Down and out in Saigon

We had gotten the wrong kind of Visas, so now we had to leave Cambodia for a reentry in order to get the proper, renewable Visa. We decided to take a few days off while we were at it and visit Saigon, or, more correctly, Ho Chi Minh City. Now, this is a very different story from Phnom Penh. Upon our entry we were warned about potential robbery, muggings of tourists and of being cheated by mischievous cab drivers. These warnings were repeated at our hotel up to a point where I hardly dared to take any money at all with me. We spend the first two hours in town rather tensely, constantly on the look-out for drive-by thieves making a grab for our cameras and bags. It sure is a more aggressive place. Traffic is as chaotic as in Cambodia, but even more dangerous. While the average Cambodian will ignore any rules and traffic-lights  he will still honk, swerve or gently slow down at the last moment to avoid hitting you. In Saigon they prefer to kill you upon impact to avoid any questions about whose fault it was. Seriously, they don't honk and they sure as hell don't swerve around you or, heaven forbid, use their brakes at all. This had me yelling at drivers within the minute and wore Annette out to a point where she regretted to have come here in the first place. It was then that we discovered the pleasant side of this strange and bustling city. We were just going to sit down for a drink and a bit of rest, when I saw a restaurant called the Jasper's and even though Annette thought it looked a bit weird and out of place we went in. And suddenly we were back in the gentle arms of civilization again. Our friendly hostess spoke flawless English, the menu was bilingual and a proper menu, too, not a set of bad pictures of unidentifiable dishes; hell, there even was a wine menu! You do not realize how much you miss certain things until you see them again. Annette had the Tuna steak, and I had a traditional Vietnamese beef stew. Christ on a cracker, it was so delicious! Don't get me wrong here, I love the little bistros and strange cantinas we eat at in Cambodia. Last week we went to this really small place where only the locals eat, where nobody spoke even spoke one word of English and where the whole meal with drinks cost only 4 dollars. We had to point at the plates of the grimy workers at the next table to order our food, and it was lovely.
Still, we always make sure to top those meals off with a swig from my hip-flask and we both have spent our share of nights running to the restroom and returning with a pained look on our faces.
And now we're suddenly in this place, where the owner introduces himself as an expatriate Irishman, recommending the Marsbar-cheesecake and inquiring about where we come from and what we' re doing in south east Asia. Yes, we spent 50 Dollars there without even getting to the dessert menu because I didn't have enough cash on me, but we immediately promised to return for more. We never spent more than 10 dollars including a generous tip in Phnom Penh, and that's at the tourist's rate. But, man, it felt so good!
You rarely ever see a woman in heels or a business costume in Phnom Penh, and the fanciest shop in town is the Lucky Star Supermarket, a haven for super-rich Cambodians and tourists. It still is just a plain old supermarket, nothing fancy, but when I go shopping there I'm at my happy place. It's the only place where prices are fixed and not subject to negotiation. Whenever we buy something on a market our landlords ask us how much we payed and then shake their heads in pity, since we always get ripped off.
Saigon isn't all fancy places and big money, but most of it is. Sure, on the way home we saw an attempt to steal some guy' s bag, which he managed to ward off successfully, and nobody even turned their heads while the failed thieves casually rode off on their scooter, and when I watched a thriller on HBO at night at our hotel it took me a while to realize that the police sirens were coming from the street and not from the TV.
And even this felt like home to me and put a gentle smile on my face. I might be a snob, a fool and a spoiled child. But I love the ways and mistakes of our western civilization above all other ways of the world and even though I already feel richer for the experience of being in Cambodia, I'm not ashamed to admit that I miss home with all that wonderful decadent luxury and I intent to enjoy it for as long as I can. Sue me.