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Published: January 8th 2018
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Our next stop in Vietnam was Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City. The name was originally Saigon, but officially changed to Ho Chi Minh City after the ‘war.’ Locals still call it Saigon, though. There were a lot more tourists here than our last trip in 2006. The population has increased from 6,230,900 in 2005 to 8.5 million in 2016, with an estimated 8.76 million in 2017; one of the fastest growing cities in the world. There are 3900 people per square kilometer (populationof2017.com); that works out to about 10,000 people per square mile. There are construction zones and cranes all over the place, and skyscrapers, which we had never seen here before.
Back to the sweltering heat. Lonely Planet calls Saigon “Vietnam at its most dizzying: a high-octane city of commerce and culture that has driven the country forward with its pulsating energy. A chaotic whirl, the city breathes life and vitality into all who settle here, and visitors cannot help but be hauled along for the ride“ (Lonely Planet, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Northern Thailand, 2017, p. 134).
One thing we like to do is to sit at cafes, and watch the people either walking, bicycling or
riding motorbikes. When we were here before, there were a lot of motorbikes, just a few cars, and cyclos - a bicycle ridden by someone “driving” the passenger. We only saw one or two cyclos, in about an hour of watching. One thing that is very common is two passengers, sometimes three, and sometimes four, all on a single motorbike; we saw a few bikes with five people. The third, fourth and fifth passengers may be kids or toddlers, sometimes babies tucked in between the adults, or just held on casually. There are also Uber motorbikes. We saw a car hit a motorbike and another motorbike hit a bicyclist, but motorbikes are the main way of getting around in many parts of Vietnam. Not everyone wears a helmet (especially the kids), but many people wear face masks to protect themselves from the fumes. If a motorbike is parked on the sidwalk, the pedestrian has to walk in the street. It’s usually easier just to stay in the street, but watch out! Traffic is crazy. There aren’t many stop lights, and even fewer left turn lanes. Cars simply start turning left, and oncoming cars and motorbikes just make their way around
the turning car. For a pedestrian to cross the street takes patience and fortitude. There are a few zebra crossings for pedestrians, but that doesn’t mean cars will stop for you. You just start crossing, and don’t stop. Once the motorbike or car driver sees you, they know the path you’re probably taking and can avoid you. If you want a bike/car/bus to slow down so you can cross the street, you hold out your hand, indicating to the driver that he/she should stop and let you pass. Amazingly, it does work, and you can cross the street. Our first day, we waited til there was no oncoming traffic to cross. By the time we left Vietnam, we just charged carefully into the street and knew how to maneuver to get across.
The Vietnam “War” - another not-so-proud period in U.S. history. From our website (carandpuj.com/Vietnam) about our 2006 trip: “We did not see or experience any anti-Americanism on the street, just smiles and laughs. I read someplace that, simply put, the Vietnamese history is full of invasions by other countries, so that the American invasion was just one more in a long line of invaders. Because the majority
of Vietnamese people are under the age of 30, they do not remember the ‘war.’ But this was the most recent, and the photos we saw in the War Remnants Museum in Saigon ... showed photos of atrocities committed against the Vietnamese people, civilians and soldiers alike. According to the museum's flyer, the mission of the museum is to ‘. . . study, collect, preserve and display exhibits on war crimes and aftermaths foreign aggressive forces cause for the Vietnamese people,’ although there is no mention of the atrocities committed by the North Vietnamese army. Almost every photo ended with ‘. . . by the United States army/military/government.’ Some pictures have labels such as ‘A GI from 25th Infantry Division carrying the debris of a Liberation Army combatant's corpse’ or ‘A Vietnamese mother crossing the river with her children to flee from American bombs’ or ‘Over 2 million hectares of forests and agricultural lands destroyed by toxic chemicals;’ it also states that ‘during the “Vietnam War” 3 million Vietnamese were killed (among them 2 million civilians), 2 million people injured, 300,000 people missed .’
The museum has the famous picture of Kim Phuc running down the street,
Street scene
Notice the kid hanging on the side screaming, her clothes burned off; she was the little girl whose village had just been sprayed with Napalm ... She was in the hospital for 14 months, and underwent 17 surgical procedures. (We saw a documentary later about Kim's amazing story - she still has the constant reminder of her injuries because of the painful scars on her back and arm and severe pain most days; she is married and has a son, and lives in Canada.)” it was a hard museum to go through, but definitely worth it. A stark reminder that there is no winner in any war.
Binh and Lan invited us to their house for lunch. Their son and daughter-in-law made spring rolls, shrimp, fish, and another piece of rice paper wrapped around some greens and fish. Very delicious.
We took a two-day trip into the Mekong River Delta with Lan. “A trip into the nation's rice basket is a glimpse of life of Vietnam's agricultural workforce who feeds the nation on this life-sustaining river" (Lonely Planet, Vietnam, 2005, p. 882). The Mekong starts out in Tibet, makes its way through China, Laos (we were on it for two days in Laos) and Cambodia,
before it meets the sea in Vietnam. We saw a "floating market" - each boat sells different produce; a sample of what they sell is sometimes displayed on a pole rising up from the boat. Lan bought us a pineapple, which the sellers skinned and cut up into quarters, and we each got a quarter of the pineapple on a stick. We also took a boat through a small canal on a touristy island.
The people are very friendly. At one point we stopped at a park bench to cool off and air out, and two girls approached us. One asked if they could practice their English: another impromptu ESL class. A few minutes later another girl approached with a list of words written out that she wanted to practice pronouncing. Eventually another young man, and then another came up to our group, wanting to practice. We spent about a half hour with our students. The students probably hang out in the park and wait for westerners to practice on.
I had a great Christmas. I went for a 70 minute foot massage with hot stones ($10, with the tip). Bliss. It was wonderful. I’m doing research into
which country provides the best massage. On our last trip to Hanoi, we went to see a Water Puppet performance. Seven puppeteers stay behind a curtain, in a pool of water. Each is responsible for their various puppets. Several instrumentalists were performing on the sides of the stage and chant throughout the show. I enjoyed it so much I went back the next day. They now also perform in Saigon, so we definitely had to see it. My favorite skit was the Phoenix dance, when two birds “court” and have a baby. There are also farm scenes, dragon fights, and children swimming, among other things.
Just a comment on the currency - it’s been a math quiz throughout Asia. US $1 = about 32 Thai baht; 8,300 Lao Kip; 22,700 Vietnamese dong; 4,000 Cambodian Riel; and 13,400 Indonesian Rupiah. Quite a challenge for those of us who have math issues, especially with all those zeros. On top of that, except for hotels and restaurants, nothing has a “hard” price - if there is no price tag, you have to bargain for it. Some people really like to do that (Pete); I usually just want to make the purchase (especially
when looking for taxis).
And on to Cambodia ...
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