Dinner with Lisa

Today has been the second day of my new beginning- six weeks by myself in the house- since Jessica departed for Taipei, and then the United States, yesterday morning. I have resolved to begin a new work schedule, in which I will concentrate most of my work into the morning and have a more relaxed afternoon. I aim to write one thousand words towards my book before lunchtime every weekday, and after lunchtime send emails, read my book and do other tasks towards my project. Yesterday I wrote zero words; today I wrote 350, which is an improvement if not yet quite on target.

After lunch I went for a little walk around the neighbourhood, a daring venture to undertake at midday in April, even with one of Jessica's massive hats on for shade. Recently we have been having sporadic rain which has cooled the air to a reasonable temperature most days. Today was not one of those days. I took a rest in the shade by one of the ponds in the neighbourhood parks and enjoyed the serenity.

The afternoon was spent sending out some email interview questions, and god knows whatever else I idle my time away on. In the early evening I took the bus into town. Five-thirty is a really interesting time of day to see the city, with the setting sun casting a beautiful golden light, the streets bustling with people finishing work and school, and everywhere full of life. It is something that can be appreciated from the comfort of a bus, when you don't have to negotiate through these streets yourself. I had made plans with Lisa, who taught some Vietnamese classes to me when I first arrived in the country, to meet up for dinner. I hadn't seen Lisa in a long time and remembered that she had bought me a Vietnamese language textbook once, and I had yet to return the generosity. I went to the Artbook bookstore on Dong Khoi and picked up a brilliant photo book called Welcome to Britain, something I believed would be a great introduction to British culture for somebody learning English, with its illustrations of fish n chips, caravans, derelict buildings, humorous sign boards, the English seaside and fat people. I wondered whether she would 'get it' or not, but I liked this book myself so much that I felt compelled to buy it.

I met Lisa at the bottom of the Sunwah tower, where she works. This used to be Jessica's headquarters when she worked for Towers Watson, and I remember her telling me that when she first arrived in Vietnam fifteen years ago, the Sunwah tower was the tallest building in Ho Chi Minh City. Looking at the skyline today, it is difficult to conceive this. Sunwah is now totally dwarfed by the magnificent Bitexco building that stands next door. We ate at Central Cafe outside the entrance to Sunwah, with Bitexco and other giants looming over us. Or rather I ate, as Lisa had eaten earlier. It was essentially a fast-food restaurant, and I ordered deep fried fish in a fluorescent orange sweet-and-sour sauce with rice, which I unashamedly enjoyed. Lisa promised to take me out again before I leave for some real Vietnamese food, something I look forward to. I presented my gift, and it was quite clear that she really didn't 'get it', despite my feeble attempts to explain the British sense of humour to her. Lisa invited me to practise my Vietnamese with her, but I was far too shy to do so and was also ashamed at how very, very little I know. She showed me up with her confidence in speaking English, and in fact led the conversation. We mostly talked about her preferred topic, marriage. One of her first questions to me after we sat down was 'So, when will you get married?'. I told her that I won't be thinking about that for a long time yet. Lisa is thirty-three and considers herself to be getting on a bit. Her problem, it seems, is not in meeting men but in developing any interest in them. Our conversation became more interesting when she told me about how she doesn't like Vietnam and wants to move away. Salaries for graduates are too low, she said, to match the cost of living. It is almost impossible to buy a house. Even more, it is hard to get away as it is very difficult to apply for visas to travel overseas. The government is inefficient at solving problems, the traffic is dreadful, the men are useless and, most disturbingly, she thinks that life is given little value here. There are so many traffic accidents, and the compensation offered for those who die is meagre.

Life is not all doom-and-gloom for Lisa though. At the end of the month she will be making use of the national holiday (to mark Victory day on 30th April), to travel to Taiwan with some friends on holiday. In October she hopes to go to Hong Kong, and after telling her about my recent trip to Laos, she has added that to her list too.