The Jaded Empress Chronicles

T hroughout the world, therein lies unanswered questions and little mysteries. In Egypt, one wonders how they constructed the pyramids; in Peru, how did those Nazca lines come about? In the North Atlantic, what’s the explanation for all those disappearing ships and planes in the Bermuda Triangle? Here in Vietnam, why does everyone (including grown men), sip their drinks through plastic straws and eat hunched over on those kindergarten-style, low plastic stools? But my greatest mystery is those ubiquitous beeping horns. What is it about the Vietnamese obsessive compulsion to continually beep their vehicle horns? Most local drivers seem to incomprehensibly keep their thumbs on the offending horn repeatedly, or for long durations – a sort of Repetitive Beeping Horn Syndrome – and in many cases, for entirely unnecessary use. As far as I’m aware, this is curiously native to Vietnam, few other countries suffer this affliction on this scale.   Thumbs at the ready on S...

…. Do I still what ? Ah! Di hoang gio is one of my first, most romantic memories of Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon, which I encountered upon my arrival here two decades ago. Do I still Di Hoang Gio ....what? Before jumping to any untoward conclusions, di hoang gio is actually a curious Saigonese weekend nighttime ritual: literally hundreds upon hundreds of locals slowly cruising on their motorbikes around a circuit of streets in downtown Saigon. Like most activities in Vietnam, you don’t do di hoang gio solo; rather, this involves families squashed together on one motorbike, youths flouting their flashy new bikes and of course, “loves young dream” couples, as this surely rates as one of the most romantic ways to hang out in Saigon. In balmy weekend evenings, the Saigonese have for years navigate their motorbikes in a rough circular route along Saigon’s main boulevards of Nguyen Hue, Dong Khoi and Le Loi. For visitors, di hoang gio is quite the compelling sight, these streets ...