Final Reflections, Finally

Lessons from Vietnam

 It’s been over three weeks since I returned to New York from Vietnam and I’m just getting around to writing down my reflections. Mind you,  I’ve thought about my trip and what I learned there and even talked about it some, but writing it down has been an entirely different matter.  Nor can I immediately recall everything I’ve thought about regarding the trip.  Hence, my first lesson…

#1:  Don’t wait three weeks before writing down what you have learned from a new experience, in this case a trip to a totally foreign country.  Sure, take the time to recuperate from the flight, do laundry, find places for the souvenirs you brought home and organize your pictures and make photo albums for Facebook, but don’t wait three weeks to write down your thoughts.  A word about thoughts.  Yes, they will come.  As you’re in line at the grocery store, lying in bed trying to fall asleep or washing the pots and pans they will come.  They will come at the most inopportune times for you to write them down.  It is a conspiracy.  You say the thought to yourself over and over so when you’re done the task at hand you’ll remember and write it down then.  But, alas you get distracted and don’t do so.  Lost, but not totally forgotten (well, we shall see about that because I’ve thought tons and written down squat until now).  A caveat:  maybe this advice should only be for those who are staring fifty in the face.  You decide.

#2:  Never underestimate preparation and packing.  Know where you are going, what the weather will be like and take the least, the very least amount of clothes you need to not totally disgust yourself or those around you.  Forget the advice about the umbrella and consider leaving the plastic rain poncho at home too.  So, you get wet.  I opted for poncho only and the only day I needed it, I didn’t have it.  And, yes, it was the wet season.  One skirt, two pants that roll up to capris and five shirts.  Yes, really that is all you need even in the summer sauna they call Vietnam.  Oh yeah, cotton only!  The gauzy type next time here.  Drugs, not of the recreational variety of course, and other toiletries are crucial.  Need I say Imodium?  I personally didn’t need it, but it was being popped like candy by many.  Buy a travel first aid kit and a blister kit….then buy a little extra of what’s inside. Of course, sunscreen.  That should work.  A note about an oddity in Vietnam:  Every, and I mean every hotel had several toothbrushes and mini toothpastes in the bathroom, so really you could do without a toothbrush as well.  Final note: and, guys close your ears, don’t under any circumstances forget tampons or the like.  You won’t find them in Vietnam easily.  Trust me.  Your red headed friend will visit when you’re in a junk in the middle of Halong Bay for the next 36 hours.  McGuyver has nothing on me.  My best item had to be the roll up travel daypack.  Super handy and took up almost no room.  Stuffed it will souvenirs on the way home too and used it as my “pocketbook.”  Honorable mention to my suitcase which also expanded and turned into a backpack—from ebags.

#3:  Keep a journal or write a blog WHILE you are there.  Take 15 minutes each night or morning to get down your thoughts because no way, no how you are going to remember three weeks of travel after you get home.  ‘Nuff said.

#4:  If you go alone on a tour you will live with strangers without any reprieve of chatting with someone you know.  So, know in advance that there are all kinds of people out there.  All with good intentions and a common interest as you—hey, they’re traveling right?  However, there will be one or two people that raise the ire or annoyance of some or most of the group.  It happens.  Just be nice, tolerate said person and get on with it.  Also, somehow traveling groups (and this is my second so take it for what it’s worth) revert back to junior high behavior on many occasions.  There will be cliques, for example, and they might even change over time depending on who had too many beers at dinner the night before and said something they shouldn’t have.  Again, keep your focus.  You are there to experience another country and culture.  If you make friends, great, but get over it and enjoy the country.  If you need to vent then write it down….did you read #3?

#5:  Lest I sound all negative about touring with a group of strangers, here is the positive lessons learned:  These people don’t know you and you may never see them again.  They have no expectations of you either, so you can completely be yourself (OK, that’s my take because I was on a sorta self-discovery kinda trip) or someone you’ve always wanted to be.  Nobody will know the difference and you’re bound to learn something deep about who you are, or aren’t and bring that back home along with the souvenirs…but that’s free.  As for me, I was myself—at least who I was as a separated angst filled American wondering where my life is heading, and I met a couple of great people with whom I could have intelligent conversations and also spend some quiet time with on the beach and not feel judged.  Yet, I found myself being a bit aloof and not a social as most of the group.  Maybe they thought I was stuck up.  Maybe they thought I didn’t like them.  In the long run, it really didn’t matter.  I was who I needed to be for those three weeks and the thoughts and feelings of the other people in the group wasn’t on my agenda.  That said, it’s wise to be friendly and join in on some activities with a smile on your face.  Yes, I did smile some even though I may have taken this trip a bit too seriously.  I have pictures to prove it.

