Catching up

I arrived in Prey Nakor (Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon, I will use the name interchangeably but you know where I’m talking about) on the 16th September 2007. Time flies in the almost a month I have been here. I feel as though I have only been here for a couple of weeks. I had the chance to visit Hanoi and Ha Long bay, just a few days to relax before I started work.

I’m getting used to the heat, my skin are much browner now and I bet people now can tell that I’m Khmer. Talking about identification, I’m told there are a lot of Khmer in Prey Nakor but I could not identify any of them. I could guess that anyone with a darker skin tone are Khmer but I could be wrong as some Vietnamese are brown too, plus a lot of Khmers here have light skin tone also.

I was first overwhelmed by the traffic congestion but since learning how to drive a motorcycle, it’s becoming the norm battling through the busy street of Saigon. I had a few close calls driving around as I’m not 100% confident on the bike. I normally drive around at night because it’s cooler; during the day I sometime take taxi when it’s crouching hot and the pollution is bad.

The night life here in Prey Nakor is great. Discotheque, karaoke bar, live concert and so on keeps me entertain. Food here are cheap, I think I’m putting on weight. My friends said I would probably loose weight when I’m here, but I don’t think that will be the case

Last weekend I took a few days off work and went to visit my relatives in Preah Tra Peng (Tra Vinh) province. I was hoping to catch the Don Ta festival but apparently I got the day mixed but and turned up a couple of days early. When I was there, there were heaps of people who work in the Saigon return home to celebrate Don Ta, it was great to meet up – well…about 14 of us went to have coffee at the local market, it was quite dark and I couldn’t really see all their faces. I wonder why there were no street lights in the area or even in the market, I mean they have running electricity cable on the street. Even though it’s dark, kids still walk around and hanging out with friends. There’s a sense of security there, where in western countries you wouldn’t dare to walk in the dark where it’s quiet.