charvey in Vietnam

Off to the USA

In a few hours I'll board a big bird back to the lower 48 for a two week visit.  I have stops planned in Washington DC, Vermont and Florida. 

DC will be a good time with the peeps.  Vermont and Florida is folk time with ma,pa and sis.  A good chunk of my Vermont time will be spent at the Seventh Annual Gathering of Men though.  It's an annual reunion for about eight of my high school buddies.  We rent a big farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, Vermont, where there is no Internet access or mobile phone service (this is key, so none of the guys can call their wives or vice-versa).  There will be much beer drunk, cards played, and trash-talking exchanged.   Special prize for the best trash-talking.

Don't despair, My Public.  I will send at least one or two dispatches from the road.  'Til then, adios.

Invisible Women of Saigon

When I first arrived in Saigon I was struck by bizarre sight of strange apparitions riding half the motorbikes streaming through the city streets.  These figures were covered from head to toe -- gloves, socks under sandals, scarves over the face, sunglasses and floppy hats.  "Holy cow, invisible women have swarmed into Saigon!"

[Invisible Man, at right.  The resemblance is uncanny.]

Vietnamese women prize pale skin.  They go to great lengths to protect themselves from the sun's rays.  One friend of mine told me that a saleswoman in his office refused to come back from an office visit one afternoon. "Why?" he asked her.  "The sun is too shiny!" she replied.
 
At night the gloves come off, so to speak.  Out come the minis and revealing dresses, but only for girls who live a fast lifestyle.  Most Vietnamese women are quite modest and conservative. 

Oddly, pale skin is prized for women, but not for men.  I'm not sure, but It doesn't seem to matter much what shade a man's skin.  Any Vietnamese members of My Public care to, ahem, shed some light on the subject?

New Sofa

So I'm starting to trick out my crib.  I just added a new sofa and lamp.  Funny enough, the sofa is pretty much the same one I wanted to buy when I was in San Francsico.  I don't know what the fabric is.  It's kinda soft and velvety, but not velvet.  Slowly but surely I'll replace my, ahem, rustic rattan furniture with cooler stuff.  I'm thinking a red lava lamp would be a nice addition.  A hip cat's gotta live.

BTW, the red thingie on the coffee table contains raisins from California.  The local supermarket carries them, along with USA peanut butter (both chunky style *and* smooth!) and Washington state delicious apples.  All the comforts of home, but in Vietnam.  As the locals say, "Same same, but different."

I'm sitting now at a cafe in Pham Ngu Lau, an area otherwise known as the "Backpacker's Ghetto" in Saigon.  Lots of foreigner backpackers and younger travelers stay here.  The whole area feels like a party zone, all the time (Hank, you would love it).  Local Vietnamese run businesses that cater to the foreigners.  Some foreigners are the weird dread-locked and smelly kind, but most are normal youngsters traipsing through Southeast Asia.  Locals are carrying these enormous stacks of books for sale.  They're great salesmen.  My no-buy resolve was weakened and finally breached by one persistent seller when I saw "Catch-22" in her book stack (sorry Tilo, there was only 1 copy).  It's my favorite book of all time.  I haven't read it since college.  Oddly, the first time I read it I was also an expat, in France.  "Catch-22" is a ripping satire of society and human nature.  One character's name, General Scheisskopf, says it all.

Oh by the way, I had kangaroo meatballs for dinner last night at a pub run by an Aussie bloke.  Kanga is quite tasty!

Oh, I love the nightlife (part 2)

Had a great time last night.  Went out with a few Vietnamese friends to a local "bifsteak" joint serving simple beef dishes.  Think Denny's, but Vietnam-style.  Then we went to Yoko's, an intimate local cafe with live music on weekends.  Yes, it is named for Yoko Ono, the former wife of Beetle John Lennon.

We got there at 8pm but the music didn't start until 9pm.  I used the time to practice some tieng viet with my friends Phuong and Pha Le.  They are hilarious.  It was great because I'm now getting to a point where I can have decent, albeit simple, conversations with Vietnamese.  The other day I was in the elevator and I even understood a joke someone told to his friend.  It was like, "light bulb!"  It was funny too.

The first performer was an older woman, probably around 55-60.  She belted (and I mean belted) out some Motown and other old hits.  In my minds eye I envisioned her in a smoky, boisterous Saigon club 35 years ago.  I'd put money on it.  She was great.  The next singer was Phuong (different Phuong from my friend -- Phuong is a very common name here), a young woman in her 20s who sings contemporary covers with great passion.  Most of the time she sings with her eyes closed, and the emotion of each song plays out across her expressive features.  We had front row seats in this tiny venue.  Great stuff.

Phuong and Pha Le went home around 9:30.  I went to La Habana for the second half of Swing Night to meet my friend Jon and few other regulars.  A Canadian guy, Michel, and a French Vietnamese girl, Catherine, started teaching swing classes for free a few months ago.  It's lots of fun.  I got pretty into swing about 10 years ago when I lived in DC.  It's fun to pick it up again.  If you're in Saigon, check out Michel's website, Saigon Swing.

Around 11pm Jon and I went to a Japanese bar, Sanho, for saki.  Sanho's gimmick is fish tanks scattered throughout the bar filled with exotic species.  One fish looked like a rat, I swear, face and all.  The highlight of Sanho in my opinion though is a juvenile crocodile in an aquarium.  He's about 2.5 feet long.  There's a magnet sheathed in floating plastic on the inside of the tank, and a sister magnet on the outside.  You can manipulate the magnet on the inside using the one on the outside.  The whole objective is to fool around with the croc.  At first I thought this was cruel and unusual for the croc.  After a while, though, I came to realize that the croc loves playing with the magnet.  I moved it around the tank a little far from him and he rushed over to check it out and attack.  I didn't even touch him, but he tracked it closely and lunged at it when it got close.  I concluded that he likes it.  He's gotta be bored out of his mind in that tank so drunk people manipulating a magnet in his tank must be a welcome diversion.  Now, before you judge, just consider that I may be right (I am).  It's great fun for both sides. 

Sorry, sorry!

Had an interesting experience on the way home tonight.  I was first at a light and gunned my bike into the intersection when the light turned green.  Two guys coming in the opposite direction were making left turns in front of me.  They misjudged my rocket-like acceleration and cut in front of me, which nearly resulted in a bruising collision.  I swiveled around them.  Both smiled and shouted, "Sorry, sorry!" at the foreigner with the big head in the big helmet.  It was almost like I had caught their hands in the cookie jar and they knew they were busted.

I love moments like these. 

Lurkers, stand up!

Hello My Public.  I know there are many of you who regularly visit my lil' ole blog.  And I'm pleased as punch about that.  In some small way if I can spread a little kumbayah about Vietnam and foster world peace then I can sleep easier at night.

However, it would be just swell if my regulars (and even not so regulars) would leave more comments.  I envisioned "charvey in vietnam" as a vehicle for two-way communication.  What kinds of things would you like know about Vietnam?  Stuff like: Can you get a decent milkshake here?  [Yes]. What's the best way to cross a street swarming with motorbikes?  [Don't look].  Have you made any embarrassing language snafus yet?  [Yes.  Texting "cu later" means "penis later" since "cu" is the Vietnamese word for, well, you know].

So, My Public, let your voices be heard!

Manufacturers Taking Flight -- to Vietnam

Another interesting read about Vietnam's economic development.  This one is from the LA Times and comes courtesy of my good friend Mark P.  Thanks Marky Mark.

Phu Quoc Island

Last Thursday and Friday I played a little hooky and took off to visit Phu Quoc, an island off Vietnam's Southern coast in the Gulf of Thailand.  Phu Quoc is an undeveloped island, home to about 75,000 people and the largest pepper exporter in Vietnam (who knew?).  There's also a thriving pearl cultivation industry there. 

Most of the roads on the island are dirt and the island natives primarily work in agriculture and fishing.  I stayed at the Tropicana Resort on the island's west side.  It made for beautful sunsets of the ocean, viewed from Tropicana's restaurant patio while sipping a pina colada.  Marvelous.

Walking along the beach during the first day I encountered this boy and his friends.  They were hunting some kind of small crab that burrowed into the sand at the water's edge.  One boy would hold a fine mesh net, while the other two boys would shovel sand into the net as quickly as possible.  Then they would strain the sand and water out of the net to isolate the crabs.  The bucket this boy is holding is about half-full of writhing little buggers.  We walked together for a while, and it was fun to watch the boys spot some telltale crab signs in the sand and run off excitedly to ply their trade.  Kids are kids everywhere.

