Vietnam

This is my first trip to Vietnam and I have mixed feelings about being here.  I cannot help feeling uncomfortable knowing that many of my classmates and my generation died here fighting a very unpopular war.  I can’t help but remember the vicious way our prisoners of war were treated.  We have visited many places on this trip, places that were reported nightly on the news.  Just the mention of these names brings sadness and anger.  I am glad I saw these places, but I will never have warm fuzzy feelings about this country.  I remember those Americans who fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice to bring freedom to the South Vietnamese.  This is not a happy place for me.

Many of the older generation welcome Americans and are thankful that someone stepped up to the plate to try and give them freedom.  The Vietnam War that we know is now being called the Reunification War here.  They celebrate the Tet Offensive at the Ho Chi Minh museum.  There is no doubt that this is a communist country.  People in the city rush around, and don’t smile although they were friendly enough if we asked for help or directions.  The people outside of the city, in the rural areas, look to be unchanged from decades of poverty.  The living conditions are horrible.  Ramshackle buildings put together with spit and string is the norm.  Rusted tin metal sheets cover sagging rooftops, many with blue tarps.  In the countryside, these homes don’t even have doors or windows, just openings.  Most places look neglected with the exception of a few modern structures in the city.  There are signs of growth in Saigon with new modern high end stores housed in ginormous air-conditioned malls.   We saw people here, but no one was in the stores.  What you see is red capitalism.  The infrastructure is sorely in need of updating; they have one freeway, but once outside of the big city, the roads are full of potholes, and toilet facilities are extremely poor (someone said they saw an old woman taking a whiz near the river in Hoi An).  The "happy place" (toilet) we visited was in a nice restaurant, but there was no toilet paper nor was there any way to flush the toilet.  Any paper you used was placed in a trash bin.  So not cool.

Selling coconut milk on street in Saigon

Saigon neighborhood along the canal

                                                                                                                                       

I am sorry to say that this is not a place I would ever consider coming back to for a vacation. 

Vietnam was under French rule from 1859 to 1955.  Ho Chi Minh established the communist party in 1930.  After World War II, the First Indochina War between the Viet Minh and the French began.  The French army was defeated in 1954 and the cease fire agreement created two Vietnams, with the communists in charge of the area north of the 17^th parallel and the Diem regime taking power in the south.  Guerrillas in the south waged war against the Diem regime and as they say, the rest is history.  The US got involved and we know how it turned out:  the anti-communist capitalistic south republic fell to the communist north in 1976, and North and South Vietnam become reunified under communist rule.  OK, that’s enough history.  Here’s the rest of our adventures.

First, some miscellaneous information I picked up:

·         there seems to be only two family names – Tran and Nguyen

·         there are 90 million people in Vietnam

·         there are 30 million motorbikes

·         foreigners cannot own property, but can only rent the land

·         there are four holy animals:  dragon = power; unicorn = loyalty; turtle = long life; phoenix = female beauty

·         Vietnam is the #1 exporter of rice in the world

Da Nang  means “Big River”

The seas from Hong Kong to Da Nang were flat.  I had to look out the window to see if we were moving, that’s how smooth the ride was.  There was nary a ripple in the water.  When we arrived in Da Nang, the weather was quite warm and humid, and the skies were overcast.  This port city is located in the central part of the country.  We docked here, but never even saw the city; instead, we headed south to a place called Hoi An. 

On the way, we stopped at China Beach.  American GIs took R&R here during the war.  This is a beautiful stretch of sand and water just ripe for development.  We saw several resorts, some finished while some just languishing due to failed financing.  Many land parcels have been sold, but nothing has been done with them.  Vietnam has a long way to go to attract tourists and turn this natural resource into something grand.  This place is just too third world for any world class resorts.  We also saw the American air field and hangers that were leftover from the war. 

China Beach

 There were fishing boats anchored just off shore.  It was a bit breezy here and very few people were at the beach. There were fishermen selling their fish and oysters on the side of the road in a makeshift open air market.  In the far distance, we could see an immense female Buddha perched high atop Marble Mountain.  There are all kinds of Buddha shrines here where the five elements are represented by five hills:  metal, water, wood, fire, and earth.  Four stone spirits watch over this sacred historic site.  So why does the Buddha have a big belly?  A big belly means prosperity.  I am prosperous!!  That’s a new way of looking at what I don’t want to look at.

We stopped at a marble factory.  I dislike factory tours because all they want you to do is buy something.  This one was different.  Statues, tables, chairs, pots, OMG the most beautiful marble carvings one could image.  Michael fell in love with an elaborately carved vase that was as tall as he is.  The price included shipping.  What a deal, however, I cannot see one of these in our house so I told him he could not have it.  I have no idea how much it cost.  I did see some beautiful fish that would look absolutely fabulous in the entry way of our house.  They were a bit too big to fit into a suitcase.  So no marble souvenirs for us. 

Beautiful sculpted marble

 I wandered back into the work area and saw women polishing the finished pieces.  They invited me to give it a try.  To smooth the marble, you wet the area being worked on with water and then rub it with a stone.  Add more water and rub rub rub.  I think an electric wet sander would be perfect for this job.  The two old women polishers were toothless, wrinkled, and skinny and I think trying to hit me up for money.

