[5:02AM in Vung Tau on 4/22/24] 4:31AM. I’m at that cheap café on Lý Thường Kiệt, about to drink an adulterated coffee for 31 cents. It’s likely to have as much soybean or corn as coffee beans, but for this price, I shouldn’t demand anything more than ground roasted Arabica, Ethiopian or Colombian rat droppings. When foreign friends visited recently, I took them to a similar dump, primarily to show them a lovely shelf shrine to Jesus. They couldn’t finish their black offering. Hipster run Enough is more to their taste. It costs ten times more. I’ve stayed clear of it the way I avoid trendy bars.
Ha, I remember Lani's in Tirana. I was living on that street for a while.
Tirana is changing/has changed A LOT just in a few years . Nowhere is safe!
A good read but coffee number 3 has a similar negative effect on the rest of the day as beer number 3.
I wonder if there isn't a kind of an ennui represented here.
'As for foreigners here, almost none can penetrate the language or society. Even if they were interested, it would take too much effort. Many, if not most, are merely sexpats hanging out in expat bars. With vehemence, they will insist that Thais, Vietnamese, Cambodians and Filipinos are mostly whores, pimps and hustlers. Whatever, man. People believe what they want to.'
I think for some people it's just not their goal to integrate into the new place and it's not necessarily a bad thing. Were you studying Albanian hard in your time there? Sometimes it's more about ones own personal journey, although there is an inherent narcissism in that. Some people already define themselves as outcasts and living among a culture utterly alien to them becomes a natural step for them.
Isn't the purpose of hanging out in expat bars kind of similar to this coffee shop hopping? People are just trying to be around some kind of life.
"Is any of this interesting? Of course, not." Wrong, Linh, WRONG!
"For cryptic or perverse reasons, this cafe’s owner doesn’t like me." Why, Linh, WHY?
"I’ve had to defend my innate sociability to indignantly belligerent Americans." Where, Linh, WHERE?
"When I referred to them as “my kind,” an Unzian moron got enraged." Who, Linh, WHO?
As a child, I couldn’t wait to grow up, but school wasn’t my only problem." What was your other problem, Linh, WHAT?
Good quotidian, day-in-the-life writing, dude. Looks like swearing off the sauce may have given you an artistic boost. Stay with the coffee (and maybe a Saigon once in a great while)!
Hi Linh, lovely essay. I learn a lot from your little snippets of history via street names. The market streets you wander in the mornings are authentic neighborhoods, full of life lived in public. I've been busy but school year is almost ending and we'll catch up soon.
To be fair, Linh, that coffee tasted like used batteries.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/vietnamese-factory-caught-producing-deadly-cheap-coffee-from-used-batteries-and-dust
Ha, I remember Lani's in Tirana. I was living on that street for a while.
Tirana is changing/has changed A LOT just in a few years . Nowhere is safe!
A good read but coffee number 3 has a similar negative effect on the rest of the day as beer number 3.
I wonder if there isn't a kind of an ennui represented here.
'As for foreigners here, almost none can penetrate the language or society. Even if they were interested, it would take too much effort. Many, if not most, are merely sexpats hanging out in expat bars. With vehemence, they will insist that Thais, Vietnamese, Cambodians and Filipinos are mostly whores, pimps and hustlers. Whatever, man. People believe what they want to.'
I think for some people it's just not their goal to integrate into the new place and it's not necessarily a bad thing. Were you studying Albanian hard in your time there? Sometimes it's more about ones own personal journey, although there is an inherent narcissism in that. Some people already define themselves as outcasts and living among a culture utterly alien to them becomes a natural step for them.
Isn't the purpose of hanging out in expat bars kind of similar to this coffee shop hopping? People are just trying to be around some kind of life.
I'll second Matthew Rossman's opening comment:
"Hi Linh, lovely essay."
It is lovely, indeed!
Goalie Grandma, tagline: the puck stops here!
".....as coffee, but for this price, I shouldn’t demand anything more than ground roasted Arabica, Ethiopian or Colombian rat droppings"
Priceless!
"Is any of this interesting? Of course, not." Wrong, Linh, WRONG!
"For cryptic or perverse reasons, this cafe’s owner doesn’t like me." Why, Linh, WHY?
"I’ve had to defend my innate sociability to indignantly belligerent Americans." Where, Linh, WHERE?
"When I referred to them as “my kind,” an Unzian moron got enraged." Who, Linh, WHO?
As a child, I couldn’t wait to grow up, but school wasn’t my only problem." What was your other problem, Linh, WHAT?
Good quotidian, day-in-the-life writing, dude. Looks like swearing off the sauce may have given you an artistic boost. Stay with the coffee (and maybe a Saigon once in a great while)!
Hi Linh, lovely essay. I learn a lot from your little snippets of history via street names. The market streets you wander in the mornings are authentic neighborhoods, full of life lived in public. I've been busy but school year is almost ending and we'll catch up soon.