{Saigon} Loving/Hating

Gorgeous L’Usine

LOVING

  • Sunday dim sum at Shang Palace – no trolley ladies but great taro and chicken balls, bbq pork buns, soup dumplings, har cao, everything!
  • Imagining that new fashion/lifestyle store L’Usine is my apartment (but in New York!), with its 1930s garment factory style furnishings and fitouts, art gallery and soon-to-be cafe
  • That there’s a new organic vegetable store in An Phu with produce fresh from Dalat – planning to go there this week and am food-nerdily excited
  • Snap Cafe – sand, playground, toys and friends for little Z, lentil/feta/beetroot/bacon salad for me
  • Planning escapes to Bangkok, Hoi An and Hanoi over the next few months
  • Friends and family visiting in April
  • Making pumpkin and sweet potato soup with veges from the market
  • (…or hating?) ridiculous 80s compilations played in taxis (think Foreigner, Air Supply and Belinda Carlisle!)
  • Finding this blog post on ‘Stuff that Saigon Expat People Like’ (scroll towards the end for the actual list)
HATING
  • That a box of frozen blueberries costs over US$20…and lamely buying them anyway ”because I need them in my breakfast smoothie!”
  • Impromptu karaoke sessions outside my window
  • The rising temperatures – hello hot season
  • Random power cuts
  • Being greeted with “you look fat today!” and a big grin because it’s meant to be a compliment
  • That some of the things I like are on the above mentioned ‘Stuff that Saigon Expat People Like’ list!
Image courtesy L’Usine
SHARE:

10 Responses

  1. Vivian March 15, 2010 / 6:48 am

    L’Usine is so gorgeous and stylish!!!!

    Oh and I’m happy you’re posting again… I’m in Japan now, and planning a little escape to Vietnam in the summer!! I’ll let you know and most likely re-read all your blog to get ideas! xx

  2. A Girl in Asia March 15, 2010 / 9:48 am

    Hi Vivian – That’s great news! Will it be your first time in Vietnam? It’ll be so chaotic after Japan, and so different!

  3. Anonymous March 16, 2010 / 3:43 am

    You know, the random blackouts aren’t really random. There isn’t enough power to go around, so various wards have to take it in turns to have a blackout. Of course, they can’t admit that there isn’t enough power, so they call it scheduled maintenance. I believe the schedule is announced in the newspaper. Now I’m living in Phu My Hung, so blackouts are a thing of the past πŸ™‚

  4. niamh March 16, 2010 / 2:03 pm

    Thai people do the ‘you look fat today’ thing too but it’s not a compliment. It’s not really an insult either, more like a statement of fact. All you can do is smile and vow to stop eating for the rest of the year!

  5. A Girl in Asia March 17, 2010 / 4:55 am

    Anon – ok, they’re scheduled but they’re random when you have no idea when they’re happening!! Must be nice to never have any in your neighbourhood πŸ™‚

    Niamh – haha! It also happened to me in Cambodia – oh, Asia!! I guess I have an excuse as I’m pregnant right now, so I can kind of pretend it’s a compliment, sort of, somehow!!

  6. melanie lace March 18, 2010 / 12:47 pm

    Post pix of Hoi An. We never got to stop there. Niamh’s story reminds me of stopping in a pharmacy in Chiang Rai and asking for 200mg pills of ibruprofin. She politely said ‘no’ and told me i was a ‘big girl’ and needed 600mg pills. Only small thai people get 200. The same thing happened to me in Vietnam!

  7. David(HoustonWok) March 18, 2010 / 2:02 pm

    Oh dear god,I hate the power outages as well,they are purposely done and not due to over heating but to prevent the grids from over heating. They normally happen when you need it most,I feel your pain, I guess when you are not from VN such as you and I, the smallest commodities become luxuries here haha. Congrats on your expected baby!

  8. A Girl in Asia March 29, 2010 / 8:59 am

    That’s hilarious Melanie, if not a little dangerous(!)

    And David, thanks for the congrats!!

  9. Y8 December 30, 2011 / 10:57 am

    That fantastic! realy! these website is way better then everything I ever saw. Thanks admin.

Leave a Reply to Y8 Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *