February 17th, 2009
Note from Saigon: Coffee on demand
By Christopher DeWolf // 2 Comments
HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM -- Coffee is a big part of the social life of Saigon, a city that somehow manages to be both languid and relentlessly energetic in nearly equal measure. Hundreds of cafés and coffee stands dot the city: relaxed neighbourhood hangouts with a few plastic seats out front to watch the city go by; leafy park cafés where middle-aged women chat and men bring birdcages; multistoried cafés with elaborate fountains and gardens, oases hidden in unremarkable lanes. But even when there isn't a café, it's still easy to get coffee.
On a warm afternoon earlier this week, a few friends and I found ourselves in a small park in District 1, just around the corner from the Notre-Dame Basilica and Saigon's tourist hub. Not long after we sat down, a woman came up to us and asked us if we wanted any coffee. We ordered three cà phê sữa đá (iced coffee with condensed milk) and one black iced coffee. About five minutes later, a man on a motorbike arrived with the coffees in a wire tray and the woman brought them to us. We paid 26,000 dong (about $1.80) for the four drinks.
Somehow, the fact that the coffee woman was wearing a Parasuco t-shirt emblazoned with the words "Montréal, Québec, Canada" made the candy-sweet coffee even more delicious.
Originally posted on Urbanphoto
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Comments
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Hey Chris!
Surprise seeing your in Saigon! I'm a Montrealer living in Hanoi for awhile, and an avid reader of Spacing Montreal.
If you ever come to Hanoi, give me a ring!
They make those T-shirts locally, and some "fall of the truck".
Comment by mare
February 17, 2009 | 9:30 am