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!