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| Ho Chi Minh statue in front of City Hall |
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| Ho Chi Minh City, City Hall |
The Global Scavenger Hunt got into full swing on Monday, April 15. We arrived at the Majestic Hotel in the afternoon. Situated into the Beverly Hills-equivalent district, the hotel is a vestige of French colonial rule. After a short break to check in and get organized, we ten teams met in the lobby. It is marble but more importantly than anything, it is well air conditioned and cool. Bill and Pamela Chalmers, the trip organizers, announced the rules and distributed the book of scavenges. Given how important that book is, it almost deserves the religious reverence of capitalization: The Book Of Scavenges. A new one is distributed for each leg.
The Ho Chi Minh Book contains a list of 36 things to do during the day-and-a-half until we report back at 8:30 p.m. the next night. The goal is to earn as many points as possible. (A more elaborate “par” scoring system kicks in to assign weights to each country score, depending on difficulty. More on that later). There are more scavenges than can possibly be done. Each scavenge is an activity and each is assigned a number of points. Although it’s tempting to grab the book, run outside and start scavenging, the smart move is to plot a plan.
Our first destination was an English bookstore to buy a guidebook and a map. Before leaving the bookstore, we clumped the scavenges geographically and roughed out where to go when. One major, major rule of the contest is that you cannot use your cell phone to figure out the scavenges. No GPS. No google maps. No googling to find out what things mean or where they are. No calling ahead to find out hours or make a reservation. The idea is to ask locals and engage culturally.
Another rule is that there are mandatory scavenges. As in, you must stop to eat. This leg, or country, required completing three food scavenges from a list of 13. Some are simple, like have a bowl of pho (soup) from anywhere. Others specify a restaurant and maybe a specific item on the menu. For our food scavenges, we did the pho thing because it was quick and easy. We ate banh mi (hoagie-type sandwich and if you don’t know what it is, eat one; it’s delicious)
with a very local beer, bia hoi, that was poured out of a plastic bag.
We also ate at Cuc Gach Quan, an upscale vegetarian restaurant that was what I dream about when I think of how amazing Vietnamese food can be (like their lemon crumble crusty tofu).
with a very local beer, bia hoi, that was poured out of a plastic bag.
We also ate at Cuc Gach Quan, an upscale vegetarian restaurant that was what I dream about when I think of how amazing Vietnamese food can be (like their lemon crumble crusty tofu).
There are also mandatory experience scavenges. This leg, there were two required. One of the ones we did was karaoke. In a swanky, pimped-out private room in a studio with ear splitting bass. In the late afternoon, all sweaty and stinky after running around in sneakers with backpacks, in the same establishment where girls in long sheaths and guys in casino-croupier outfits serve drinks and fire up the song lists. Sally did Beyoncé’s “All the Single Ladies,” hopping around the dance moves, swinging the microphone. I thought she was terrific. So did the waitress peeking into the window of our studio. I did Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. You’ll have to ask Sally how I did.
Our strategy was to use the second day, because it was a full day, for travel to the Mekong to do the scavenges there. Because of the travel time time (3.5 hours each way), those scavenges bore huge numbers of points and are called “Bonus” scavenges. The trip to Can Tho to see the floating market was 250 points, and to Ben Tre was 200 points, compared to, say locating the bonsai garden tucked away in a corner of the city’s zoo for 30 points. Despite having to walk out of the hotel at 5:00 a.m., it was worth every hour of lost sleep to have gotten ourselves out of the city and immersed in the Mekong region.
While in the city, we scoured Ben Thanh central market for items such as cobra and eating mangosteen, rambutan and dragon fruit. We wasted an hour and a half getting lost with a taxi and then on foot, trying to find the Emerald Jade pagoda. Once we realized the correct name and found it, we arrived after the bars to the gate were. locked. We charaded to the security guard who was in plain view, as was the altar, to make an offering on our behalf (a crunchy granola bar). He took it from my hand like receiving something though prison bars and we watched him walk toward the altar. We did not to try to count the points on this indirect method of making an offer through an agent.
Hot and tired, we headed excitedly to the next scavenge of having a foot massage. Man, was that enjoyable!
We are now on our way to Myanmar for four nights. This is on my bucket list. A bucket list should probably shrink but mine keeps growing.