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Published: February 23rd 2012
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Friends Forever
The boys playing with a transformer toy We left a cool, windy Nha Trang on the night train, heading for Da Nang. We booked a “soft sleeper”, which meant a compartment with door (!)and four berths. We were soon joined by an Australian couple with whom we talked until midnight. We had clean beds and a newly renovated bathroom with a REAL, flushing western toilet. If you’ve never been to Asia, you don’t really know how nice that is. The only oddity was the total lack of waste cans – I guess everything is thrown overboard.
We were on our way to Hoi An, a town where we’d met a young couple and their 18-month-old son on our last (2008) trip. His Vietnamese name is Chien (with diacritical markings I can’t duplicate), but in2008, his parents gave him the English name of “Tom”. We’ve stayed in touch and this return visit was one of the main reasons why we came to Vietnam this trip. By the way, staying in touch has been a challenge, as we speak no Vietnamese and their English is shaky. Letters were of the “how are you – I am fine” variety until I met the couple who run Star Nails in
Tom
Our young friend, Chien, whose English name is Tom. Madisonville TN. They’re also Vietnamese and don’t mind at all translating my letters and the ones I receive in return. They’re even exchanging phone calls. We send birthday presents to “Young Tom” each year, so he was really ready to meet his fairy godparents.
We had a hotel car waiting at the station, just to avoid the hassle of getting a taxi for a 45 minute trip, so got to Hoi An early enough to grab a light breakfast/lunch. This was a foreshadowing of things to come, for as soon as our friends (Cam Thach, the mother, Hieu, the father, and Chien) arrived, they whisked us off for coffee on their little motor scooters, then took us to their house for more food. Then they took us back to the hotel for a rest and then took us back to their house for MORE food. Good, simply cooked food (duck, greens, rice, soup), but in quantities that told us the Lonely Planet was right about the culture of eating here: it is polite for the host to offer more than you could possibly eat and it’s also polite for you to stop before you eat everything.
We spent
The Perfect Toy
Young Tom playing with Old (?) Tom's iPhone. the next day with Cam Thach and Chien at her tailor shop. Things are tough for them, as Hoi An has an ancient city that’s a World Cultural Heritage site. Tourists walk all around the old city, mostly following guides, shopping at stores that pay commissions to the guides, eating at the designated (commission-paying) restaurants, and paying top dollar to never leave this Disneyland of ancient culture. If you’re reading this because you’re considering a trip to Hoi An and you don’t wamt to give away your wallet, leave the old city and discover the new. Cam’s tailor shop is Cam Thach II, on Cua Dai Street – we bought three silk blouses for me, four gifts for women I work with, a pair of winter flying trousers for Tom and had two shirts tailored for a total of about $100. Another woman at our hotel paid $250 in old town for a dress she couldn’t wear.
Tom quickly bonded with his namesake, especially since he handed over the iPhone with its games. They quickly became buddies and young Tom spent hours sitting with old (?) Tom, playing games and cuddling. We learned that public school in Vietnam is
Cam Thach's Shop
You choose a photo of your desired style or pick an item that's already made. Cam measures you, you pick out the fabric, and about 8 hours later you have a tailor-made piece of clothing. NOT free, and that the usual cost for a year of elementary school averages about $1000 per child. Since this family is also responsible for putting Cam's two sisters through the university, Chien's schooling has been put on hold.
That evening, we took the extended family for dinner at Morning Glory, a nice (tourist) restaurant, where our friends were the only Vietnamese customers in the place. None of the customers looked twice, but there were some raised eyebrows among the staff. We got back at our friends for their spreads of food, ordering much more than we expected to eat. It took me a few minutes to remember the custom of the host handing out food, but once I started dropping things into their individual bowls, the ice was broken and the eating began. We ate and ate, then the second wave of food arrived and the groans from our friends told us that we’d been successful in hosting a good dinner. They were appalled at the prices, but enjoyed the outing – oh, by the way, at this expensive restaurant, dinner, beer and wine for eight came to about $110.
Day three was L-O-N-G – we
took a 200+ kilometer motorbike ride with Hieu’s father, Mr. Quyen of Easy Riders. We were on BIG bikes – Honda 150s – well, OK, they’re big bikes in Vietnam. Tom rode behind Hieu, and I rode behind Mr. Quyen, feeling SO SAFE. He was an amazingly smooth driver on the rough country roads and I quickly learned just to close my eyes in the towns. Driving a motorbike in Vietnam is NOT for the faint of heart or for an American who thinks he should be first in any situation. We rode first on the well-maintained two-lane highway built on what used to be the Ho Chi Minh Trail, learning about the war primarily from the point of view of the North Vietnamese. For those who fought: we crossed the Ben Hai River on a new bridge that marks the site of many battles and traveled along many mountain roads that helped us realize the truly hopeless nature of the American effort. The other thing we’ve learned is how much the conflict resembled the American civil war: the belief in the need to preserve the union, the cultural differences between the north and the south – as well as
Samples
Sample dresses you can have made in your exact size and fabric choice. the driving need to expel occupying colonial powers. As Mr. Quyen said, “We were occupied by the Chinese for a thousand and by the French for a hundred years. We finally got rid of the French in 1954 and then in 1961 the Americans show up!” I’m sure going to re-read my history books on this and try to figure out why we went there in the first place: although we (the US) are now talking about fighting terrorism while we’re running around the middle east, might it really be about oil? So, though we were talking about fighting communism in Vietnam, was is really about controlling the South China Sea or the Straits of Malacca? Vietnam’s main worry now is the resurgent and expansionist Chinese government. Will the cycle start over again?
We spent another night EATING at Cam Thach and Hieu’s house. After a dish of delicious beef slices wrapped in lettuce and a chicken soup with potatoes and carrots – nothing exciting there, right? – we were offered a dish of sautéed lizard with onions and carrots. We each ate one piece. OK, not great. Jim should serve it at the Outpost Pavilion. It was the
The House
Next month, the lane they live on will be expanded about 4 feet into their house. No reimbursement. night of the new moon, so each house and place of business had a small table with yellow flowers and incense, along with offerings of each person’s most loved things. We saw cans of Coke and beer, plus cigarettes and fruit. Once the Buddha has received the offering, you may use it. Cam said that she’d placed some cookies at their Buddha’s shrine one day, and later Chien came in with them, saying the Buddha had told him it was OK. Our friends’ home is small, built on a tiny piece of land given by Hieu’s parents. It fronts onto a tiny (one motorbike wide) lane. But next month? The government is expanding the lane to create a large road about 40’ wide that will take about four feet from the front on their house. No reimbursement for the land or cost of rebuilding the front wall.
This morning, we left the hotel, transferring the packs to their house on the tiny motorbikes (Tom’s had three people plus his big pack), eating sweet corn and coffee for breakfast and then driving to the railroad station in a hired car. Tears at the station for all of us and many
Another Dinner
You get chopsticks, a spoon, and a small bowl into which your host keeps putting more and more food. promises to return. Tom and I are now on the train trying to figure out how soon we can come back.
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David Turner
non-member comment
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing this adventure online, it was very touching. We have gotten my wife's family in Hue addicted to Angry Birds :D So when the chicken came out with the head, did you say, "it's smiling" - Christmas Story. Enjoy the rest of your time in Asia (if still there) and thanks again for posting. Hen gap lai. - NE Indiana