Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 13
At 9:00am, Lan and I finished breakfast and left the dining room on the 2nd floor of Hotel Vissai to go to the Golden Smile Health Shop. It was on Ký Hoà Street, about...
Tagged: Vietnam
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 12
Five bundles wrapped in brown paper lay on one side of the table. On the other side were ten bottles. Each one had a label displaying a name in Vietnamese. “This one is for...
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 11
District 5. I hadn’t been there before. Other parts of Ho Chi Minh City had become familiar to me during the previous month. But in a city of 10 million people sprawling across miles...
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 10
It was 8:30am on a Monday. Lan pulled to the side of Hai Bà Trưng Street and brought her motorbike to a halt in a space crowded with shoppers. I sat on the seat...
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 9
It was 9:30am on Friday. We stood next to the motorbike. Lan removed the key from the ignition and took off her helmet. She re-arranged her hair. We entered the Big C Supermarket on...
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 8
It was 9:15am on Wednesday as Thien and I drove up on his motorbike and parked at the edge of the canal. We peered into the water, pinching our noses. The smell was horrible....
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 7
At 3:00am on Wednesday, I woke up and went back to sleep, but, at 7:00am, I woke up again. This time I had to get up. My friend, Thien, would arrive at 8:00am, and...
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 6
It was Tuesday morning, 7:00am, the third week in October, exactly two weeks after I had flown into Ho Chi Minh City from Kuala Lumpur. I was jogging in Hoàng Văn Thụ Park, which...
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 4
It was 7:10am on Tuesday. The morning light in southern Vietnam was strong; the exercise room on the fourth floor of Hotel Vissai was empty. I lay down on a mat to start my...
Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, 3
It was 6:30am on Sunday. Two elderly Chinese couples sat at a table eating breakfast in the second-floor restaurant of Hotel Vissai. I heard one of the women speaking in English to a waiter....