'Most Venerable Highest Jade Emperor of All-Embracing Sublime Spontaneous Existence of the Heavenly Golden Palace'

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Well here we are again, another entry in the great Martin-Castle expedition to Vietnam, penned (or typed as it may be) by your usual correspondent, Benji. Its hard to sum up the last few days. Its only been two now since the last entry and already it feels like we've been here a week. Sanity has been maintained by the discovery of free wireless internet in the hotel rooms which has allowed us to contact those back home a little more and broken up the sheer unimaginable insanity that is Saigon. But I digress.

Yesterday started with an early rise, my first shower in Vietnam and a hearty breakfast in the restaurant on the top floor of our hotel. Needless to say, an all you can eat breakfast buffet including pan-fried toast and crispy bacon among other things is a serious health risk and absolutely delicious. From there the day begun with a visit to the Dan Sinh Market (also known as the War Surplus Market) where piles of scooter parts and electrical appliances were sold, accompanied with numerous 'war surplus' and 'memorabilia' stalls offering clean and shiny versions of what military stuff might possibly have maybe looked like through the eyes of someone who wanted to market cheap crap to tourists. To be honest there wasn't much of interest. A vast array of camo jackets, vests, boots as well as lighters of various comical sizes with terrible engrish phrases and a handful of old gasmasks, with a few Viet Cong style caps and hats (two of which were purchased by Sam and Paul much to their own amusement) and a few different styles of army helmets which seemed a knock-off version of modern American Military helmet patterns. Each stall offering pretty much exactly the same thing as the last. That said I bought myself a helmet and later the next day we returned and Sam picked himself up one as well.

Heading out of the Dan Sinh market a little disappointed but not all together unsuccessful in our pursuits we headed for the backpackers area of Saigon for lunch and a wander. Lunch was partaken in before too long, however the wait for the meal took an extraordinarily long time and I began to wonder if it was coming at all. Eventually it did however and after lengthy and heated discussion amongst ourselves we had a plan of action for the rest of the day. A short jaunt down the street and we were at a store named Dogma which featured a number of replica North Vietnamese propaganda posters as well as their representations on t-shirts, jigsaw puzzles, hats and anything else they could flog off to tourists. The store was quite nice how ever even if its prices were more on par with western prices (about $25AU for a tshirt right up to $100AU for a jacket) but we did end up buying a few items before having an amusing chat with the owners sister who was working there who was quite friendly and sassy (even pulling the 'There's something on your shirt - flick ya nose' trick on Sam at the end).

From there we visited the Jade Emperor Pagoda a Taoist temple which while not what we were expecting at first was quite interesting, Paul especially seemed taken with it. It was in a cramped little space on cluttered block and we weren't at first sure if we had the right place. It was however and we toured through each of the rooms, the main figure head being the Jade Emperor himself (or as he is supposed to be addressed 'Most Venerable Highest Jade Emperor of All-Embracing Sublime Spontaneous Existence of the Heavenly Golden Palace') with showings from the Chief of all Women and the King of Hell. It was small temple but quite ornate and well attended, with barely enough space to move around, incense too was so thick in the air it stung the eyes and made it hard to breathe at times. All in all it was a fascinating look at a true Taoist temple.

Later that evening we met up with an old friend of Paul's named Wha (I believe? I'm not too certain on the spelling so I apologise if it is incorrect) who has a fascinating life story even from what little I know. He now runs a buisness here in Saigon and undertakes many forms of charity work with a large focus on an orphanage and training service for disabled children which is slowly taking shape with help from volunteers in various countries. His English is also quite good as he grew up in Mount Barker back home in SA for many years before coming to Vietnam, so the conversation was good and he really was an interesting and down to earth guy, a real top bloke as it were. We also shared a meal of Vietnamese KFC which is, interestingly, the only western food chain to take hold in the country, as most other vietnamese restaurants were still not operating or delivering this soon after the New Year's celebrations.

Bidding Wha farewell we returned to the hotel before Sam and Paul headed over to the Rex Hotel for a bit of snort, for my own take on this establishment, see the next entry. On that note, I shall leave this entry here, as it has gone on a bit...

To Be Continued...

Your correspondent in the field:
-Benji

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