#6:  If sleeper trains are anywhere in your itinerary, take a sleeping aid of the highest quality.  Also, go to the bathroom before boarding and bring snacks.  You’ll be glad you did.

#7:  Complaining about sweating so much your underwear sticks to you doesn’t help any, so just go with it and realize you are going to live in a constant state of damp for the remainder of the trip.

#8:  Talk to the locals as much as possible.  Those who know any English at all want to talk to practice and it is so interesting to hear what they have to say.  Even at the airport while waiting for a plane, talk to people.  I’m not saying accost people and bend their ear.  They will find you if you are an English speaker.  It’s fascinating really.  You may get tired of answering the same questions over and over, but you will hear about how a man from Astonia went to New Zealand and never went back home until four years later, and how difficult it is for a Vietnamese girl to study economics.

#9:  Taking time at the end of a tour for R & R before heading home was something I am so glad I did.  No temples.  No museums.  Just beach, mud baths, scuba diving and eating and the first glass of French wine I’d had in weeks.  It really helped me get back in touch with myself after being with a group and rested me for the trip home.  It was the credits at the end of the movie.

#10:  Open your heart to the new culture you are experiencing.  I’m not saying you have to eat dog—yes, they do as a delicacy in northern Vietnam, but try to see the world through their eyes.  Americans have an abundance of material things.  This I already knew.  Most Vietnamese have less, some have very little.  Yet, they are happy and smiling.  Even the women carrying heavy loads of fruit for sale, the ones who’s faces are tan and wrinkled and you think they’re about 80 and they tell you they’re 45, seem content.  It’s their life and they seem grateful.  I think this is why.  The Vietnamese have a strong sense of ritual.  I dare not call it religion as I don’t understand their religion enough to speak about it.  They honor their ancestors long after their gone with shrines in each home.  We put our elderly in nursing homes, then graves we never visit.  They seem to have more a sense of connection with each other and the earth.  I have many things.  In fact to the Vietnamese I am rich, but it is I who think they are rich for their sense of family and community cannot be bought.   

I went to Vietnam with a purpose.  I wanted to see how another part of the world lived in order to reflect on my own life and behavior.  I usually go to see the sites and experience the food and culture.  I did all those things, but this time I came home with much more than some clothes and craft items.  I came home with a vision of what is missing in my life.  Now it’s my job to figure out how to find it in the hectic society I call home.

Back to Reality

So, I’ve been back in NY for almost four days now and am finally “starting” to feel accustom to my house again.  I left the lobby of Ha Van Hotel in Nha Trang at 11 a.m. last Friday for a short hour flight to Hanoi.  Once in Hanoi I had an eight hour (read excrutiating) wait for the flight to Tokyo at 11:50 that night.  Why excruciating?  Well, it seems that at the Hanoi airport you can’t check in until two hours before a flight.  The area for the “masses” is small, hot and has about ten benches.  The food was limited to bad Pho with instant noodles, (the Vietnamese soup), or bad American style hamburgers.  I chose the pho and ate as slowly as I could hoping the cafe had internet.  It didn’t, not even for a fee.  Anywhere. 

After two hours of slowly eating my pho, I decided to read.  That lasted about 2 hours.  Oh good, only 4 hours to go.  Finally I snagged a seat and took up residence.  Then the talking began.  The Vietnamese who have learned English want to talk to any American, Brit, or Aussie they can and it all starts the same way, “Where are you from?” It leads quickly to “How old are you?” (evidently no one has told them this is not a PC question) and “How long have you been in Vietnam?”  If the person is really smart, they start to ask about your family.  I had the luck of having a first year college economics major decide I was her English lesson for the day.  She wanted to know about the economics in the US, how bad is the recession, is it expensive to live in NY.  Hey, she was sweet and it passed the time.  Well, about 30 minutes anyway.