Polishing the marble

 After an almost two hour drive, we finally arrived in the ancient city of Hoi An (which means busy harbor).  This was a port city until the 19^th century when it silted up.  UNESCO has recorded more than 850 monuments of historic interest such as wells, bridges, houses, shops, temples, pagodas, and tombs.  We went to a shop to watch them make silk thread which is used in embroidery.  We saw the worms, we saw them boil the cocoons and pull the silken thread from the cocoons.  Ladies were hand sewing beautiful pictures with the silk thread.  I couldn’t make up my mind about which picture I wanted to buy so I tried to buy two and negotiate the price.  I must be a terrible negotiator since I came out empty-handed. 

Boiling the silk cocoons

Hand embroidery with silk thread

We took a walking tour of the city through its narrow alleyways.  The highlight was the Pagoda Bridge or Japanese Covered Bridge, built some 400 years ago by the Japanese.  Vendors lined the streets everywhere and they were quite aggressive as they would touch you and shove stuff at you.  We saw women carrying baskets of fruit that hang on each end of a pole carried over the shoulder.   As I mentioned before, things haven’t changed much in centuries here.  We then went to a preserved communal house that is still occupied by the same family.  A young woman spread out an elaborately embroidered tablecloth with 12 napkins and told of her uncle (Tran Quang Thanh) who made it.  Guess who owns it now?  Mr. I Don’t Buy Souvenirs actually bought it!!  You could have knocked me over with the proverbial feather.  Here is a picture of part of it.  You can bet your knickers that I will never use it for a dinner party.

Pagoda Bridge

Hoi An

Hoi An

Part of the new tablecloth

After a wonderful lunch (where Michael had the local beer LaRue and really enjoyed it), we headed off to the agricultural commune village of Tra Que.  This was a pretty place and any gardener type people reading this blog would be green with envy.  Rows upon rows of herbs and vegetables were tilled by hand.  I didn’t see any weeds.  A short walk through the plots of vegetables turned out to be a walk through the entire village – about a mile in the sun.  Notice that I haven’t complained about the heat and humidity, but goodness I was at the melting point.

Vegetable fields

Working in the vegetable fields

Saigon – Day 1

After one uneventful sea day, we arrived in Saigon or as it is formally known Ho Chi Minh City, but nobody calls it that.  This is the largest city in Vietnam with some 20 million inhabitants.

The first thing one notices is the traffic.  The preferred mode of transportation is the scooter or motorbike as most people cannot afford cars.  They drive crazy and in a pack formation, with multiple people on the bikes carrying whatever.  It is choreographed chaos to watch them merge, turn, or go in the opposite direction.  There is one freeway and no motorbikes are allowed on it.  Anyone who rents one and is not a local is asking for trouble or is crazy.  Crossing the street is a game of dodge bikes.  We got pretty good at it and only had to jump out of the way once.  You walk and don’t stop; you make the bikes and cars go around you.  Any hesitation by the pedestrian, well…..

Motorbikes  in Saigon

Our excursion took us to the Mekong Delta.  This is the rice basket of the country.  The Mekong River runs from China through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and finally Vietnam, and is 4,500km long, making it the 12^th longest river in the world.  The river splits into nine main channels and smaller channels and creeks.  The delta makes up 10% of the country’s area.  The marsh and mud flats are virtually inaccessible to humans and the closer you get to the sea, you will find mangroves.  After spending an afternoon floating on this river and the mud flats, I can’t imagine how our GIs were able to survive out here.  All I could think about during this trip were the American GIs. 

In 1975 there were 40 million people in Vietnam and 80% were farmers.  Today, there are 90 million people and half the population today are under 30.  After the war, the Mekong delta was severely damaged and the farmers were not able to grow rice or food so many people left Vietnam because they could not get any food.  These people became the boat people.  Today, the rice fields produce three to four crops each year. 

On the drive to the delta, which took about 1 ½ hours, we made a pit stop, or as they call it, a visit to the happy place.  If you ever take a trip like this, ladies, remember to carry toilet paper.  There is none to be had in the toilets.  As we drove past the rice fields, mausoleums were placed helter skelter among the plants.  We saw rice crops in various stages of growth, including fields that were burned (this re-fertilizes the land).  

Mausoleum in the rice field

We arrived at the boat dock, and I use that term loosely.  OSHA would have a fit.  We boarded our Sam Pan and chugged away from the dock and out to see the floating market.  The floating market is nothing more than a bunch of boats anchored in the middle of the river that are tied together or one off by itself.  They sell fruits and vegetables, and advertise their wares by tying whatever it is they are selling on a pole.  These are called boat people.  In the Mekong delta, the river is everything:  the pantry, the refrigerator, the washing machine, the bathtub.  And because they wash and clean with the polluted water, there is a lot of problems with diarrhea.  They live aboard and sleep in hammocks on the top deck; the produce is stored in the lower level of the boat.  We saw fishing nets hanging in the mangrove trees that lined the bank as well as some fish farms (they farm carp).

