"On the Move" Barber Shop

As every day since I got to Vietnam, this Friday was a journey of culinary discoveries. For the first time ever (I love that line, specially because I get to use it a lot lately) I tried Che, which in Vietnam is not a well reputed revolutionary but a sweet soup that can be had hot or cold, and that it is usually served as dessert. It combines fruits and beans, and mine today had also coconut milk. Very recommendable. And, as some of the best things, happened without being planned: Uyen, the administrative assistant of the school, asked me if I wanted to try some just as I was on my way out to find a new place to have lunch.

After the dessert, however, I was still in the need for a bite of… whatever should have come before the dessert… so I headed out for a short “exploring the surroundings” operation. I didn’t find quite what I was looking for, but I did encounter another bit of what will constitute my memories of hot and humid Ho Chi Minh City. In the middle of the sidewalk, quasi blocking the pedestrian transit flow, a small business, testimony of the entrepreneurial spirit of the Vietnamese. It was a mobile barbershop, mobile in the sense that it wasn’t settled in a fixed place, but could be taken to where it could be needed. The C.E.O. and only full time employee of this apparently flourishing business decided to put all he needed in the basket of his bike, along with a chair and a mirror, and just bring the service to the costumers. When I bumped into him in the middle of the sidewalk he was in absolute trance, focusing in his work as I have seen few people focus, while his costumer supervised everything through the mirror. The motorbikes and cars passed one after the other, just a couple of meters away, but somehow this time they seemed not to be as noisy as usual.