No review of Phu Quoc would be complete without a mention of its spectacular seafood.  One day I rented a motorbike and toured the island.  I stopped in a fishing village on the east side and picked a restaurant at random on the water.  When I ordered shrimp I was confused when the waitress motioned for me to go towards the kitchen.  It soon became clear that I was to pick out my lunch!  I chose a fine selection of rather active shrimp.  The matron of the establishment plucked them out of the tank, weighed them, and in 10 short minutes they were sitting at my table ready to eat.  I've never seen shrimp so big.  They were delicious.

Check out this video where I meet the meat: 

Click here for more photos of Phu Quoc.  Click on "View as guest" then "Slideshow."  Maximize your browser window for the best viewing. 

Double your failure rate

I recently added a "Quote of the Day" module in the left column. 

Yesterday's quote was from Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM.  It was "If you want to increase your success, double your failure rate."

Think about that for a minute.  You gotta swing and miss a lot if you want to hit home runs.

"Oh....I love the nightlife"

"...I got to boogie in the disco' round oh yeah!"

I dunno why, but that song just popped in my head as I took a 20 minute stroll around my house tonight.  Evenings in Vietnam are just like days in Vietnam -- all the action happens out on the street.  People are cooking, washing dishes, children playing, motorbike drivers chilling (sometimes sleeping) on their bikes, teenagers acting like teenagers, people eating at "instant cafes" composed of a cart and portable charcoal fire pot.  I even saw one woman carrying a portable fire on a pole slung on her shoulder.  That was pretty cool, gotta snap a pic of that.

There is so much life on the streets here.  It's amazing.

Rattle and Hum

Here's another article from one of my favourite publications, The Economist.  It also points out the danger of too much state interference in wealth-creating private enterprise.

Although nothing is a given, Vietnam is indeed on the move.  Stand on any street corner in Saigon and you will hear the rattle and hum.

Source: The Economist – August 3, 2006  

Good morning at last

Aug 3rd 2006 |

HANOI

From The Economist print edition

An economic boom is accompanied by remarkable success in getting rid of poverty and raising life expectancy. 

SIGNS of rapid development are visible everywhere around Hanoi: from the flashy sport-utility vehicles on the city's roads to the dormitory villages of smart “executive” homes rising among the fields on the capital's outskirts. George Bush and other world leaders will see it for themselves when Hanoi hosts the Asia-Pacific economic summit in November. That meeting will take place in a new satellite-city, Tu Liem, which is now being built on Hanoi's south-western edge. The futuristic conference centre, with a distinctive wavy glass roof, looks almost finished. Nearby, a huge five-star hotel is getting a final coat of paint. Along Tu Liem's broad, four-lane avenues, some apartment blocks are already occupied, others are just steel skeletons. Between the building sites, cows and buffalo still graze in what was open pasture only recently. [charvey note: check out this post from another local blog, "Itsthefinalword," about rapid residential and business development on the southern outskirts of Saigon.]

Before starting its doi moi market-oriented reforms in the mid-1980s, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam flirted with real communism and came close to famine. Since then, a reform process that was uneven at first has gathered momentum. Recent economic growth, though not quite as stellar as China's, has been remarkable. In 2001-05 it averaged over 7.5%, reaching a peak of 8.4% last year. This year the government is going all out to hit an 8% target.

Since 1990, Vietnam's exports have increased faster than China's. Their growth shows no signs of slackening. Between January and July they amounted to $22 billion, a year-on-year rise of over 25%. Having alarmed the Brazilians by becoming their main competitor in coffee growing, Vietnam is now ramping up its exports of everything from shrimps to ships to shoes (the last prompting the European Union to announce anti-dumping tariffs last month). It has just become the world's largest exporter of pepper and aims soon to overtake Thailand in rice. It is even selling tea to India.

Foreign-owned factories are chalking up the fastest gains. The government's aim of increasing electronics exports by 27% annually should be boosted by Intel's recent decision to build a $605m microchip plant in Ho Chi Minh City. Though farmers' harvests are still rising, industry's still-higher growth rate means that agriculture's share of economic output continues to shrink—from about 25% in 2000 to 21% last year. By 2010 it may be down to 15%. 

