Today we are moving Yonna out of her apartment in Ho Chi Minh City.

Three days ago, I was making final preparations to meet with software companies in Vietnam. The only thing left to do was print up some business cards I had just designed. Yonna took me to a bustling street of low-rent shops.

I followed her into one of the shops, typical in that the front is completely open to the street. This was a full-service print shop, believe it or not.

The young man loaded up the images I’d brought on a USB drive. He had every concievable software title related to desktop publishing. All of it pirated. Soon he had a proof for me, and Yonna paid for 100 cards apiece. She explained that since she’d been doing business with them for a while, she had to pay in order to keep me from getting a higher price. That’s just the way everything works in Saigon; the locals get one price, visitors get a higher price, and nothing is set in stone.

Looking over this blog, I noticed that I haven’t been taking a lot of scenery shots, so during the cab ride back to the center of District 1, I snapped a couple of photos, including one of a truly amazing private home.

Later, we checked on my clothing and Yonna asked for a few more modifications. To be honest, the rest of the day was a blur. In fact most of the previous three (or four) days are a blur and I’m just piecing everything together from the photos on my camera.

What I do know is that three nights ago, Yonna took me to the North Korean restaurant in Saigon. If you ever make it to Saigon, make sure you have dinner at the North Korean restaurant.

When we walked in, the atmosphere reminded me of a German beer-hall. There was live music and singing women, and a boisterous audience eating and drinking.

The waitresses were also the stage performers, brought here from North Korea. Many of the guests were South Korean, having a laugh and a good time. It was like some sort of theme restaurant, where the theme is how great Kim Jong-il is. But the food was really something, and they began bringing it to our tables immediately, and in large quantities.

My favorite was the green-onion pancake-bites (left), and the rectangular egg-puck (top middle). But the spicy potatoes (top right) disappeared pretty quickly too. I wasn’t so much a fan of the spicy greens, and the cucumber salad was more of a palate cleanser than anything else. The great thing was that as soon as you finished off one bowl, they brought more. They also had the coolest place setting I’d seen so far in Asia.

Apparently, iron chopsticks are de rigeur in North Korea (possibly South too, I forgot to ask). Yonna contrasted the Japanese dining style, where the host brings just the right amount of somewhat bland food to the guest, to the Korean style, where the guest leaves the table with plenty of highly-spiced food still unconsumed. I like Korean-style. And the waitresses looked cute in their little outfits.

I really enjoyed our rice pot, KimChee pancake, and especially the giant platter covered with Australian beef, sliced thin and mixed with onions and garlic.

We had arrived late for dinner, so by the time our beef platter arrived, the only other people in the restaurant was a group of four men from South Korea who were having the best time ever, especially when the live music started up again. Each of them took turns running up on stage for photos, or to give the singer a bouquet of fake flowers, set up near the stage just for that purpose. (I have video of this stuff, but my connection speed is so slow that uploading it to YouTube is nearly impossible. Maybe in a future post.)

It wasn’t a cheap dinner. But at about $20 (including a beer) it was a steal, considering that we couldn’t come close to finishing everything.

After dinner, Yonna ducked into a very brightly lit shop full of young people.

It was a CD/DVD shop, but on closer examination I noticed something odd about the titles.

Harry Potter vs Lord of the Rings?

Then I realized that the entire shop was full of pirated media out of China. I could buy the entire existing set of Harry Potter movies (1 through 5) and get all three Lord of the Rings movies in one box. I didn’t even check the price, but the stickers says either 85,000 or 185,000, so it’s either about $5.50 or $11.50.

Here’s another classic:

These were nicely designed boxes. Somebody was putting a lot of effort into selling these pirated movies and music. I opted not to buy anything, on account of wanting to get back into the US with minimal hassle.

Afterwards we walked around a bit more, and I took a photo of an old cathedral built during the French colonization.

The next day (I think) Yonna cooked up some seaweed and mushroom broth with noodles for breakfast.

The remainder of the day was devoted to business meetings, and I have no photos. But the meetings were very good and I learned a lot. (Yonna is exerting a lot of energy to make a businessman out of me.)

Which brings us to yesterday. The day that packing began.

Boxes were taped up and filled with belongings, then sealed and carried downstairs. Yesterday we only did seven boxes.

