A bit of Vegas in Vietnam

Yesterday was rain all day and the entire previous night. To clarify, it is not that Seattle kind of rain, but more of a turn on the tap, turn it on full pour, then pull back a little bit, repeat. There are moments of fear that you will be stuck somewhere in this and it is simply a matter of time.

Michael was feeling better and with all the rain we went to a place called Royal City. This place is best described as Las Vegas. It is several luxury apartment towers, a mega mall, a mega theater complex, ice rink, bowling alley, water park, (all indoors) and a huge Arch de Triumph style entry gate complete with fountains, chariots, Greek gods....and....am I missing anything? The mall is made up of stores similar to our malls, but that is where it ends. The entry, layout, logic is very confusing. Like the Old Quarter, there is some kind of system to keeping similar style stores together, but otherwise ....yowza, it would take days of getting lost to figure this out. Prices are overall high for Vietnamese standards, but similar to U.S. Clearly, this is a place for the middle to upper class. We went to one of the many food courts and had a good Thai meal. We tried to find Michael some good soap and got lost and then very lost. When we found a cosmetic/beauty area we got lost in the options, most of them being expensive. I think it is important to not start using an American logic here. The Vietnamese may be trying to get the look and even attempt to mirror the Western way, but it is a different culture and it has that infused. You cannot get too frustrated, just let it be what it is.

Michael and I had been wanting to see the movie "Lucy" and knew it was playing. We had to inquire with the help desk to find the theater and behold it was starting in 15 minutes. The experience was similar to U.S. except for the price only $4.00, you choose your seats....yes (VIP if you want) and the volume in the theater was painfully high. (Let's be clear, it was not loud in an old person way....my ear drums hurt at the end) Our Royal City experience was completed with the best grocery/supermarket experience yet. It was called OceanMart (a product of Ocean Bank...one of the 500,000 local banks). It was super lux, well organized, great produce and an enjoyable experience.

Lesson learned...DO NOT take a taxi around the 5 - 7pm hour.....horrible. Other than the fact that you are not going anywhere fast, it is the fear factor that will be your test. Everything previously mentioned regarding crazy traffic can be multiplied by 10 and it is best to look at your phone for your ride or pretend you are in a Hollywood drama....oh, and don't forget to add thunder, lightening and deafening honking.