This economic revolution is being accompanied by a social one. Though Vietnam is still, overall, one of Asia's poorest countries, with income per head behind India's, its recent growth has been impressively egalitarian. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) reckons that deep poverty in Vietnam—defined as a daily income equivalent to under $1—is now only slightly more prevalent than the average for South-East Asia, whereas in 1990 Vietnam's figure was more than twice the regional average (see charts). By this measure, Vietnam has overtaken China, India and the Philippinesand now has only slightly more poverty than Indonesia.

Life expectancy has jumped and infant mortality plunged since the 1990s. Vietnam does better on both these counts than Thailand, a far richer country. Almost three-quarters of Vietnamese children of secondary-school age are in class, up from about a third in 1990. Again, Vietnam has overtaken
China, India and Indonesia. 

The new five-year plan, approved at April's congress of the ruling Communist Party, is laden with targets for increasing output and improving infrastructure, with the objective of making Vietnam a modern, industrial nation by 2020. Of course, other Asian countries' leaders, from Malaysia to the
Philippines, declare similar objectives. The difference is that Vietnam's rulers seem to mean it—and their recent record suggests they might pull it off.

The April congress was preceded by a purge of high officials suspected of corruption—most notably at a road-building agency where some staff stole millions of dollars to bet on football matches. While Nong Duc Manh, the party's general secretary, has survived, the other two members of the ruling triumvirate—the president and prime minister—have since been dropped in favour of youngish, southern Vietnamese officials, seen as supporters of continued economic reform. 

Good times, bad times

Vietnam is on a roll and its prospects look good. But much could still go wrong. As Vietnam joins the global economy (it should become a member of the World Trade Organisation in the coming year or so) it is becoming more vulnerable to volatile commodity prices and fickle bond-market investors, whose gyrations are largely outside its control. The recent export surge has been helped by strong global demand and high prices for the things Vietnam sells, from rice to crude oil, but a world recession—or an economic bust in China—could cause a big slowdown. The government is racing to build enough power stations, roads and railways to keep the economy moving. Any delays in these would spell trouble. 

The communist government's continuing acceptance by ordinary Vietnamese rests largely on its success in delivering prosperity and better public services. If it fails to reduce corruption or produce jobs for the more than 1m young Vietnamese who join the labour force each year and the 1m villagers migrating to the cities, the country's social cohesion and sense of purpose would be in danger.

That makes it vital to accelerate the government's programme to restructure and sell thousands of state-owned firms. They are more graft-prone than private companies, and devour the lion's share of scarce land and credit while creating few new jobs. The private sector provides most of the growth in jobs and exports, but would do better still if it was not crowded out by the public sector. Le Dang Doanh, an economic adviser to the government, reckons that, but for the vested interests slowing down privatisation, Vietnam could now be growing at 11%, just like China.

Heavy Hand

Another interesting article by Wall Street Journal reporter James Hookway.  He raises an important point -- silly capital and resource allocation decisions by the government certainly do not help growth of the Vietnamese economy.  However, a massive oil refinery is going to get a lot of government attention in any country.  I think this piece reflects the usual journalist bias to portray every story they write as being more important than it really is.  This works in both up and down directions -- the only thing the media loves more than building something up is tearing it down.  These things go through cycles.

Mr. Hookaway makes a spot-on point about differences between the North and South though.  The South definitely is more freewheeling and pro-business, whereas the North is more buttoned down and government-oriented.  Southerners I've met think Northerners are uptight, and Northerners I've met think Southerners are crass and unsophisticated.

Old Habits Undermine Vietnam's Emergence

Central Planning, North-South Rivalry Threaten to Squander Foreign Investment
By JAMES HOOKWAY
August 9, 2006; Page A4

DUNG QUAT BAY, Vietnam -- Three decades have passed since Vietnam's north and south were reunified under communist control after years of war. But lingering tensions between the regions -- and the government's persistent commitment to central planning -- still threaten the country's budding economic boom.

Vietnam's gross domestic product has been growing 8% to 9% annually in recent years, making it one of Asia's most popular destinationsfor foreign direct investment. But much of the country remains poor,with per capita income of $638 in 2005 and the fruits of growth concentrated to a large extent in the south.

A long-delayed attempt to kick-start an industrial transformation at an undeveloped village in the middle of Vietnam's 1,500 mile-long coastline, far from the major cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, shows how regional tensions and central planning could stunt the country's long-term economic growth.

