Pho is something you eat for breakfast; glasses are something you buy at Owndays.
Motorbike taxi chaos
Today I met a new friend again. A local friend who is studying law. She had originally gone to study in Italy but apparently dropped out, and now she's studying in Vietnam. Today we decided to go eat pho together.
It was far from my guesthouse, and since it was raining there were few bikes, so it was pretty difficult. I got the pickup location wrong and was dropped off at a different place. The names are so similar that it's a common mistake. About an hour passed from the meeting time, and I made them wait.
I called another bike, but maybe due to a weird app error it seemed to head to the specified destination without me, so I desperately tried to cancel and it was really stressful. In the end that bike taxi came to me. I think he probably decided to just say he had picked me up by mistake. It was really exasperating.
Pho is something you eat in the morning
Finally I met up with her. I apologized for being late and we ate pho. It was really delicious. She insisted that pho really must be eaten in the morning. We talked about her time studying abroad, what she's doing now, and many other things.
After that we headed to a famous Vietnamese coffee shop called Phe La. She recommended it, and we ordered oolong tea with a tapioca-like topping. While it was raining outside, we had lots of conversation.
We went to a nearby Bun cha restaurant and ate Bun cha. We also ordered butter-fried shrimp. It was insanely delicious. She treated me. Apparently she thought of me as a guest. I've noticed that kind people always pay for others. But people who are popular or pampered tend to have an attitude like, "You'll pay for me, right?" I've learned this from meeting a lot of people—it's a really common pattern.
The Bun cha after a long time was really delicious. Absolutely delicious. It made me nostalgic for the one I had in 2023.
New glasses at Owndays
We headed to a nearby department store. I wanted new glasses because the lenses of my current pair were scratched all over. There was an Owndays, so I carefully picked out a frame there and bought it. It was very similar to the pair I bought in Russia. I had unfortunately lost that pair in Bali, so I was happy to be able to buy new glasses.
The shop assistant kept staring at me while I tried on glasses, which I really disliked. But apparently this is normal in Vietnam and it's customary for staff to accompany customers, so I reluctantly accepted it. I thought I'd have to get used to it.
I had my grandma look at them, and in the end I bought frames for sunglasses. But the lenses were very expensive, and when I tried to get photochromic lenses they were pricier than in Japan, so I gave up. When I contacted her, she said a relative at an eye clinic had a recommended shop that would give a discount. I decided to go there another day.
Model casting at the shopping mall
Then I went to Phuclong and got some work done. There were a lot of events at the department store today, and they were also doing model casting. Each person walked forward one by one and the judge would hold up a Yes or No card. I thought that was amazing. Being judged like that in front of a large crowd, having your worth presented to you like that—I could imagine it would crush someone.
Walking through the department store I wondered why there were so many people with great style, and then I realized why. I liked that they were doing that in a shopping mall—it felt very Vietnamese.
Because it was raining it was hard to find a bike, but in the end I was able to find one using an electric motorbike app while walking. I rode that bike back to the guesthouse.
Being able to be myself
At night Nga came to the guesthouse and we spent time together. There wasn't much conversation; we mostly just spent time together. Actually I prefer it that way. When I'm with her I don't have to pretend, and I can be my true self.
So I felt really comfortable. But she doesn't talk at all, so in that way I felt a little sad. Is it because she's an ISFP and that's just how she is? Or is it because it's in English, or because she likes me and is too nervous to speak?
