The day dawned clear, hot and humid as usual during rainy season in tropical Sài Gòn. The air pressed down on me like a wet blanket. A friend named Linh invited me to visit her aunt's coffee shop on No Trang Long street; at least that's what the address said.
The appointment was for 9 am. I checked Google Maps and it's only about 2 miles or so from my home but I knew traffic was likely to be heavy so I took my motorbike out of the parking garage and left home about 8:40 am. Good thing! Traffic was very heavy and "gnarly" as we say in America. It took over twenty minutes to cover the two miles. The route was fairly straight forward and simple — that is until I got close. Then my worst fears were confirmed. Like many addresses on main streets like No Trang Long, they are not on the 'main drag'. If you drive along No Trang Long street craning your neck (as well as 'risking your neck') looking for their address, you will never find it.
The coffee shop was tucked away deep in a welter of narrow side streets that amazingly, all had the address of 'No Trang Long'. After wasting 10 or 15 minutes scouring these 'hẻm's, I finally 'threw in the towel' and called Linh on the phone. I was actually close but Linh had to walk out to the main street of No Trang Long and guide me to a cute little coffee shop called YOUME.
Linh is a student who drives eleven kilometers to her university several days a week. She is from Quảng Ngãi city in central Vietnam, which is very hot in June, about 40 C. I had a delicious drink directly from a coconut and met some of the local neighbors. I was an object of great curiosity since they don't get foreigners in neighborhoods 'off the beaten path'. The kids were very cute but a little shy about the strange-looking foreigner. After an enjoyable time drinking and chatting, I got back on my motorbike and weaved my way through the dense traffic until I made it back home, grateful to have survived another trip on the jam-packed streets of Sài Gòn.