped, ready, capable and willing...
I hope they are, too!

2) With the freshly rent bicycle I then went to gather ideas for articles/video clips. I found as many as 15 topics. Among them "bottled water", "tourist police", "HCM's hotels and nightclubs", "Cholon: chinese district"...

I found them all while riding. I sometimes stopped and just wrote down the subject that seemed interesting to me. Sure that I travelled more than 10 km this afternoon alone!

That leads me to the third point of my post:

3) The bicycle: As I rented this weird stuff I cannot tell I was excessively confident... First, I didn't want to give the "guys" my passport... so I had to visit several hotels/guesthouses/"places" before finding one ready to take the "chance".
As soon as I went ou I realised the bicycle did not work properly: the chain was out... no problem, in a minute the "rental guy" and a bypassing motorbike-driver were already dismantling the rear of the bicycle. Problem was fixed soonafter.

I took a deep breath... and strated to padle.

Things are really different when on a bicycle. People consider you differently. Really. No one bother you anymore with the classical "you!", "motorbike" you usually hear 200 times an hour.
You, accordingly, are more free-minded to look, smell and feel!

You ride wherever you want... loose wherever you wouldn't take the decision to go but are anyway!
You can look at the other tourists, bargaining hard, with no such anxiety to get cheated or robbed or whatever... (actually, excepted the ALWAYS try to charge you a much higher price than the one finally paid, they are generally nice people)

But you surely have to be soooOOooo careful! Driving in Vietnam is not easy... But riding a bicycle is even more difficult! As the "Darwin-driving-theory" commands, the lightest the less considered!

4) Darwin-Driving-Theory states :
If you are a cop, a security officer or a military personnel, you're the Almighty God on Earth, all powerful.

If you are a bus or heavy truck driver... Just drive straight, no one will oppose (alive at least)

If you are a minibus or car driver... Ok ok, two categories above... but no many in these. Look down!

When you're a motorbike driver: ten of thousands like you... so you fear nothing and no one. Important: to retain this quite-respected status, you should not stp on the red light.

Cyclos, bicycles and the like (yeaaAAaah, some rollers!): You're not really seen. In fact you're respected, but only if you look like a foreigner... because they know you're weird and totally crazy (who would take the chance otherwise?)

5) Play the game, smile and get accepted!
This is interesting to see how Vietnamese are naturally attracted to foreigners! Today only I had so many invitations, so many greetings... so many parents waiving the hands of their children... :-)
I was even invited to play a Haki-ball game with vietnamese (as I came back from Cholon). They played well and I ws affraid to lower the level... but I surprinsingly managed not to be a pity! They were nice and visibly liked to have me playing with them...
A little while after I focused on a barrier to exercise my equilibrium. I went on the barrier and immediately, 6 guys came to do the same, try their best to compete with me! ... In suc a lovely way! Those guys are usually sitting down, sometimes begging... but at this moment they were just playing like kids. As I did myself...
6) Enfin, j'ai remarque que je prenais de mauvaises habitudes... je bois a ma soif de l'eau en bouteille. Oui mais voila a ce rythme et avec les constantes fluctuations de prix (on ne se fait pas arnaquer partout pareil) je serai "sur la paille" d'ici peu.

Donc j'ai filtre mon premier litre d'eau, en live du robinet! Vive les filtres de poche Katadyn! ...Et vu le poids de ce truc qui va rester dans mon sac jusqu'au bout, autant qu'il serve!

Idem pour la food! Je suis devenu un street-food-lover! Ce matin, sandwich. Cet aprem, beignets. Ce soir, omelette aux pommes de terres, frite au feu de bois (et ambulant de surcroit).

7) Finissons avec le seul souci que j'aie en ce moment: la Fievre Typhoide... Pas que je l'aie, mais justement que je ne souhaite pas l'attrapper. Et il se trouve que j'ai oublie 2 de mes trois pillules dans mon frigo a la Planta... Hum hum... Quid, doc?

Mais ca ne changera pas le plan: keep safe and enjoy!