Konverse

I had some shoes made. They didn’t really know what Converse were, but I sketched the star and chevron and the girl said, “yes yes, I make, yes yes.” And that was that. I went back the next day and there they were. Not exactly what we agreed on. And not quite believable as Converse. Kind of like krab, it sort of tastes like crab but you know it’s some other substance, and yet it’s still enjoyable. I think it’s usually made from abolone, which I believe is some kind of fish, krab not my shoes. So I decided to have another pair of shoes made, a pair of Chucks of my own design. I asked for black with white stitching and when I got there they did black with black stitching which leads me to a very important trait of the Vietnamese people. They will not give you what you ask for, but what they think is nicer themselves. When I told the person black with white stitching she said, “yes I make, I make.” But then she thought to herself, “why would he want white stitching, it will be visible, I will give him black stitching this is much nicer.” (she thought this in Vietnamese, I’m translating roughly). This is true in just about every facet. At dinner once I asked for grilled chicken in lemon grass and they brought me a chicken curry because “it is much nicer.” I of course asked her why she did the stitching in black after I specifically said white about seven times, and even pointed out the white stitching on another pair of shoes and said, “same same,” which I thought everyone there understood. And she just said “black stitching much nicer.” Ok, I’m making this story way way too long. You get the idea. And that in a nutshell was Hoi An. Also there were rats and stray dogs and lots of Germans and Australians and mud.

Most heard phrase: Same Same