Little Frolick

The aim of life is to live and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. - Henry Miller.

it's alive!/oppression/beer and dating

6.30am Singapore time. i'm sitting in someone else's living room typing this. he's gone - off on business somewhere nearby. People never stay in the same place anymore. That's the coolest thing about now. Wakes up the migrant/wanderer in all of us. I love travelling. I love being both a traveller and a tourist. sometimes i enjoy being a tourist more.

There's so much about this world that i don't know about, nor understand. Like why are things so harsh for states under communist rule? We all know the evils of it, but it remains unspeakable and also did you know reporters in Vietnam have to pay to report on controversial topics? Fines go around even if the story is true. And brilliant minds remain captive - there's no progression in their condition because of some big fat lie the country has sold itself to. Sure, unification of both North and South is a wonderful ideal that they have turned into reality, but are the people really happy? Who's won? Ideals and practicality seem so far from each other. They must've been ex-lovers.

I'm glad to be, on the whole, though. I live and work and play in a very safe country that has taught me English and provided me a good education and a professional degree which allows me to travel and also to work overseas when i have the chance to. this is something i cannot say for most other Asian countries around me. the women in most Asian countries are marginalised and treated second to the men. often having to resort to being prostitutes, working like slaves behind bars, behind their mask, behind their shops, in the fields... indeed in so many ways i am fortunate. even me, just another middle class singaporean; i have so many benefits!

this is not to say that i've turned utterly nationalistic - far from it. it just makes me realise how much an idea can change someone's life. a party's idea, a government's rule... all it takes is for someone to hold a meeting and sign on the dotted line. then your life is either ok or screwed. Liberation and freedom and human rights - these should be everyone's ideal then! but maybe oppression works for some nations. does it? i really don't know but i think not.

*

the birds are chirping outside. i reek of cigarettes again. i tihink i must be getting old, because the thought of hitting the bar is no longer appealing but seems like a duty. like going to church for mass. same thing. sitting at a bar feels almost the same as sitting in macdonald's and ordering a fillet o'fish. except at the bar everyone knows your name and who you're with which is invariably why you are there.

yes, i think i can blame my drinking on the people i date. or maybe, i blame the people i date on my drinking? haha... who knows~

someone from the hospital is trying to date me though. i kinda feel sorry sometimes and i wish i could just round up all the single men i know and single women i dont really know and let them have some fun together. it's always when i am attached that my phone starts to get busy. weird isn't it. from what i seen in Saigon and the multitude of guys who are just dying to meeting someone nice (the waitress at the hotel said to me that 'VIetnamese men like you a lot' and the concierge said 'Men love you too much') both here and there - i could start a small business! No, it won't be like those stuffy dating agencies here where you have to hold a business degree or work in the CBD. Nor will it be like the SDU and SDS (or whatever they are called) - it'll just be totally informal parties. No database, no screening (sorry gals) but just a circumstance provided by another human being.

*

i have a small memory of last year's January. i had made dinner for my ex and.. i remember, i remember. silly things like returning a bowl i borrowed and seeing someone for the first time. yes, i remember not thinking twice about him. i remember that the girl returning the bowl and the girl typing now are so different. in some ways i feel like i've been released. a lot of my friends i have lost in those two years that made me hate myself and them. i'm glad things change.

*

 

posted by: crysalis at 07:54 | link | comments |

good bye saigon!

Last few minutes i'm at the airport now. the taxi driver from my hotel got stopped by the police and was slapped a 50USD fine on the way here! geez. poor dude. i gave him a ridiculous tip cos i felt bad after that.

Hmmm... well, i'm gonna miss the mayhem and the basil here. but definitely gonna come back.

Had so many offers to go on dates and stuff, it's bizarre! not enough vietnamese men around for the ladies but still they look for foreigners! i guess it's like that everywhere hey.

 

anyway. running out of credit.

 

xxoxo

posted by: crysalis at 13:45 | link | comments |

All pho'd up and dong'ed out

oh my...

last day of my hedonistic and decadent visit to saigon! oh my goodness. i've been living it up totally here cos the exchange rate is so good.

scary!

i feel really guilty now and i'm kinda worried about how to get all the crap i have bought here home! yikes!

made a few friends along the way, been asked on a couple of dates by the locals and had a few beers with two aussie blokes from Melbourne at the Blue Gecko - an aussie bar set up by a vietnamese who had spent a mere 6 months in Oz but has it going on in his bar - accent, footie pics and all! oh wow. glad he dont serve up fosters... tha'ts a good man i think!

everyone here thinks i am japanese for some reason, so i play along. sometimes i even pretend to be Thai, it's till i start acting like an idiot that they realise i'm singaporean. ahhaha.

anyway, totally amazing city. i love it here! but i don't think i have the guts to live here ever. can't get enough of the fresh spring rolls though.. .my god. i'm gonna be craving that and also phnom penh style noodles. oooohhhh... it's a total oral orgasm here!

 

time to go shop for souveniers and then lounge out by the pool. happy to be home tomorrow!

 

 

posted by: crysalis at 16:49 | link | comments |

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