The Night Market and Pho Noodles

After two days in and around Saigon, Chrissy and I had some time to experience some of Saigon on our own. We had walked around the previous night, but that walk in search of a working ATM took us to Saigon’s only five-star hotel. This night, Chrissy wanted to go shopping for some more presents.

Out the window of our hotel, directly across the street, was an Islamic school. Behind the school appeared to be a park area. On the other side of the park and to the east was the shopping area we wanted to visit that night. Minh told us that they opened the shops up at six or so and stayed open most of the night.

We crossed a couple of busy streets and wandered through the park where many of the Vietnamese would drive their motor bikes on their date and the couples would sit on the back of the bike holding hands and watching the traffic drive by. Some young families would have their kids in the park playing soccer. All along the streets people were hunkered down sitting on small stools with a small cook stove selling some sort of soup right off of the sidewalk.

When we got to the night market many stores were still open, but many booths had set up in the street to sell food, clothes, jewelry, luggage, and just about anything. We wended our way up one side of the booths and down the other. Along our way, Chrissy saw a sight that advertised pedicures for 4000 Dong (about $2.50). She went in and made an appointment for eight that night.

At one of the booths, some of the ladies saw Chrissy walking by and grabbed her. They didn’t grab her in a “you’re getting mugged sort of way.” They saw her with the “I am shopping” look in her eyes. We have both learned that you must be careful when walking through markets in Asia, particularly in poorer countries. If the merchant catches you giving an item more than a glance, they are on you. Evidently, Chrissy saw a cute T-shirt.

The girl who saw Chrissy look at the shirt immediately clasped on to her arm and guided her into the shop. She then looked beyond Chrissy and saw me. She then passed Chrissy off to another girl, grabbed a stool, told me to sit (wouldn’t take no for an answer) and stood in front of me asking me questions. I only gave my name, rank and serial number, but in ten minutes she discovered where we were from, my job, how long we were in Viet Nam, about both of our daughters, and how old we were when we got married. Those are just the things that I am aware she found out about me. She kept looking at me to see if she could sell me anything, too. I had the advantage though, because this was a ‘girls’ shirt booth. Even so she assured me several times that she could find something in the “happy Buddha” size range that would suit me well. She even patted my belly.

While the first girl kept me busy, the other girl was throwing T-shirts at Chrissy trying to find just the right one that would close the deal. Finally, in order to leave, Chrissy asked for one shirt in a extra-large. The girl said, “No Problem,” dug through the shirts and came up with the right shirt in the right size. I have no idea what we paid for that shirt that neither of us wanted, but the experience was well worth the price.

When Chrissy finally went to her appointment, I continued to walk around the market looking at the things, but nothing too closely. Around one corner, a little girl caught my arm. She was about 11 or 12. She asked if I wanted to buy some gum, but I didn’t hear the price. So I asked her, “Did you say 2000 Dong?”

She quickly said, “Okay, for you, 2000 Dong!”

I scraped the money out of my pockets and paid her for the gum. She then disappeared into the crowd excited about something, I didn’t know what. I returned to the beauty shop to pick Chrissy up.

Chrissy’s pedicure included a massage of her calves. She sat in the chair for an hour while the girl worked her toes, feet and calves. While she was there, several men came in for haircuts that included a massage of the neck and upper back all for about five bucks. Full body massages were available for about $8.00. I could tell that Chrissy was living a dream and was fantasizing about getting a pedicure or massage and paying what we usually pay for a cup of coffee.

After her pedicure, we still shopped a bit. At one of the stalls a lady carrying a small baby came up to me and asked me to buy gum for 1000 Dong. I didn’t have any small enough bills or change to buy it, but I suddenly realized why the little girl was excited about selling me gum earlier. On our way out of the market, I ran into the little girl.

“2000 Dong, it should only be a 1000.” I shouldn’t have started. I was joking around with her. I wasn’t concerned about the money.

“Hey, I didn’t say 2000, you did.” She answered me quickly.

She was obviously smarter than me. She deserved the cash. It wasn’t until later that night, when we got back to the hotel that Chrissy realized the T-shirt she bought wasn’t an extra-large. It was obvious the girl simply took the sticker off a different shirt and put it on the first one she came across. I am convinced that if you want something sold, hire a Vietnamese sales team. They can sell anything to anyone and make you feel happy you bought it.

On our walk back to the hotel we stopped at a little Pho noodle shop for some dinner. As we sat down and ordered our vegetarian noodle soup, we saw a picture of Bill Clinton on the wall next to our table. Chrissy was sitting in his chair. She couldn’t help but brag that she has now sat and eaten in three chairs where previous presidents have sat and eaten, George Bush I in some restaurant in San Antonio, George Bush the lesser in a bar in New Orleans, and now Bill Clinton in Saigon.