Then, a young guy from Astonia asked me to watch his bags while he went outside for a smoke.  His English was great, as it should be since he went to Australia over two years ago for a vacation and never went home.  He was, alas, on his way home and was excited and nervous. He was a pleasant and interesting guy.  It was fun meeting and talking to him.

 Finally, the check in started and life was cool again for the last two hours of the wait.  Starving, for it was 9:00 at night, I ordered french fries and stoked up the internet.  However, my computer was almost dead and there weren’t any outlets to be had.  Knowing I would want the internet in Tokyo, I cut my session short.

The flight to Tokyo was uneventful mostly because it was only about half full and everyone had two seats or more…which meant sleep time.  Ah, if only I could lay down diagonally with a seat belt on, my neck kinked and get to sleep for more than an hour at a time without having to change position.  That flight was short though, a mere 6 hours, bringing us into Narita airport around 6:30 a.m.

Take note:  Narita airport at 6:30 a.m. = everything closed and no one around but the cleaning people and maybe a security guard. Enter me with no yen in search of internet.  Getting airport savy, I found a weak connection near the business class lounge and checked my email and facebook.  Seriously, why?  Everyone knew I was in transit so my only emails were from Groupon, and every internet shopping store I’ve ever used.  Well, it passed some of the 4+ hours wait anyway.

Duty free.  Really didn’t want any liquor or watches or perfume….but I had to pass the time, right?  There are some pretty funky food stuffs at the Narita airport, I must say, and almost all of them include something gel or fish oriented.  And, oh yeah, almost all the books are in Japanese (no duh) and I couldn’t find one magazine in English.  Couldn’t even find Sudoku or Kenken.  Finally found Pokey, a candy my kids like.  It looks like a breadstick covered in chocolate.  They were a “giant” version and cost 1,000 yen.  Ok, that meant nothiong to me, but a cup of coffee was 400 yen so how bad could it be, right?  So I buy it, using a credit card–no yen, remember?  Then get back onto the internet to go to xe.com to find out how many yen to the dollar (80 by the way) and that the Pokey cost me over $12.  But wait, that means the cup of coffee was about $5.00 and I’m not talking latte here.  Lesson:  Japan is a very, very expensive place to visit.

Finally around 11:30 a.m. our flight from Tokyo boarded (estimated air time 12+ hours).  Very, very full.  At least I had an aisle.  I never learn to pace myself.  Get in the air, get a drink and go right for the headsets to watch the movie I missed on the way, Unknown (decent movie by the way).  Eat the meal in the middle of the movie…Hagen Daz ice cream again–truly the highlight of flying Japan Airlines if you ask me. 

Um, OK.  That was good, only 10 hours to go.  So, at this point my body is feeling like it’s  6 a.m. and I’ve only slept about two hours in the last 20, so I try to sleep.  The next 7 hours are a blur of nodding off, getting up to stretch or go to the bathroom, and listening to kids cry or complain. Finally I see the light at the end of the tunnel with 3 hours to go and decided to watch a foreign film, well, foreign to me: a Japanese flick called Hankyu Railway: A 15 Minute Miracle.  All I can say is OMG!  It was a fantastic movie.  If it ever gets to a small movie theater near you, or is available on Netflix (which many of you are probably cancelling), watch it!  Trust me.

Anyway, after that there was a mere hour left and dinner served.  Those perky Japanese flight attendents have worked a 12 hour shift and are still eager to please.  I can’t get over it.  Landing was smooth, customs was smoother, baggage retrieval took longer than expected.  But, I was safe, got my luggage and my college student ride was waiting for me.  What more could I want other than sleep?  I soon discovered…quiet.  No talking.  Which wasn’t going to happen because said college student was too curious and asked me like a million questions.  It was only his second or third time driving to JFK, so I was relating details about my trip while secretly hoping I would get home alive.

I did.  The house was hot, but still contained a room called a bedroom, which at 3 p.m. I made use of….for a short time.  The thing about being completely and utterly exhausted is this….you can’t fall asleep, especially in a 90+ degree house even with two fans blowing directly on you.  Traveling half way around the world takes its toll on the body.  I finally slept for a 5 hour stint last night for the first time since being home.  Many a morning I woke at 3 a.m. or 5 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I hate to admit it, but I watched old episodes of the Bachlorette and the new season of Big Brother.  It’s really about all my mind could handle.

