A super-duper market and mall, Vincom, opened in Bien Hoa last week. It's located at the corner of the busiest, most lawless intersection in this jam-packed city of 1 million people, and Vincom seems to have attracted a lot of automobile traffic to the area along with even more motorbikes. The mall itself is pretty nice inside and since the merchandise is geared to the clientele here, you can buy lots of little shirts and pants and shoes. They don't carry White Monkey size in Bien Hoa. For the bigger Monkey, you have to go to the bigger city, Ho Chi Minh. The super-duper market isn't so super, but it's OK. It has air-conditioning, unlike Metro. The Vincom market has good, cheap bread, and other items like Tabasco, at a steep price. There's the same old lousy beer selection, which means watery, bland, Asian lagers and a German beer, Erdinger wheat, which is somewhat average in the White Monkey's opinion. The hot food area in the super-duper market is pretty twisted. You order food, like a couple of chicken legs, you get a sticker and wait in line to pay, and then go back to the food servers, who search for your food by trying to match up the stickers. OK, I played along and eventually got two pretty decent pieces of chicken. There were only two checkout lanes opened and the place was rockin', so the line-cutters had a field day. We waited a little, but amazingly, a third checkout counter opened and we got through fairly quickly. You park your motorbike in the basement underneath the five-storey mall, and there clearly isn't enough parking space. We were able to wedge our bike into a space, and with a little maneuvering, were able to make our escape. All things considered, not a bad experience overall. If you're a single guy, it's not a bad place to hang out. Lots of pretty girls are there in short shorts and skirts, which is something of a uniform for the women here. But I'm not a single guy, so I probably won't be returning any time soon.
September 1 was the two-year anniversary of my mysterious motorcycle accident -- my own personal head-bangers' ball. To commemorate the event, I had an incredible spell of dizziness and feeling of nausea on anniversary day. Weird. I had been pretty much symptom free until anniversary day, but it was a strong enough event to throw me off my game -- Phuong beat me 6-4 in tennis that day. Every great athlete has an excuse, however, and I'm already thinking about why I'll lose my next match. Our tennis is pretty hotly contested these days because Phuong has improved dramatically, and she's a natural athlete anyway. Also, the White Monkey is turning into the Grey Monkey. As my friend, the fantastic photographer Fred Comegys, once said: "The Golden Years my ass."
Phuong's family has considerable talent. Her dad is a smart businessman, her brother is the handiest of handymen, and her mom is a tailor and superb cook. Mom has made some cool underwear for me since I can't buy undies here because of my fat arse. Phuong's brother has done some wonderful electric work in our house, and now we can turn on lights without getting electrocuted. Phuong can do all of the above, in addition to being a thorn in my side at tennis. Plus, she knows her way around the pharmacies here, so the White Monkey is well-stocked with vitamins and such.
Almost all my classes are great, so work is a plus. I'm looking forward to visiting the U.S. in November/December and can't wait to see family and friends. I really wish Phuong could have joined me, but that'll make coming back so much better. She's sitting next to me and I already miss her.
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