Floating market

Houses on the Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta

Typical housing on the Mekong Delta

More houses

We then transferred to low, flat row boats.  Oh boy, this was interesting.  These boats did not look very stable.  Three people to a boat plus the lady rower.  We all made it to the row boats without tipping over and had the pleasure of sitting on a hard board with no comfortable place to put our feet and stuff.  This is where the real adventure starts.  We were each handed a conical or coolie hat.  How cute, a picture opportunity.  Ha, not so.  This was a necessity as it kept the sun off a large portion of the upper body as the sun was directly overhead and we could also use it as a fan.  We went down a small channel, really just a creek, going through the mangroves and jungle occasionally seeing a house upon the bank wedged among the trees.  And then the water got shallower and shallower and shallower, so our lady took off her outer trousers and got in the water to push the boat.  We got stuck in the mud many times and she would come around and pull the boat off and back into higher water, which was about 18 inches.  And we kept going and going and going.  By now, it was getting uncomfortable and downright HOT and I did not think I could sweat that much.  I gave two bottle of water to the ladies as they were really struggling.  I would not put a pinkie into that muddy gooky brown water.  Hanita was the whiner and complainer of the day, not me!  She said we were lost.  Hahaha, there was only one way to go so we were not lost, just miserable sitting on this hard board in the sun.  My leg went to sleep and I tried to change positions, but there was nowhere to move.  After what seemed like hours and hours, we finally emerged out to the bigger river and our Sam Pan was waiting for us.  Thank goodness.

Floating market; notice eyes on front of Sam Pan

The row boats

The ladies had to get out to push as the water was so low

Bridge over canal

Coolie hat -- looking very smart

Not so cute

Our lady rowboat driver

This lady brought fruit out to our rowboats

We continued on our tour and stopped for refreshments.  Getting off the Sam Pan was interesting.  We exit off the front of the boat.  Speaking of the front of the boat – eyes are painted in the front in order to see the crocodiles and scare them off.  The “dock” was a very high concrete step with a big tree in front of it.  You can’t go around the tree, and the step was about three feet high.  How to do this…. I had a little trouble.  I got my leg up but there was nothing to push up on so I was unceremoniously hauled up by three guys.  OOOkkkkk. 

We were served tea, and a few sesame treats and banana chips.  By this time we were all hungry as we had not had lunch.  Then came the star apple, a fruit you eat with a spoon; it was the consistency of custard and was very delicious.  We also had some of the sweetest mandarin oranges I had ever tasted.  Then we went next door and saw how they made rice paper (for spring rolls) and popped rice (like rice krispie treats).  Then it was back to the Sam Pan for the ride back to pick up our bus home, and head on back to the Quest.  

Making rice paper for spring rolls

Saigon – Day 2

I have two “uniforms” for the hot sticky weather.  And you have seen them both in the pictures.  The sleeveless top with dots and blue shorts, and white shirt and red shorts.  I think both of them will be trashed by the end of this trip.

For today’s adventure, I wore the white shirt/red shorts uniform.  So why do I mention this?  These are clothes that get soaking wet and dry quickly.  Today was our day to tour Saigon city.  This is a place that has a few high points and many low points.  Here’s the high points.  The Rex Hotel and the new fashion shopping mall are very nice.  We had an excellent Vietnamese lunch. 

High end shopping mall in Saigon

The low points include the big market.  This place is hot, humid, and crowded.  They sell everything imaginable including produce and fish.  It stunk the closer to the produce section we got.  As we walked up and down the narrow and crowded aisles, the vendors grabbed and shoved their stuff at us, urging us to come and see their wares.  I do not like this one bit, so between the aggressive vendors and the hot humid air, we left. 

The market

We walked to a pharmacy to get some insect repellent for our upcoming trip to Cambodia.  I wanted to just sit there so I could cool off before heading back outdoors again.   We saw the Notre Dame Cathedral (it was closed) and the post office, which was designed by Eiffel and built by the French.  I am not complaining, but I am astounded by how much a person can sweat.  Even Mr. I Don’t Sweat was dripping wet.  My hair was as wet as if I just came out of the shower.  Not so for the locals, as some of them were wearing sweatshirts!

Outside the post office, a group of students stopped and chatted me up.  They were practicing their English and were curious about the US.  I don’t know what they expected and I don’t know what they are taught about the US, but good foreign relations were forged.  We then met up with Morry and Hanita, and then had lunch at Lemongrass Vietnamese restaurant, which was outstanding.  And the cost of lunch was a whopping $1,066,065 Vietnamese dollars!  I don’t think I have ever paid over $1 million for a meal before (the US equivalent was around $50). 

Students pausing to chat and practice their English

I wanted to shop a bit and there was a department type store right at the shuttle stop (and it was mercifully cool inside).  Michael was done and returned to the ship while I shopped and picked up a few gifts plus a goody for me (a silk bathrobe).  When I was ready to get the shuttle, the heavens had opened up and it was really pouring hard.  The few steps to the bus and I was soaked.  By the time we arrived at the ship, it was still pouring.  There was nothing to do but go for it.  By the time I got up the gangplank, I looked like a drowned rat.   And that was the end of our time in Saigon.