Ho Chi Minh

I was dreading coming to this city.  I had heard traffic was somehow worse than Hanoi so I only planned to drop off my backpacks at the hostel and then return the bike right away.  It lightly rained most of the way to Ho Chi Minh but road conditions got sketchier as I approached the city.  I didn’t make it that far into the city before some asshole on a motorcycle cut in front of me and then immediately hit his brakes because of a large puddle.  I hit both brakes brakes but remember how I said the front tire likes to slip on this bike?  That and the guy’s back tire clipping my front wheel sent us both on our sides into the puddle.  Riding in such tight formations meant another two scooters joined the pile, one of which bumped the back of my helmet.

Other than some small scrapes, I walked away with a sore ankle from where the foot peg of my bike fell on my leg.  My shift peg was bent in but still useable but the bigger issue was that chain had popped off.  Fortunately, it was loose enough to reattach by hand so we all kinda just exchanged angry faces before shrugging it off and moving on, leaving a small sacrifice and contributing to the fragments of motorbike parts that litter Vietnamese roads.

Fortunately, the motorcycle shop I dropped the bike off at only charged a small fee for damages so I was able to get my full deposit back after paying just 150,000 VND ($6.45 USD).  My ankle got pretty sore that night but the pain wore off within a couple days.

Ho Chi Minh was hot and humid and just another big city full of tourists so I just chilled at cafes for most of the next day sorting through photos until the evening when I had made a reservation to something I had wanted to try for a long time.

I’ve heard of dark dining from TV shows but never had the chance to try it for myself until I found such a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh.  I invited Binh and the two American guys, Sean and Patrick, which I met a couple days before but only Binh could make it so we had an interesting little date night experience at a restaurant called Noir.

This restaurant doesn’t make use of night-vision goggles for the waiters.  Instead, they take a more interesting approach.

You are welcomed in for a drink and briefing in a lobby and then you get warmed up to the experience by completing a shape puzzle while blind-folded.  You then pick from one of three sets of 11-course menus.  We both chose the Veggie menu and then we were led to another room to lock up all watches, wallets, and digital and glowing items before being introduced to our waitress. The waiting staff here are blind or visually-impaired and have to go through three months of training to be able to serve customers.

Our waitress led us up a tight staircase that got progressively darker until we were in a small dining room absent of all light except for two barely noticeable infrared lights from security cameras.  You can’t make out even the faintest of shapes so your other senses kick into overdrive and sounds all of a sudden become louder and more noticeable.  Waiters were understandably bumping into tables as they navigated this tiny room of eight tables.  One waiter seemed to be using some sort of echo-location as he made clicking noises while walking by.  Our waitress was a pro though.  She was able to flawlessly grab our hands and steer them towards the right cutlery.  It was unbelievable how precise her movements were.

Just like the shape game we played earlier while blindfolded, each course came in a bowl that neatly nested into a serving tray.  We both ate the same dishes at the same time and compared our thoughts on what was inside.  There were so many interesting flavors and textures that completely fooled me.  Only after the meal was over, were we shown a complete breakdown on what each dish looked like and what ingredients went into it.  Binh guessed a decent number of the ingredients correctly but the menu largely comprised of Asian ingredients, many of which I had never heard of so it’s not like I would have stood a chance at guessing everything anyway.

I asked what made up the other two menu options called “The East” and “The West” the latter including more North American ingredients but they wouldn’t share their secrets even though that was my last night in Vietnam.  It was a very expensive meal for Vietnam but it was the experience I was after and I thought it was totally worth it.

I didn’t get seriously injured on Vietnam’s roads and, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the short visit.  Vietnamese people are quiet but kind and the owners of most of the homestays I stayed at have been really generous.

This country has such an impressive variety of scenic landscapes that it would easily take several months more to explore a piece of each province.  I think I may have gotten my fix of caves for a while but I now know where to come if I’m craving a good cave or two.