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Published: March 7th 2006
It has been sooooo long since my last blog - I was actually rather grumpy for a minute when the computer just switched itself off in Can Tho after I had typed furiously for a good thirty minutes... all gone. That was the second night in a row of my typing being wiped, though the second time around, I decided to pay and leave the computer behind me. I wondered whether I was perhaps not supposed to write anymore, as my fate seemed to continuously (and literally) wipe my thoughts... Nah, I am not going to give up on it that easily. I am finding all of the typing very stimulating, and the thought of a career in Foreign Journalism is quite attractive. Hmmm.
Vietnam... I haven't really written much since our arrival to this place, and there have been so many things weighing on my mind since leaving Cambodia, that I haven't really absorbed its beauty as much as I would like to. Cambodia is still so unprocessed, and the fact that I haven't really had any time to think through what I want to do to help its people is bothering me more than I would like to admit. The purpose of this trip, for me, was to find more meaning in my life and to start the journey I had so long been scared of... finding the reason for my existence, to put it in a very corny way. I thought things would just all fall into place, that once I got over here, opportunities would present themselves. And maybe they have and I am just not in the right head space to see them. But it feels like I have found so many more questions to which I need to find answers.
Further to this, my 'Macker', as my little cousin in Germany would call him, went missing for a few days. His mum called me, trying to find him, and I also had no idea where he was. Alarm bells went off, and the girls and I were worried. Worry then turned into, 'What have I done? Why is he not calling me?', 'What a bastard'. I guess it gave me a good taste of how helpless you can feel when you are so far away in a foreign country, and the something happens to the people that are important to you. There is just nothing you can do. Anyway, we spoke today and everything is peaches.
Vietnam...
In a nutshell, it is very similar yet very different to Cambodia. The locals would say, 'Same same but different'. Very many similar customs... the motos, the somehow very functional mayhem on the streets, the street stalls. But the people, as a whole, as very different. If Cambodia is the country in which people never cease to smile even in the most dire of circumstances, Vietnam is not so many smiles. Yes, there are plenty of smiling individuals, but the people seem less open to embracing even the completest of strangers. Some are downright 'Russian' - you smile at them when driving by, and they just stare at you. I just keep smiling, though there is not much in return. Perhaps this is largely to do with the fact that Vietnam is more 'advanced' than Cambodia on the development front, perhaps it has to do with the long, hard years of US and French invasion that the country has endured in its recent history, perhaps it is just a different mindset in the heart of the people. I will probably never know.
Anyway, we arrived last night in Saigon, as the Southerners call it, via bus from Can Tho, a small city that neither of the three of us like particularly. The bus terminal was a good 15 minute high-speed moto ride from the main guesthouse area, so we hooked up with a young Danish couple and found 5 motos to take us there. When I saw the new scooters they were all driving, I thought, 'Here we go...', because all the experience I've had with the new models is that they GO FASTER! Something we are not too keen on, and trying to get them to slow down when they are in the middle dodging cars, motos, trucks, isn't an easy task. This time in particular was interesting, as I had told my moto driver to follow Eva's driver, as she had the Lonely Planet with our only map. Problem was, Siene's moto driver was the leader and was driving like he was taking his pregnant wife to the hospital. So, the poor guy was caught between me trying to keep him behind Eva and him trying to keep up with Siene. But all was good, and we arrived safely, though the guesthouse we had picked out was full. We tried some others - all booked out - and then hailed a cab and piled in (all 5 of us with 5 backpacks, though you could count Helyna's as two), and drove the short distance to the main backpacker area. Here, we found some really sweet rooms with TV (Leens advised me before that the OC is on tonight after some other junky US series), air con and CLEAN sheets. We all slept like babies after we devoured the Pringles Eva and I spent a good hour trekking through Saigon to find.
We woke up this morning and felt a million dollars. Even Leens, who had been sick for the last 24 hours was feeling a lot better, and we ventured out into the city, officially Ho Chi Minh City, named after the famous Vietnamese leader. Compared to Phnom Penh, this place is fast paced, to say the least. The city itself stretches over a vast area, with many 'quarters', most of which the tourists don't even venture into for a lack of time.
We started in District 1, the centre of the city, were we embarked on the 'foot walk', which the Lonely Planet strongly suggests. Problem was, the markets were second of the list of things to see. We didn't really get that much past this second attraction for most of the day, as we fed our materialstic wants with more shoes, more jewellery, more bags, more... The bargaining is a lot harder here, and vendors are all more wealthy than those of Phnom Penh's Russian Market. But the quality of most things was also better, so I guess it is a bit of give and take. But we definitely helped the local economy...
After lunch at the markets (the first really tasty meal we have had in Vietnam), we looked through the War Remnants Museum. It was very moving, ... and extremely anti-US, though with good reason. I was disgusted to see a yanky tourist brouse through in his cargo pants and military-look-alike boots. I guess some people will just never get it.
The museum was full of mainly gruesome photos of war and torture victims, and I was moved to tears several times, though more so for the pointlessness of it all than for the actual victims. The way some of the US tourists pour in here, with no respect or understanding towards what their government put these people through. There was a story of one family which was entirely wiped out - all hunted down in their village and killed, their throats cut like sheep. And the tourists have the arrogance to complain about the service being so much slower than in the States. Hard to grasp.
Anyway, we are going to venture out tonight and have some beers (hopefully not spiked with pot - we were already hit up to buy some last night).
Cheers!
x Maz
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Ed Stening
non-member comment
Head straight to Bamboo Bar
Hey champs, While your in district one you must head to bamboo bar and go go bar. That whole stretch goes off! Saigon has the best nightlife in Nam so enjoy it, and don't eat the shrimp burgers from Lamat across the road from Bamboo bar.