I am confident that tomorrow will be my first day feeling completely like both my body and mind are in NY.  I know I’m making this sound terrible, but just being honest.  Would I do it all over again?  Hell, yeah!  If I can do that 36+ hour trip and only take 4 days to get over it, I can do anything. 

Now, I am going to take some quiet time to look back over my pictures and posts and gather my thoughts/reflections about this wonderful adventure.  What did I learn?  What pearls of wisdom can I impart, if any?  Stay tuned.

A Sandy, Muddy, Oily, Rocky Last Day

How does one end a trip like this one?

Well, I’m glad I had some R&R in a beach town, and even though this town is totally filled with tourists, the beach is beautiful.  I suspect in the next few years, many more hotels will go up.  I’m glad I got here while it was still a bit unspoiled.  But, I have to admit I looked it up on the timeshare site (RCI) and there IS a timeshare in town!  It is about 1/4 mile from where I’m staying but behind some serious hedges so I couldn’t really see much.  Not the way to see Vietnam, but maybe the way for a second visit.  Who knows?

Anyway, I started to day with a relaxing walk down the beach and back before going to the famous mud baths.  The mud baths are a must do here, I was told.  The mud was much more watery than I expected, but it was cool sitting in a tub of dirty water and smearing it on your face.  Oddly enough I was sitting in a tub with a young couple from Switzerland.  Talk about being a thrid wheel.  Anyway, after 15 minutes of sitting in mud they instruct you to sunbath to cake it on, then shower to get “really clean” in the mineral shower.  Then you go through some hot water jets just in case you didn’t get clean enough before they lead you to a hot mineral bath tub for another 15 minutes.  Finally the pool, which I skipped, and a water fall with really warm water that basically flet like a jetted shower but with lots of water.  That was two hours very well spent for a grand total, including the bus ride, of $7.  Sorry no pictures, but hey I was a bit dirty and waterlogged at the time.  Look it up on google if you’re that interested.  Nha Trang mud baths should do the trick.

Finally, I ended with oil and hot rocks.  Decided to give the $15 massage in the beauty palor store front a try.  How bad could it be right?  Well, it was different at first.  Only the lady in the front spoke English so she told the two girls (that’s right folks, I paid for 4 hand hot stone massage–1 hour–$15) what to do.  Another girl told me to take my clothes off except my underwear, and that took about 5 minutes to understand.  Then the two young (read as under 25) girls were just standing there waiting for me.  I realized that they weren’t going to leave and that I was supposed to undress in front of them.  Heck, they were going to see me anyway, right?

So, fine, the massage gets going.  One girl standing at my head rubbing my neck and shoulders, the other one straddling my butt and rubbing by back–and I mean all of it.  This goes on for what seems forever….and it felt good, but I was wondering if hot stones got lost in the translation and if I was going to have my back rubbed like this for the full hour.  Just when I had had enough…really 4 hands in that small area for even 10 minutes was getting monotonous….the real massage began.  Hot lotion was rubbed on me and then the hottest stones I have ever felt.  It almost hurt.  It was pure heaven from there on in.  The muscles that have lugged around a 25 lb. backpack into and out of trains, up and down hills in Sapa, and in and out of more hotels than I’d like to remember turned into butter.  It was the perfect ending for the trip.  Except that I have been utterly and completely spoiled for any massages I will ever get in the US again. Note to self:  If I ever get back to Vietnam, get more massages.

Now, I have to wrap my head around the journey home which starts with taxi pick up tomorrow (Thursday) at noon and ends Friday around noon at JFK.  That sounds like 24 hours to you guys, but there’s a 12 hour time difference and an international date line to cross, so it’s really like a 36 hour journey all told, with about 16-18 hours of it waiting in airports.  If I have internet, you’ll probably hear from me, if not the new book I started, “Sleeping Arrangements,” will probably be a thing of the past by the time I get to Tokyo.  Then I’ll have to scope out some sleeping aid.