The Dung Quat Economic Zone used to be a sleepy fishing village on a thin spit of land between the South China Sea and the towering Annamite Mountains to the west. Today, the tiny town boasts wide new highways leading to the beach, a 200-bed hospital and a half-completed sports stadium. Scrub-covered land is getting cleared for a golf course and a roller-coaster theme park. In the middle of it all, the steady pounding sounds of jackhammers signal that construction of a $2.5 billion oil refinery is finally under way after years of false starts and arguments about whether it should be built there at all.

"Vietnam has the crude oil and the natural gas to power the refinery and make it a success, especially now that prices are high. But that's way down south, not up there in Dung Quat," says John Vautrain, a vice president at energy consultancy Purvin & Gertz Inc.

Would-be investors from France, the U.S., Malaysia and Russia have spurned the project during the past decade, leaving Vietnam to go it alone after prolonged delays. State oil company Vietnam Oil & Gas Corp., known as PetroVietnam, broke ground in November, and the refinery is scheduled to be finished in 2009.

The way Vietnam's leaders decided to build the country's first oil refinery here, far from major markets, offers a blunt reminder to investors: Despite the country's recent growth spurt, state-planned economics is still the order of the day. And that can hamper efforts to build the
power plants, ports and roads that Vietnam, which has 84 million people, needs to sustain its takeoff. At present, Vietnam lacks facilities to convert its own oil output -- about 18 million barrels of crude oil a year -- into usable fuels.

A decade ago, central planners decided that building a refinery should be a crucial part of the country's development strategy. The problem was deciding where to build it.

Southern Vietnam, which fell to communist rule in 1975 after years ofwar, was the logical place. It is closer to the offshore oil fields andhas one of the country's few deep-water ports where tankers can easily dock.

The south is also the locus of Vietnam's economic surge. Last year, Vietnam attracted $5.8 billion in pledged foreign investment -- just $2 billion behind India -- and much of it went to ventures in the south.

Steelmakers, textile factories and semiconductor manufacturers such as Intel Corp. have been drawn by southern Vietnam's low labor costs, its well-educated work force and more business-friendly local
governments, which erect fewer of the bureaucratic hurdles often seen in the north.

Overseas Vietnamese, many of whom trace their origins to the south, also prefer to channel their investments there. As a result, fuel-hungry Ho Chi Minh City and its surrounding provinces in the south account for 40% of Vietnam's economic output and 70% of its exports.

Political power, however, still lies almost completely in Hanoi, which wants to spread development around more evenly -- and doesn't hesitate to instruct investors where to put their money.

Though there is no political challenge to the unity of Vietnam, the strains from the wars against France and the U.S. and the division of north from south haven't entirely healed and continue to influence policy.

The Communist Party in Hanoi, analysts say, is wary of allowing the south to continue gathering a disproportionate share of the country's wealth at the risk of alienating people in other parts of Vietnam. So planners decreed that the refinery be built in the comparative isolation of the country's central coast.

Some analysts say Vietnam needs $45 billion to $60 billion to raise the standard of its infrastructure to that of nearby Thailand, to which Vietnam looks as a measure of potential economic development. Christopher Bruton at Bangkok consulting firm Dataconsult Ltd. is skeptical of Vietnam's ability to continue growing 8% or 9% a year without much greater spending for power plants, water supply, railways and a modern road system.

But execution isn't easy. The $2.3 billion government-sponsored Son La hydropower plant being built in the north of the country is criticized by some economists as unnecessarily expensive and another sign of Hanoi's determination to go it alone on controversial big-ticket projects.

Le Van Dung, director of the Dung Quat Economic Zone's investment-promotion center, predicts the entire project will create 20,000 jobs by 2010. Some 2,000 people have already found jobs helping to build the refinery.

The longer-term issue is whether Dung Quat can avoid becoming the kind of state-sponsored white-elephant project that burdens many developing economies.

While high oil prices have improved the margins in the refinery business, that doesn't guarantee success, says Alan Gelder, vice president of downstream oil at the London offices of energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie Ltd. "Only the right ones in the right places will be commercially viable," he says.

Public Service Messages

I see government posters everywhere in Saigon.  Many of them trumpet out government messages about the Party as benevolent protector of the people and vanguard of progress.  But others deliver warm and fuzzy messages about the importance of family and children.  It took me a little while to get used to these -- they're just so, well, odd.

