Green fields extending in all directions besides canals so narrow only a dingy could navigate them. A river so fractured that it becomes a shattered world of silent waterways that spread as the capillaries of a gigantic, quiet creature. The bustling chaos of central Ho Chi Minh City, particularly the bar and guesthouse-infested side roads of Phạm Ngũ Lão, would suggest a different pulse to southern Vietnam, one backed by a constant soundtrack of motorbike engine noise.