“Too bad she looks like an old garbage scow,” Manfred said as the two of us walked the decks.
“Looks can be deceiving, and that’s what Captain Chunky likes. He figures pirates won’t bother attacking a floating bucket of rusty bolts like the Nomad unless they’re really desperate.”
We made the voyage from Manila to Saigon without confrontation and tied up at the Messageries Maritimes quay. Gower and the rest of the men made their way to the Majestic, a new, three-story, French-Riviera-style hotel overlooking the Saigon River at 1 Rue Catinat. Manfred and I preferred to return to the Continental Hotel and checked in there. An hour later we were sitting in Linh Thi’s living room.
As usual, Linh Thi looked resplendent in a purple-and-white ao dai. “Thank you both so much for coming. I was a
