Lila's blog: "bar notes"

I went to Mojo with Chip and 3C after having bun bo Hue (Hue noodle soup, one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes) for dinner. We ordered some frappe. The name was 'stolen' from Starbucks yet the quality didn't meet. Obviously one of a few things I miss about the US is Starbucks' frappuccino, or frappe. Lots of talking and watching. On the top floor of this bar you can look out of the glass to watch the stores and people on the street. Among the things that I would miss about Saigon is its distinguished kind of atmosphere. It's fast-paced and laid back at the same time. It could be painfully familiar and extremely distant at the same time. You could love it and be hurt by it at the same time. Mojo sort of reminds me of all those things AND comforts me with its funny mix of my favorite music, the kind of mix where you like all the songs, but the order they are in doesn't seem quite smooth. Have you ever noticed that just one playlist for all of your favorite songs is never a good idea? I wanted to buy a bottle of Hpnotiq from Mojo but it was sold at USD $67 per bottle. Er, excuse me?! Anyways. When Jim joined us it was almost 11 PM, the closing hour of Mojo, so we decided to move to the 23th floor of the Sheraton hotel. (Mojo is part of Sheraton.) All this time, it was never about the drink, but good drinks were needed. I ordered a Sea Breeze which is a mixed drink of Hpnotiq, malibu, and something else. I was still kinda mad about the $67 per Hpnotiq bottle in Mojo, but it actually cost $120 a bottle at bar 23 of Sheraton, so I kept my complaint brain side well shut. 3C and Chip also got some nice cocktails while Jim got a glass of red wine. I personally like wine with food, cocktails by itself or with some light snacks, not the other way around. But we tried some of each and they were pretty good. The coconut touch from the malibu in my drink really mixed well with the tropical taste of Hpnotiq. Liked it. We were sitting outside so there were only fans, no A/C, and fragments of music coming out from the discotheque section. The music was bad, the night winds were heated, I felt like cheated. They built a really nice bar but there was something not right. Something was missing. It's like the bar contains of pieces that don't click together. Bars like that fail at bringing people together. Who would want to feel like drinking alone in a group? If one needs solitude one would have gone there by oneself. Overall, I disliked the frappe, liked my Sea Breeze, and truly miss my friends to whom I just said good night over an hour ago. I guess I won't go to that many different bars in town, yet there are always pieces of content I bring back from every 'drinking' session. Getting a drink in this city means a lot more than getting drunk, for me. Just some of my bar notes for today.

Mojo is a bar on Dong Khoi Street, one of the most beautiful streets of Ho Chi Minh City - or casually known as Sai Gon - next to the only Gucci store in town (so far.) I haven't been to enough bars to rate their drinks, but I truly enjoy the Hpnotiq Margarita and the Orange Lush smoothie. The cakes at Mojo are phenomenal compared to those at coffee shops, restaurants, and bakeries I've spent time at in the city. Besides a good drink, a good slice of cake can really make one's day. Well, besides a good drink and a good slice of cake, a good bar needs good music. It's not truly a local thing to have trance and dance music at a bar like Mojo. Some of the oldies and the 90's are played to accommodate the customer groups Mojo usually host, and I can tell that most people are pleased with the music selection. It gets a little cheesy at times, but for me, Mojo's music is nice enough to be the background of a conversation and does not necessarily bring back too many memories. I'm gonna be in Viet Nam until the end of August before flying back to Boston. Well, "back" isn't really the right word because I've been flying back and forth between Sai Gon and Boston for the past three years, but I'll take it for now. There are only a few more months before I am "legal" in the U.S. of A for a drink. Ana to know that there's no carding at bars in Sai Gon! It's not terribly important for me to be able to drink at a bar in the States, yet I like the option of having a glass of red wine with my steak or seafood every now and then when my friends and I go out. I've been waiting since I don't like the idea of fake ID's. Think about it. When you sit down at a bar with it inside your pocket, it's really like you're there to do the drinking for somebody else. That's pretty much all my bar notes for today.

Today I first though of an online bar as something that I've never heard of, but apparently there is already one. Now I'm trying how this works... as any newbie to the scene.