Vietnam : Ho Chi Minh City

---

There are three photo pages in this entry

This is a visual narrative of a trip that had been in the planning stages for several years—a plan between father and daughters that finally manifested on August 3, 2007. Ida, my sister Sonja, my father Klaus and myself arrived in Hong Kong after a 14-hour flight. It was 5am while we roamed an empty airport waiting for our final connection to Ho Chi Minh City and anticipation kept us from snuggling in a quiet corner to nurture a flight-less sleep.

With new markets to explore, food to experience and a rebirth as a pedestrian of rain and motorbikes, Ho Chi Minh has become a life-changing monument in my travels. It is a lesson in being a participant of a new culture—displaced becoming placed, a city where a complete stranger embraced me on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street as she empathized my nausea, and a reflection of self-humility and reflection. Ho Chi Minh is developing quickly with foundations already poured for skyscraper hotels, and road construction for highways and bridges. As this city moves into a phase of open market and change, my heart will remain in the dark alley restaurants of Pho Bo (Vietnamese soup) and the family of four riding easily on their moped.

---