Sonia Owens to Vincent Nguyen
Subject: HCMC Arrival
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
4:46 PM

Dear Vincent—

I have finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh City .

Where is the lush Saigon of Marguerite Duras? In its place I have found a sweltering metropolis of scalding boulevards. There are all these people lunching on noodle soups, seated on red and blue plastic stools, clustered on urine-stench sidewalks. There are all of these overpriced Western shops like Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Prada. You left these elements of modern day Vietnam out of your emails to me. Did you fear I might cancel this visit?

I will be in HCMC for three days. I am scheduled to interview a Vietnamese pop star who looks like a porn star. She has the face of a fetching fifteen-year-old and the voice of an angel. She will be famous very soon. I just met her agent, a coltish Brazilian with whom the pop star is rumored to be having a desperate affair. I must say, they don't look like lesbians but then again what do lesbians look like?  

I had lunch with the pop star and her Brazilian this afternoon at Paris Deli on Le Loi Street . You are right. The food is good. I had the sticky rice, which came swathed in a warm, velvet lotus leaf that was served with these divine fried spring rolls and sweet dipping sauce. Vietnamese food is delicious. But the chaos of Vietnamese cities may be more than I can handle. The barrages of motorbikes are genuinely frightening as well as bizarre. During my brief stay I have seen people on these bikes carting large television sets, small sofas and pig carcasses gutted, iridescent and leaking blood all over the city streets. It makes me positively nauseous to think one of these creatures may have been in my afternoon spring rolls.

After lunch I retreated to my hotel, a quiet place down a shaded alley off of Le Than Ton. As you well know, for reasons I do not need to explain, I am miserable. When I got on the plane in Cape Town , I was drunk. I am surprised I was even allowed onboard. I didn't think they let blatantly intoxicated people on planes. If I had been a black African, surely I would not have gotten away with it. I suspect it was my American accent, however slurred that enabled this inebriated getaway.

As for Hanoi , I do hope your city provides a measure of respite.

I look forward to seeing this Hoan Kiem Lake you have spoken of so fondly. The river in Ho Chi Minh City —is it the Saigon ? I have found to be egregious, its cesspool waters grey and putrid.

I am now what I claimed I would never be: jaded and provincial. After all, I have been in Vietnam for only one day and I already I complain. I was in Southern Africa for nearly three years and I complained there too. I guess this does indeed make me jaded, provincial and definitely petulant. I escaped the States to buck these trends entirely. Mark my words--I have failed to do so and with distinction.

You describe Hanoi and as a bustling village, especially the Old Quarter. Unlike Ho Chi Minh City , you say there is a lot of green space. I hope I find your assessments true. It sounds like I might very well find some of Duras' charm in a place like this.

Who are you shooting/screwing these days? I look forward to viewing your latest photographs.

Love Sonia.

P.S. The Vietnamese pop star showed up in a periwinkle tank top, tiny denim shorts and skyscraper heels, like a trashy American pop star. During lunch her nipples raised to the surface of her t-shirt like the pursed lips of tiny fish. I thought of you as I observed this; I thought you might find this infinitely photographable.

I am due to arrive in Hanoi at two o'clock on Saturday. I have booked a room at the Sofitel Metropole Hotel. At eight o'clock, I shall meet you on the terrace of that famed Bamboo Bar, the one you say will remind me of a posh African restaurant. I do not think this is a good thing. I should not have to remind you, I came here to forget Africa .

 

Vincent Nguyen to Sonia Owens
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
6:21 PM
Subject: Your Vietnamese Pop Star, the Brazilian, the Fish

Sonia,

God, you do sound miserable. It sounds like you need a break. You've been through a lot and Ho Chi Minh City can be a tough adjustment.

As for Vietnam , I think you're the only one holding onto Duras' rendition. But at least you're not like the Americans who think of Vietnam as a war—not a country. I'll stop now. I won't complain about Americans. It would be like you complaining about South Africans.

Yes, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Hermes, HCMC is full of all that shit and I hate it. I'm still working in Seoul two weeks out of the month only because the pay is good there. Then I come back to Hanoi , to my father's studio in the Old Quarter to relax. It's a dilapidated French villa, sectioned off into apartments. It's a great place to take pictures. The light during the late afternoon is fantastic.

Hanoi is exactly as I described it. We'll sit by the lake and talk just like we did that fall I came to San Francisco  and we just walked around the city and talked in the rain.

As for the pop star, I've googled her. You're right. I'm salivating. Nipples like the pursed lips of fish? Really, Sonia that is ridiculous. Will you put that in your article? Might be risky--she looks pretty young. As far as the secret lesbian relationship with the Brazilian, what man wouldn't love that?

We can talk about who I'm photographing (and screwing) at dinner.

The Bamboo Bar, Saturday at eight and yes, it will remind you of a posh place in Cape Town or Cairo or some far-flung, cool African city…sorry but it's true.

With love, whatever that means.
Vincent

 
Text:
Sonia 84.4 434 621988
30 March 2010 9:01 PM
On the plane from Taipei I met a Russian. He is staying at the Metropole and wants to meet for a drink this weekend. He will be in Hanoi until the end of June. S.

Text:
Vincent 84.4 334 718655
30 March 2010 9:50 PM
Ok. May have to be in Seoul Sun. eve. Talk soon. V.