I’ll let you know how it went when I get home, I’ll also post more pictures (still didn’t get a picture of anyone in the famous Vietnamese “squat”–yes they really do squat on the ground and hang out and talk and smoke and stuff) or anything really cool on the back of a motorcycle (although I did see a refrigerator box, but you know…by the time you get out the camera…) and then give it a day or two and I’ll post my final reflections.    Thanks for following me on this wild ride……

Winding Down

I am utterly exhausted.  Forgot how tiring scuba diving is, but this was the time to do it….the day before my last full day in Vietnam.

Let me rewind a bit.  Yesterday I took a last walking tour of Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)–read as walked to the post office and also saw the Notre Dame Cathedral.  Said my goodbyes to the others in the tour group and got on a plane for Nha Trang, coastal resort town.

Nha Trang is a resort town.  That pretty much sums it up.  Tourists from Australia, France and other European destinations as sell as other Vietnamese descend upon this once quaint fishing village every summer.  Now, I am one of them.  (Picture is the view from the rooftop bar at my hotel–Ha Van Hotel). I must say though, that the people here speak fairly decent English and the prices really haven’t skyrocketed due to the tourist trade.  As a matter of fact, the spas here are ridiculously cheap.  I was handed three brochures walking down the street today after the dive.  One was for the place next to the dive shop–10% off.  Sample treatments:  45 minute facial $8, 60 minute hot stone massage (4 hands) = $15…the most expensive massage they have.  So, you may wonder, why am I writing this blog and not in one of those spas getting my body lathered with oil and rubbed in all directions.  Answer:  Part of me feels that it’s too good to be true.  Also, I scraped my knuckles up pretty good today on some coral and want them to heal.  But, tomorrow you can expect a spa report from Vietnam for sure.

So, the dive today was long.  Picked up at 7:15 and arrived back to my hotel room at 3.  The boat was very full and slow–one having nothing to do with the other–45 minutes out to a very scenic spot.  The first dive was a bit uneventful although I did see a moray eel and a really neat black spiked sea urchin.  I don’t remember much else because my mask kept filling with water and if there’s one thing I don’t like it’s clearing my mask every 5 yards.

After quite a spread of food (read as wait time) and a trip to a new spot, the second dive was much better.  I didn’t know what  nudibranch was, still dont’ really) but evidently they are plentiful in the Southeast Asia seas and Australia. Pretty cool and colorful looking tings growing on rocks too.  I saw several although I didn’t know what I was seeing until we got back to the dive shop and looked them up in a book. My dive master was Vietnamese so didn’t talk much about what we’d be seeing except the normal pipe fish, scorpion fish, lion fish, of which we saw many.    Anyway, it wasn’t the Caribbean, but I’m glad I made the effort to dive in Vietnam if for no other reason than to say I’ve done something that you haven’t.

I also had my first decent glass of wine at a French bistro and then collapsed into a deep sleep for two hours.  There, you are caught up.

Tomorrow I am probably going to sleep in (read as not set the alarm clock) and then head to the mud baths and/or beach and/or spa.  It’s my last full day so I’m apathetically undecided.  That might not make sense for a one week vacation, but for those of you who have gone anywhere for three weeks or more, I suspect you understand.

Any last souvenir requests better come pretty darn soon. 🙂

Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta Homestay

 

Today we left Saigon and traveled about 60 km northwest to the area of Cu Chi.  This area is agricultural and close to the Saigon River.  It was a Vietnamese hot sport durin g the war.  As a resu7lt, in order to survive, he people made underground tunnels starting in the mid 1950s.  The intricate system of tunnels that go for more than 200km took twenty years to dig by hand at night.

There were three levels.  The one closest to the surface we storage rooms, kitchens, and work areas, while the deeper tunnels were passageways from places to place.  These tunnels ga             These tunnels gave the VC a home filed advantage during the war.

While on our visit we saw the many traps the Viet Cong used to injure, well, basically kill, soldiers—basically hidden trap doors with steel spokes ready to impale anyone who stepped on them.  The best part of the visit was having the opportunity to actually go through a small section of the very small tunnel.  Again though, it was an Americans were monsters morning.

