The next door neighbours to our right we dubbed "The fertilised egg lady" and "The fertlised egg lady's husband". They opened a small restaurant there and there have been minor skirmishes about her customers sitting at tables across our entry way.
The name came from me ordering two eggs from her one night, thinking that they were just boiled eggs. It was not the case.
Later at night, some of her customers are pretty drunk, so it makes for interesting interactions if we go in and out of the house. Invitations to sit and drink are common, as well as slurred broken English, hand shakes and raised glasses.
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| Busted by the Fertilised Egg Lady while trying to sneakily take her picture. |
To the left there is "The Pho lady". This title encompasses her whole family. They have a soup shop open early in the mornings and sell a cheap but mediocre pho. Recently she had a new baby so we all chipped in and bought some baby soap and shampoo and gave them to her as a present.
A few days later, they threw a huge party outside their house with white table cloths on tables and much drinking, guitar and singing, followed shortly by an epic storm which cut things short.
A few doors down there is another man, who after 12 years of waiting and trying, was finally granted a green card to immigrate to the United States.
Around the corner is Sean. He is Vietnamese, however he studied in Baltimore and is now back living in Saigon. He took me to a local gym recently, which I joined. It was a pretty funny experience.
No one in the gym was wearing shoes and everyone was using free weights. The barbells have no stoppers on them to prevent weights from sliding off either. As a cherry on top, there is an enormous tree growing through the middle of the building, about 4 metres around.... all for a paltry $7 a month.
Also around the corner is a random family that always waves and says hello to me whenever I walk past them. This happens quite a lot here, especially with young children. I have never seen a society with so many young children in it, it really gives the place a charm and colourful feel.
Vietnam is definitely full of robust characters.