Carrying boxes down stairs isn’t a big deal, but walking back up the five flights to get the next box is a real hassle, especially since it constantly feels like I’m in a sauna here.

We got the first set of boxes down to the lobby, and then went out for some food. More importantly, we went out for some drinks.

Almost everywhere you go in Saigon, you find a drink list including a number of fruit juices. These typically include orange, apple, lemon, and pineapple, although I often also see papaya, sugar cane, custard apple, mango and others. Usually, these are fresh juice with water and a lot of sugar. And I’ve become addicted to the lemon juice (which is basically fresh lemonade). You also never see glasses of water unless you specifically ask for one. At the little restaurant, I ordered an orange juice and a lemon juice right off the bat, and I was so happy that I went ahead and ate the bitter, boiled pod thing stuffed with pork that Yonna had ordered.

The restaurant was another typical place in Saigon, where the entire front of the shop is open to the street. As we were sitting, a little bike cart laden with small bananas stopped out front. Yonna grabbed the camera and took a few photos.

After lunch it was back to the apartment in a taxi mini-van to pick up the first set of boxes, take them to the post office and ship them on to the apartment in Hanoi. By the time were were through it was nearly dinner time. Yonna was exhausted and wanted to get her hair washed and styled. We took a cab to a lively section of town where a lot of young people were hanging out. It reminded me of the same energy levels you experience in San Francisco’s Mission District at night. I wandered around for an hour while Yonna did her thing. At one point I came to a busy intersection of three streets and snapped some pictures.

I found myself outside the New World Hotel – an upscale place where a lot of Japanese visitors stay. I decided that since I had time to kill, and a wallet full of 2 million dong, I could afford a drink in the lounge before heading back out into the heat. The drink was milk, apple juice and grenadine, and it cost 84,000 dong (about US$5). I nursed it as long as I could, to enjoy the air conditioning. Then I used the posh restroom and made my way back to the beauty salon to meet up with Yonna.

On the way, I was greeted by the usual old men on the motorbikes, asking if I needed a ride someplace. But this time, when I said “no thanks,” they all followed up with “I know nice lady.” I indicated that I also know nice lady and kept on walking. At one point, a “nice lady” pulled up along side me and tried to get my attention, but I pretended to be caught up in taking a picture (of one of the many storefronts converted to motorscooter parking at night).

When I got to the salon, there was still some time to kill, so I took this photo of the electrical outlet. I hope that someone planning a trip to Saigon sees this photo, because I couldn’t find anything like it during my search, and if I had known that the outlets here take both French-style (two pin) and US-style (two blade) plugs, I could have saved myself some hassle.

Luckily for me, my camera charger and laptop can run on 220 Volts, so I didn’t need a power converter. But just before I left, I bought a Netgear switch, and when I got it out of the box I found that the adaptor only runs on 110 Volts, so I had to run out to Radio Shack for a $30 converter after all. Stupid Netgear.

We were both famished, and went down the block to a hopping little restaurant (it was about 9pm, and most shops stay open here until 8, 9 or 10pm, while restaurants are open until 11 in general). Now that I’ve eaten at a number of places here, I have to say that this place is very representative of the quick-food dining experience.

The food was tastey, and super-cheap. We ate two dishes plus extras, and three fruit juices, all for exactly the same price as my one drink in the hotel lounge two hours earlier: $5.

The only problem was that the pig-ear loaf was back on the table. Yonna insisted that I try it again, since this one was much better.

I was tempted (as always) by the banana-leaf wrapped extras on the table. Yonna destroyed my dream by opening one to reveal a pink little sausage, containing yet more pig’s ear. No thank you.

A few more pictures of the front ‘window’ cases on the way out…

And then it was home for a little more packing, a little work on the computer, and a little bit of Lost in Translation, which Yonna and I love watching together since we each get to laugh at jokes that the other doesn’t get.

This morning was more packing. A lot more. And carrying more boxes down. Heavier boxes.

Yonna’s visa expired yesterday, so she really needs to get to Cambodia to get it renewed. We need to be out of this apartment today (although she’s going to try to talk the owner into letting us stay one more day for a small fee). If all goes according to plan, we’ll finish packing tonight, get up early tomorrow and take a bus to Cambodia. Stay over night, come back to Saigon, ship her boxes, and then fly to Hanoi the day after tomorrow.