In the early afternoon we travelled two hours south to the Mekong River area.  We travelled by boat to a few of the islands in the middle of the river visiting orchards, a bee farm, and a coconut candy factory (although factory isn’t really the word).  After a lunch that included elephant fish—yes, I tried it, no I didn’t like it much—we took a horse cart ride through a small village and listened to a troupe of performers play traditional instruments and sing songs.

Finally we took our boat to the homestay.  As our boat landed, our new guide, Mr. Do (like do ray me) informed us we had a ten minute walk.  As we headed deeper and deeper into the jungle we started to get alittle nervous.  This wasn’t the houses on stilts we saw in the guide book.  Then we came to a very narrow bridge.  Mr. Do instructed us to go one at a time over the monkey bridge because it can only hold one.  Oh yeah, that helped our confidence level.  When we saw what looked like a restaurant in the middle of nowhere we exclaimed that we had arrived.

We quickly noticed the cots with mosquito nets….on the side of the restaurant….outside.  The excitement had reached its climax (read with utter and complete sarcasm).  Deet began to be sprayed on all parts of bodies and belongings and we were still having visions of malaria and every other mosquito borne illness.

So, I’m writing this in a cot that was probably a GI left over with a mosquito net hanging down over me waiting for dinner when I have to come out and play.  And, truth be told, we are all wondering what dinner will be.  This homestay is nothing like the one in Sapa, which spoiled us (read as a complete understatement).  I’m glad I brought a book because after dinner it’s back under the mosquito net and reading for me!

Update (next day)

Dinner was edible and sleep was quite difficult.  Every time someone got up to go to the bathroom, the dogs barked and chased them and started to fight, the rooster started to crow about 3 a.m. and the construction crew arrived around 4:30 to start working on the expansion of the homestay house.  Everyone was quite grumpy at breakfast and just wanted to leave.

On the way back to Saigon, Mr. Do took us to the oldest and largest pagoda in this area, Vinh Trang Pogoda.  She told us there was a big Buddha and he wasn’t kidding.  He didn’t mention that today was a special day and over 1,000 Buddhist would be descending on the pagoda.  Liuckily we had been there for about 20 minutes before the drums started to bang calling everyone for the big ceremony.  Within minutes it was like Times Square on New Year’s Eve.  NO kidding.  We could barely get out of there.  Before that though, the visit was quite interesting. Mr. Do bought us all incense and taught us how to pray and give the incense to the different shrines within the pagoda.  As for me, I don’t know what it was but I was a kid magnet in there.  A teenage kid kept following me around (his name was Hung—that much I understood) trying to practice his English, which wasn’t very good.  But, it was so cute and he kept trying until his older sister came and dragged him away from me.  Other little kids stared at me and one went by and reched his hand out to touch me.  It was all very surreal.

For the two hour+ trip back to Saigon, Mr. Do was all fired up about Buddism and decided to tell the story of Buddha—which I might add is a very, very long story…..and he didn’t stop for the whole time.  Trust me on this one.  It was all very good, but after almost no sleep I never wanted an ipod so badly in my life.

My last half day in Saigon:  Lucked out and have  a single hotel room (really nice) with a soaker tub.  I know what ‘m doing later.  I plan to walk around and hit some places we missed the other day such as Notre Dame and the post office.

Tomorrow I leave midday to fly to Nha Trang, a coastal town, for some R & R until Thursday.  I’ll write more from there.

Ho Chi Minh aka Saigon

Today was an emotional day.  First of all, I found out that our tour guide Ha has to leave the trip early (tonight is her last night as a matter of fact) and we will be meeting a new tour guide for he last two days of the trip.  Then, when we got to Saigon after a bus ride to a plane to a bus ride to the hotel (the travel transportation is starting to get old at this point) we went to the War Remnants Museum.  The War Remnants Museum is basically Vietnam’s showcase for what happened during and after the Vietnam War (read as: what terrible monsters the US was).  OK, I understand the Vietnamese is another perspective, and a very valuable one to be exposed to and even that our perspective is very one-sided.  I also was anti-war even as a kid.  I even agree that we did terrible, terrible things to the people here during the war and as a government dropped the ball afterwards.  I truly get all those things.  But, I have never felt the need to run out of a museum because I am the nationality being smeared before being spit on or worse.  While looking at photos of decapitated Vietnamese and Vietnamese and American kids born with horrible deformities due to Agent Orange, one cannot help but feel anger that the war even happened.  But, the labels by pictures has some pretty strange things on them and were repeated over and over like….on pictures of soldiers with post war injuries…”and is wife ran away from him.”  “and his wife divorced him and took his children away.”  I found that unnecessarily mysogynistic. (which I know I’m spelling wrong)

OK, so after that we walked back to the hotel and saw the Reunification Palace.  It was also the site where some Americans were helicoptered to safety near the end of the war….I believe.

