Xóm Bà Điêm

Coen and Loc were already waiting for us outside the airport in Ho Chi Minh City and together we went to the house of Coen and Loc by taxi. The house is situated in a very busy part of the district (Dang Van Ngu). First time we engaged the 'motormice' in Vietnam. What a chaos! They are coming from everywhere and overtake you from all sides and that goes also for the cars. Crossing the street or turning around with the taxi is a huge problem, but all goes surprisingly well. Then we went with our suitcases to the house of Coen and Loc.

The house is in a narrow alley and protected with iron bars before the windows and big padlocks. The motorcycle of Coen is standing in the livingroom (this is my second astonishing moment in Vietnam, I even saw 4 or 5 motorcycles in the room at other peoples places)! It is decorated in typical asian style but everything is placed so close to one another, even at the stairs they put all kind of things, that it makes an uncoordinated impression, there is not much room to move. Below you find the livingroom and the kitchen and there is a stone green stair to go upstairs. Their bedroom is situated on the first floor.

The second floor is for the guests. Anneke got a room with airco and I got one with a fan. We have our own bathroom on the same floor as our bedrooms. Here I had the third astonishing moment. Coen and Loc told us we were to clean our bottoms first with water from the spray hose, which was situated next to the toilet, before wiping it clean with toiletpaper. This is something we encountered throughout Vietnam. I knew it from Turkey, but in Turkey it is a small waterpipe in the toilet itself where the water comes from. Here in Vietnam it is a really big hosepipe next to every toilet!

One floor higher there is a corner for worshipping and from there you could go to the roof terrace. It was very hot that day. Loc had made curry soup, I didn't eat it.Read more