Ushering in the weekend (or the post in which I talk a lot about everyday things)

One of the citadel entrances

The birthday celebrations did not end with lunch yesterday. We all got back to our home (the hotel) and at some point made a plan to go to a place called Why Not! after a walk around the citadel (the original plan was probably just to relax but things changed!). We headed out and started to walk along the path by the citadel. We tried to go in but a man on a motorbike shook his hand at us and someone else told us that entry closes at 5 pm. We then walked around it, looking at the lotuses/loti in the water, a man wading in his underwear (I am still not sure why but it was purposeful), several people standing by their scooters and fishing. We got close to the entrance road and just sat and observed people flying giant, beautiful kites with faces, kids rollerblading (which they very cleverly did by walking on the grass to get steady).

The public park around the citadel

The space around the citadel is a lovely public space, especially the large public square by the entrance road. It almost feels like the perfect public space. There are adults, teenagers and children. There are vendors: renting out roller blades, selling kites, water and food. There are many people, hundreds, but you have your own space. Some people are running, others strolling. There are several rows of rollerblading children, some absolute marvels on wheels, others hesitantly figuring their way. The sky is full of kites shaped like butterflies and airplanes and elephants and are charming as the day gives way to the evening.

Why Not! was in a very lively, touristy district of the city, one that I have not had a chance to explore so far. Imagine if you will, lots of bars and restaurants with open, almost street seating, shops with mannequins wearing vibrantly colored dresses and pants (and in one case a fleece jacket over which we marveled a lot), giant hotels with cozy balconies, huge tourist buses parked in the street, and of course, wandering tourists in all shapes and sizes and color (my vote is for the little kids waddling around). It was, in short, an incredibly fun night. I was definitely one of the first ones to bow out, but the others went dancing afterwards as well, and I think we did justice to the birthday weekend.

I woke up earlier than usual today, and we (Megan and I) headed out to Nina's cafe for breakfast. They didn't have bacon for their fixed breakfast menu, which was no problem because Megan is vegetarian and I am a traveling vegetarian. I made it through one fixed breakfast menu and another delicious cheese omelette. Nina's cafe is warm and colorful and it has all sorts of posters hung on the walls around. In a little shelf by where we sat it had the Vietnamese coffee filters that I plan to buy before I leave. It has cute little signs with text such as "Feel at home. Clean my kitchen." and "Unlimited free beer. Only tomorrow.". The dominant color to my eyes is red and it contrasts well with the dark wood of the chairs. So far our experience has been great, with good food, friendly staff and reasonable prices.

Megan and I chatted, then took breaks, where I read (I just got The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt on my Kindle, yay!), she journaled, then we chatted some more. It was a calm morning and we were the only guests for a long time. One of the waitresses came by and sat with us for a while and we were exchanging stories. She is a student with an interest in tourism and we told her about the places we had and had not seen yet. She suggested a few more and told us about the legends of the pagoda we had visited. It was nice. It is also interesting how we make more friends when we are in smaller groups (this is a hypothesis and I could be wrong): it feels like it is easier for people to approach. I was telling Megan how by myself, I am less exotic on the streets, and don't get the Hullo! Where are you from! questions that always happen when Meagan and Megan are with us. But we also discussed that we get more attention from groups of men (it is unclear if we are just being observed or mocked or is it catcalling, I couldn't tell). Occasionally even as we are together, people will walk past and say something to us and laugh at us. The plan is to memorize what they say and ask our Vietnamese friends what it means :). This is just an observation, it has always been benign, momentary and at a distance so far, which is much more than I can say for a lot of other places. It was a good brunch activity. After three glasses of orange juice and several eggs, I felt sated enough to head home.

Relics from the war at a site
we have to yet explore

One of the things all of us were discussing was how this feels like the first real weekend in a long time. That is true. Till the semester ended, the weekends were just a time to get things done or to escape from getting things done. Ever since I left Minneapolis, I feel like I have been in perpetual motion and there hasn't been a day of rest even as there has of course been some downtime but just not in continuous chunks. I am really glad for this weekend.