 

Also saw the intersection where the Rex Hotel and the Caravalle Hotel are located.  This was th e hub of where war correspondents stayed and was a political hot spot during the war.  Today is is a bustling city street.  Saigon is the economic center of Vietnam with many skyscrapers (banks and office buildings) with more being built on many corners.

Oh, and again lots and lots of motorbikes.

 

 

 

 

Internet (aka being wired) is very, very big here and on almost every street corner you can see the jumble of wires to prove it.

We had a “last dinner” with Ha and hit the hay.  Today we have a three hour bus ride to a boat for a ride on the Mekong Delta for our last homestay.  It promises floating markets and houses on stilts.  Very different from the north I’m told.  No internet though, so the next post will be Sunday sometime.

 

 

Wardrobe, Full Moon Festival and Market Photos

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I have a minute to throw up some pictures before getting on a plane to Ho Chi Minh today.  The tailor finally finished the clothes.  No fashion show yet, but I took pictures of the clothes minus the red cap … Continue reading →

Final Day in Hoi An

Having a complete tailor hangover, three of us biked to the beach to day while the others did a half day cooking class.  We luckily found out about a new beach, An Bang (only about 18 months old) that is almost unknown and frequented by mostly natives.  That saved us the crowded and hawker filled town beach.  The bike ride was awesome and made me feel like a kid again.  However, at the same time, I felt like I could have been at the Jersey shore, if of course you replace the farm rodcue stands with rice patties along he side of the road.

Alas, there were still hawkers, and as we were probalby three of only 15-20 people are the beach, we were a prime target.  I did learn another lesson here though.  You can get a much better deal if you really don’t want something.  As I told the lady the only thing I was in the market for was either a refrigerator magnet (I have a collection, but the options here are truly hideous) or coffee, she quickly whipped out a small tin coffee maker.  They make Vietnamese coffee by putting coffee in the tin part, placing it on top of a mug and pouring hot water through until it is done dripping.  I do like the coffee, but I didn’t feel like carrying one of those suckers around, but after the tailor frenzy I figured what the heck?  So, I asked the dreaded question, “How much?”  60,000 Dong (3 bucks).  Wait a minute, way too much.  To make a long story short, I got it for 30,000 ($1.50–yes, I am that cheap).  I really didn’t want it so I said that is all I will pay for it and she eventually said yes.  Then Carla, my friend’s aunt asked to look at the sunglasses.  Another mistake, except that mine have taken a beating here so I looked too.  Ray Ban knock offs.  Asking price 100,000 dong (read as $5).  My friend Anna bought her same exact knock offs in the US for $10.  Good deal you say?  Forget about it.  Too much!  Final price:  50,000 ($2.50)  Yeah, I’m that cheap.  Hey, I threw my money around when I first got here, then I wised up….I have been here for 12 days…..so don’t be judgmental until you’ve walked in my shoes.

OK, enough about that.  Look at this beach.  So calm and quiet.  Love, love, love it….and I don’t even really like the beach.  You get a nice lounge chair to use just for buying a drink and believe me about five people were trying to get us to use their chairs.  It’s that competitive today with so few people there.  To top it off, the water wasn’t bathtub water warm like in Halong Bay, it was actually cool and refreshing.  The water was also crystal clear.  No shells or sea life of mention….although some in our group did get bitten by a crab yesterday, but that’s what he gets for not going on the school tour.

After the beach, what else?  Another fitting.  For once, they didn’t get one of my shirts quite right, so it needs altered.  Woolen cape still not ready, so I have to go back at 4:00.  I am married to that shop, no kidding.

