(Version française plus bas)

Yen, Anh and I have gone out a few times for dinner and beer. It’s not always easy to find time to get together because we are all busy. Yen works for a Japanese travel agency and on top of that, she and her husband are about to open their own Japanese curry restaurant. Anh is a university student and works for a Travel company. As for me, I sill have two jobs and a half. But somehow, the three of us manage to get together.

Anh, Yen and I eating out at a local restaurant.

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On the Paris subway, there’s almost always someone playing the accordion or selling a few poems. I hadn’t seen this happening in Ho Chi Minh City until a few days ago. As Yen and I were going to Củ Chi, a salesman got on the bus and tried to sell a couple things. And his speech lasted quite a while…

A bord du métro parisien, il y a presque toujours quelqu’un pour jouer de l’accordéon ou vendre un carnet de poème. Je n’avais encore jamais vu cela à Ho Chi Minh Ville, jusqu’à  il y a peu. Alors que Yen et moi nous rendions à Củ Chi, un marchand est monté dans le bus pour nous vendre quelques babioles. Et son discours était plutôt kilométrique…

We discovered this tiny little bar called “Yen” the other night. It was difficult to find but once we were there we fell in love with the space. I could have lived there it was so cool. The bar itself was really atmospheric and quiet – lots of hushed voices and overpriced drinks. They had a Vietnamese acoustic trio there the night we went and although the lighting was shitty for video, I took a few shots of them playing various English songs. They covered a very wide range of genres and did a pretty fabulous job for three guys, two guitars and one dude playing one of those box/percussion things. See if you can pick out all the songs!