June
25
2010
By Amy Smithers
Man has his dog, woman has her diamonds (I'll put my skepticism about that one aside), but a local is truly a traveller's best friend.
Unless you're a brave and particularly outgoing person, it's tough to connect with strangers when you're thousands of miles from home, and in a foreign cultural situation. That's why there is such a great feeling that comes from meeting somebody new in a strange place; especially someone who can show you customs you would otherwise have missed out on.
Upon sitting down in a great vegetarian restaurant in Hue last month, we discovered that the menus weren't exactly English friendly. A good sign of the restaurant's authenticity, to be sure, but a difficult way to choose a meal. Sitting next to us at the long banquet table were two Vietnamese students, one of whom recognized our confusion and helped us choose the best dishes from the menu.
Eager to continue practicing her English, our new friend asked us if we would like to go to a cafe after the meal. We followed her lead down a few dark streets, and ended up standing in a park, at the edge of a small pond. This story doesn't have a Hostel-style ending, however. This park was the cafe; within seconds of our arrival, a woman had presented us with cardboard mats to sit on, and asked what we would like to order. We spent the evening sipping lemonades with our new companions, and gazing out across a lake that we never would have stumbled upon without them.
In Saigon a week later, we crossed through a park behind the Notre Dame Cathedral in the evening, and discovered that the flock of park waitresses was not exclusive to Hue. We took a seat, ordered a lemonade once again, and pondered how we might open up our own "cafe" on some park land back in Toronto.
Amy Smithers ate (so many spring rolls...) and drank her way through Southeast Asia in May. Contact her if you're looking for more recommendations or would like to plan a trip of your own.