This one is a few blocks from my house.  It's fairly typical, featuring "Bac Ho" (Uncle Ho) and messages about the Party.  Bac Ho is the Vietnamese equivalent of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Frankin and all the other American Founding Fathers rolled into one.  Judging from the posters, he is absolutely revered here.

Interesting to note that the right billboard features a message for APEC (the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) group.  Vietnam is hosting the annual APEC heads of state meeting in Hanoi this fall.  George Bush will be in attendence.  Given the amount of official billboard messaging devoted to APEC, the Vietnamese are very proud of their role as host.

Not sure what this one is about exactly, but the imagery makes it clear that Bac Ho and the Party are watching over and guiding industrial progress and stability in Vietnam.

Lots of themes here: peace, children, education, the government.  I tried translating this.  Literally, the words mean "discipline patience strength team build well."  Those may not be exactly the right meanings though, since Vietnamese words often have slightly different meanings depending on the context.  You get the idea.

More family and children themes.  The last bullet point on the left says "family happiness."

I think this one is a traffic safety message.  I snapped it in the middle of a big roundabout on Cach Mang Thang Tam.  Fewer than 1% of Vietnamese riders wear helmets, although the governement seems to be trying to boost that figure.

Propaganda fascinates me in all its forms.  You can see some historical Vietnamese propaganda here.  It's interesting to compare and contrast it with American propaganda from World War II, which you can find here.  Good propaganda shares universal attributes -- it is simple and straightforward, employs vivid imagery and makes a powerful emotional appeal.

Bling for the Blog

Before I started blogging I had no idea that there was so much blog bling out there.  By "bling" I mean all these cool feeds you can add to your blog, for free.   I just added a Vietnam newsfeed (right column, thanks to Our Man in Hanoi) and Vietnam time clock (left hand column, thanks to Katie W).  If My Public has suggestions for others with most excellent functionality, I'm all ears.

Sea Change at AOL

Wow, this is huge news: AOL has decided to offer its proprietary software and aol.com email addresses for free.  This means that canceling members can now keep everything they like about AOL except for Internet connectivity.  Free. 

It is impossible to overstate how huge an organizational and cultural change this is for AOL.  For years beyond the point it made sense, AOL pursued a "walled garden" strategy where *every* AOL feature (email, news, music, etc) was accessible only for paying members.  As the Internet evolved, these features became available for free elsewhere on the Internet, and often they were better (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo Mail).  Hanging on to the walled garden strategy kept many members longer, but it virtually ensured that when those members did cancel they would abandon AOL forever.  Over the long run it was a losing strategy that guaranteed AOL's demise before the decade is out.

Organizationally, everything at AOL was geared towards keeping members in the garden.  Whenever I would suggest that we offer these features for free, I would see eyes flash and tempers flare: "Heretic!  Burn him!!  Burn!!!!"  I'm joking, but this isn't far from the truth.  AOL's decision is like the Catholic Church acknowledging that the Earth revolves around the Sun and not the other way around.  It's been obvious to the rest of us for a long time, but for them it's a huge, huge, huge deal.

For those of you who don't know, I spent the last two years working on AOL's web strategy, AOL.com.  Before that I spent four years at Yahoo working on Mail and Messenger.  For my AOL friends reading this blog: "Kudos!  This new strategy means you can take the gloves off and really compete."  For my Yahoo friends: "Dismiss AOL at your peril."

This move means that top Time Warner management has woken up and smells the coffee.  For all its faults, AOL has a better understanding of how everyday consumers interact with technology than pretty much anyone else out there.

I'll be rooting for both companies from the sidelines, but I gotta admit that I historically favor the underdog ;-).

Vietnam Images

There are so many fascinating images in Vietnam that appear and vanish in seconds.  It's impossible to capture them on camera due to their fleeting nature, but I'll do my best to describe an image I saw recently.

It's raining.  Pouring, tropical, driving rain.  I'm riding my motorbike, peering through the rain with slitted eyes, dodging traffic.  I am a stranger in a strange land.  I look up and see someone driving towards me on my side of the street, all the way on the edge of the lane.  He's a young guy, early 20s.  His expression is one of grim determination as he battles the rain en route to his destination.   His long-sleeved T-shirt reads,  in enormous block letters "DISARM SADDAM NOW."  In the blink of an eye he's gone.

There are eight million stories in the naked city.  I just saw one of them.