VIETNAM - traces of capitalism

An article that brings the reader closer to the exotic aspects of Asia. After visiting Hanoi in the north of Vietnam, I describe my positive feelings from my stay in Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) in the south of the country.

We arrive in Saigon in the evening. It is warm but pleasant: no more than 30 degrees. We go to the REX hotel where we will spend the next week. Luckily, it turns out that our hotel is close to the city centre. I also feel that compared to Hanoi, I am in a slightly different world: The hotel has the same atmosphere as in Europe: the customer is the most important.

I get a room. There is air conditioning. I breathe with relief. After refreshment, I go to dinner, invited by my Vietnamese business partners. The hotel restaurant, unlike what I have seen in the north of the country, is in an elegant European-oriental style, whose culinary scents stimulate our appetite. We sit at an elegant table. The waitress serves the menu. Vietnamese friends choose the dishes. After all, they know best what Europeans like the most. Of course, it turns out that their choice is perfect.

For the first time in my life I have the opportunity to eat soup with the legendary lotus, or actually with its fruits. They are said to have the power of an aphrodisiac. I eat with an appetite. There are appetisers on the table: different salads and meats and lots of different coloured rice. Among them I see something similar to chicken's legs, well known from Poland. A friend of mine encourages me to try them, claiming that they are indeed thighs, but frogs. At this point I suddenly associate that these sounds of barking frogs I heard in Hanoi must have been a testimony of their large size.

The second dish turns out to be a true feast of the palate: the waitress brings us some great-looking crawfish (such 10 times bigger crayfish known from Poland) with a set of tools for eating them. We eat this wonderful white meat, crushing crab armour. I will never forget the taste of this wonderful meat. A wonderful evening thanks to my friends. I have to admit, I was a little afraid of how to use chopsticks in the restaurant before, so as not to embarrass myself. Thanks to my Vietnamese friends, I took a quick course in how to use them. I did it! So much so that I even ate soup with chopsticks.

The next day. High temperature: 45 degrees. We're going to an official meeting with our trading partners. I'm wearing elegant dark clothes. I'm getting into a car with air conditioning. Let's go. We get off in front of the company. A few steps to the entrance. We enter, greeted by the representatives of the Company cooperating with us. I'm stuck with a sudden hunch, look down on my pants. Surprise: my pants have completely lost their canteens. It's the effect of tropical temperature and omnipresent humidity. I negotiated with the knowledge that I was perceived as a guy in tubes.

After an exhausting day, we go back to the hotel in the evening. Obligatory refreshment in our rooms. We decide to visit the hotel. The waiter offers us a lift to the top floor and use the pool. On the roof of the hotel, under a starry sky, there is a beautifully illuminated swimming pool measuring about 20x10 meters. The tropical vegetation is full of charming tables waiting for clients. We sit down. We order a European beer. We go swimming in the pool. It is great. The waiter offers us Vietnamese vodka: "Lemojka." We try this attraction. It's tasty and delicious lemon. That evening, swimming in the pool was endless.