I also visited the “bahn mi” stand that is famous because Anthony Bourdain (I know I am spelling that wrong) went to it on his shop “No Reservations.” Bahn mi literally means bread in Vietnamese, but here it’s a sandwich made on a baguette.  I chose chicken, pork and cheese.  I don’t know what the other ingredients are, but it truly IS the tastiest sandwich I’ve ever had.

We are lucky because tomorrow night is a full moon.  In Vietnam that means something special.  Well, at least in Hoi An it does. It means lantern festival.  I’ve been told that tonight and tomorrow night the whole downtown area will be lit up with lanterns and people will make wishes and float them in the river.  So, hopefully I can get some good shots of that later!

Tomorrow morning I hope (missed it today due to sleep taking the upper hand) to get down to the fish market before we head back to the real Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, or Saigon.

Hoi Ann: Day Two

This morning a small group of us went to visit two schools in Hoi Ann.  The first one was a primary school  in summer session.  The students there ranged from grades 1-5, the same as in the U.S..  Unlike the U.S. summer school isn’t for the students who need extra help but rather for students to do extra work and to get ahead.  They call it “extra class” and it seems they do it during the school year too for extended day.  This costs money for the family.  The students loved us and having their picture taken then seeing themselves back on the camera.  The school had a very small library and only 6 outdated computers.

Another issue they have is the weather.  Vietnam get typhoons in the fall and instead of snow days, they get flood days.  We were shown the water marks on the walls for how high the flooding happens and it was well over our heads.  They move everything to the second floor and miss school until the waters recede.

During the school year the students take 9 subjects which included the basics plus geography and technology.  School is paid for by the government, but students must pay for uniforms, all books and supplies and extra fees for trips, etc.  If a family cannot pay, then the children cannot go to school.  So, basically, the rich can go to school and usually the “average” family, but the poor cannot.

Fast forward to the second school we visited for “disadvantaged children.”  These children were in middle-high school and live at the facility we visited in order to attend school.  The organization “sponsors” the students to go to the schools by paying for uniforms, books, bikes to go to school, etc.  The students are expected to attend regularly and get good grades to continue.  They will sponsor them all the way through university.

I was excited to visit the schools and see the similarities and differences between the U.S. schools in the Vietnamese ones.  I also exchanged contact information so my students can have a cultural exchange with a classroom next year, hopefully.

After the school visit and lunch, it was back to the tailor shop for a fitting.  Quite frankly we are all addicted to the tailor shop and whenever we go for a fitting we end up buying another piece of clothing or two.  I said I was only going to get a pair of pants and two shirts.  Well, forget it…add to that a silk skirt, two more shirts and a woolen cape. Grand total just over $250.  The money isn’t even the issue, it’s packing it all (including other purchases that I won’t even go into) and carrying around for another eight days.  I might be visiting the post office in Ho Chi Minh after all….or buying another tote bag as checked luggage for the way home.

Tonight we had a cooking class that was fun.  It was great to help the chef prepare the tree dishes and then eat them.  It was also interesting to talk o the other people in the class most of whom were from Australia.

Thankfully tomorrow is kid of a chill out day.  I might get up early to see the fisherman bring in their catch (6:30 a.m.) and then it’s biking to the beach, and yes, another (last) fitting.  Until then……

Hoi Ann: Day One

This morning we left Hue and traveled south towards Hoi Ann, a fishing village on the Thu Bon River.  Along the way we saw a large bay (I forget the name) and nice beach, and climbed Marble Mountain that overlooks Danang.  If you’ve never heard of Danang, it was the largest US outpost (if that is the right word) during the Vietnam War.

Hoi Ann is a quaint town with much less traffic and much more shopping.  The French influence is apparent in the architecture and the food choices.

One of the biggest businesses here is the tailor business.  You can walk into any shop with a picture (or look through their catalogues), pick a fabric, get measured and they will make you anything custom overnight for a song….I mean really.  I only ordered a pair of pants, a top and a skirt so far and it was way fun!

Then we got our first big rain since I’ve been here and I got toally soaked.  Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but since I gave the hotel every other shred of clothing I have to wash for only $2.50 I have to resort to a using a scarf I bought as a sarong to go to dinner tonight.

Tomorrow we are visiting two schools and I am very excited to see how education works in Vietnam!  I will also walk around town more and take more pictures for you to enjoy!