Saturday, August 24, 1929
Wonders never cease. In getting the final dope on the Pong Tong, I found that it is an English ship with a Chinese name. Next I went to the bank to get 120 piastres exchanged for Hongkong dollars. The man said the premium was 9, but as I got $110 Hongkong or $119.90 Indo-China, the premium must have been 8-1/3.
Just before lunch my red-headed gal who does all the yelling around here produced a camera and asked me to take her picture. I guess she is just overgrown, including her trap which she agitates incessantly. For some reason the lens did not break. A few minutes later she was up here for me to show her how to change the roll. She was so blamed inquisitive with that mop of red hair I couldn’t get anything done, so gave her some snaps to look at to keep her busy. It worked—she trés jolie-d them so much and comme ca-d them—that I finally got her camera loaded.
Then THE surprise. I had figured my hotel bill at $82.20 but the account only showed $73.55. In the first place they have not charged me for my meal tonight nor the room. In the second place, no brains, meaning me, figured a 28-day month instead of a 31-day month. Thus it has cost me $1.44 U.S. a day to live here! Now I’m ready to leave I find I am very much attached to Saigon.