Catching up - part 2

Without any warning, without any signs, it suddenly happened. I couldn’t remember the last time I could fully experience the sensation. Oh, what a wonderful feeling - an open nose… breathing, with air coming in and out. Wonderful, I thought, pushing out my chest with great pride over my new reacquired talent. I can smell things, I wondered in anticipation, soon to be faced with reality.
The timeout from smelling anything has wiped out my entire block against Asian smells. Coming out of my room in MuiNe Beach it hit me all at once – almost knocking me dead. O h m y g o d, bring back the flu! I would sometimes meet some travelers who complained about the bad smell of things in Asia and I would half-understand remembering back vaguely about how I first felt when I came out of the Airport in Bangkok. But, then again, I haven’t been able to really smell anything for a long time now – I’ve managed to block everything out, my mind probably thinking that the bad smells are more prevalent than the good ones so might as well not be able to smell anything at all. My mind has done a perfect job, indeed. But now, it was hell. MuiNe, being a fisherman land on the beach was stinking from fish and salt. Most of my time there since was spent with my shirt over my mouth, inhaling the fake perfume I bought at the Saigon market – which I now know, has a very good smell. Coming back to Saigon was even worse. No more fish, thank god, but here it’s open gutters and a blend of garbage and humid toxic city gasoline fumes. I felt like a blind person recovering his eye site or a deaf regaining his hearing ability – to be suffering from extreme bright light or overpowering loud noises. Too much!
But, I’m better now. Most of the bad times are hopefully behind me now, and I’m feeling fine - maybe for the first time since I’ve had the accident.

MuiNe is a lovely quiet place and proved to be a very good relaxation. Best seafood I’ve had, extremely peaceful and almost empty – which was strange - considering the Vietnamese holiday of the 60th anniversary to being freed from the French by Uncle Ho.

When Jessy came to work at the hotel on the beginning of the week her boss took one stare at her coughing and sent her home for a very rare one-week vacation. She couldn’t remember the last time she had a week off, and knowing the hard working Vietnamese people I believe that maybe she never really had one. Being sick has some advantages, I guess, but it might also mean losing your job, and I’m hoping that the replacement they brought in would be kicked out today as she comes back to work. But, allowing myself to be a bit selfish, it was great since I could enjoy Jessy’s company in MuiNe. It was the first time her and me were on somewhat of a similar status since she didn’t know much about the place and more important – she didn’t know anyone. But, even there – she was the big boss, not that she wanted to be. Every time Vietnamese people would see me with her, they would refuse to speak English and would always turn to her. Walking with her on the street for the first time since we met, us usually riding a bike, all the motorbike guys were approaching her in Vietnamese. When I would ask someone a question in English they would, even if knowing perfect English, ignore me and face Jessy to follow up on my question in Vietnamese. While this might be a blessing for me to finally get rid of all the Vietnamese annoyances on the street it made me feel hopeless. I don’t remember the last time I was so reliant on someone. No matter how hard I would try to change things, sometimes turning upset when they wouldn’t answer me in English, it was useless. Sometimes Jessy would shrug her shoulders at the Vietnamese and point at me suggesting that it is me they should be speaking to but that only made it worse – they would turn to me with an annoyed face and give me a questioning nasty look. “What kind of worthless dumb western are you compared to the smart Vietnamese girl with you?” I imagined them thinking. But, all in all, I liked MuiNe. We had some good times at the beach and also had my best-ever seafood.

By now, I’ve enjoyed most of what Saigon has to offer me. Jessy has shown me everywhere. We’ve been – Shopping in malls, seeing the (neglected) zoo, having dinner on a ferry ride, browsing the markets, dining at great restaurants, enjoying plenty of music shows, singing together with friends in Karaoke, and it goes on and on. So it has slowed down and even Jessy has a hard time to think of new places to go to.
I’ve told Jessy that never before has my blog being so full of someone else I met and she smiled back and asked “is that a good thing?”. Well, it can’t be bad… I guess. I owe her a lot. For me – Saigon is Jessy and I would never have liked the city as much is it wasn’t for her. The fact that after almost a month here she’s the only one I know here means something and has, for sure, given me a very different experience from the “know everyone” HoiAn.