4 sisters from Saigon, the elder much older than the others, teenagers, an import-export trader. I was leaving the restaurant most popular with foreigners, which is the only one still open by the time I wanted dinner, and I was almost hunted away at closing, while the sisters were boisterously feasting on a roadside table, next to the grand table the entire staff had set up on the sidewalk after closing; they were left completely unbothered. They offered me scotch, I told them I don’t drink it, but I’d be happy to sit down with them. They made me drink Coca Cola, first time in decades, my system seemed to tolerate it. Then they wanted to go dancing… on a rikshaw. They insisted I board it, three of us total, the other two walked. The place, which I hadn’t even seen till then, was called something to do with admiralty, and all hipsters, foreign and local were dancing the night away to horrible techno and remakes of disco oldies. I danced nonetheless, I figured it would be excersise, and it was a good sweat. Fun? I don’t really enjoy dancing unless I enjoy the music I am dancing to and only in some rare moments the DJ performed to my liking. But it was an interesting cultural experience, it’s probably all the Vietnamese hipsterism I will ever be exposed to. I went home after a couple of hours, my eardrums mutely pounding, but I had a good night’s sleep, my hostesses were on to their second scotch bottle when I thanked them and left them to revel on.
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