i went to Huyen's. it was the first time i actually got to see an old friend. she just came back from Australia though. technically speaking i still haven't got to see any Vietnam friend. just yet, i hope. ah this doesn't make me feel normal...

Huyen wanted a dye job, and there were expiring coupons. so we went to Art Hair. but in the end it's me who had a haircut. Quyen got some hair treatment unknown to me hahaha. i had to put on this huge ugly dark green robe while waiting for my turn (made me feel ugly even before the cut). and i had to wait for an hour o_O wondered why that long when there were obviously staffs doing nothing but commenting on customers and chit chatting among themselves...

well i'm quite happy with my hair now (fortunately) :) the dresser took pretty good care of me. i was very worried that the people here wouldn't know how to use the scissors and i was thinking hard how to let the lady know the style i wanted hahaha. and oh, i enjoyed the head massage at the end of it. it would've been all good had she not left me all "hairy" walking to the basin and managed to gel my hair better.

anyway, i've been on the bike more often these days (after my mom came to the senses that accidents don't always happen). actually not very often, but enough to see that as you're on the road, you know you're in Ho Chi Minh City when:

1. you dare to be on the road without a licence.
2. you know, by one look, that many people are on the road without a licence.
3. you've never seen that many motorbikes in your life, even on television.
4. people seem to be colour blind. they don't follow the international code of green to go and red to stop.
5. traffic lights look more like worn-out street ornaments cuz nobody really cares about them.
6. you are scolded (in the truest sense of the word) because you stop when the light turns red.
7. you choose to convenience yourself with the occasional non compliance of the rules, and you don't feel guilty, as nobody seems to care whether you cut the wrong lanes or follow the right way.
8. your eyes reflex to be small, so small you look like a Chinese (oops), to block off the parading troopers of dust, sometimes so visible to the eyes you don't know if the sky is obscure because it's getting dark or because of the dust.

when traffic goes haywired... yeah i know Vietnam doesn't exactly have the best of traffic rules, and the roads aren't the best they could be. but i don't think people are too busy to stop at a red light. there's more to life than increasing its speed man...