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Published: March 28th 2008
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First, my apologies for the serious lack of photos on the blog, and for what is about to be a brief entry, and thirdly, for the week of blog silence that is about to follow. I’m flattered by all your lovely comments and hate to disappoint anyone who is looking forward to daily reading here, but tomorrow we get on a boat on the Mekong River and there will be no internet access for a week. I will be writing, however, and hope to post many details when we rejoin the modern world…in Cambodia. (Who would have guessed that one of the things we could look forward to in Cambodia was free wifi at our hotel? Well, wifi
and that other little attraction, Angkor Wat.)
We had a long and interesting day with our tour guide, who refers to himself as” Jason, your SuperStar Tour Guide.” I could write pages about him, but will give you a quick snapshot: He was very well-prepared with info and articles about sights we would see, he took photos and video to put on a CD for us, he brought a cooler well-stocked with mangos and cold drinks, and he could tell you
every date and detail about the Vietnam War and French colonial history. He also brought his wedding photo album and wedding DVD for us to watch, he made sure he was
in many of the photos with us, he took a nap in the back of the van on the drive back into Ho Chi Minh City, and ended the day serenading us with a pop song and then a song about the day we just had with him. And yes, he played a Mr. Bean DVD along the way. He was a bit eccentric and oddly charming, and I must say that he was as much of an attraction as anything else we saw.
Aside from our SuperStar tour guide, the other attractions of the day included a drive past some of the highlights of Ho Chi Minh City (Reunification Palace, Notre Dame, the Post Office, the American embassy, etc.) and then a trip about 100 kilometers north of the city to the
Cao Dai Holy See. I can’t even begin to explain the
Cao Dai religion to you (I suggest Wikipedia if you want more info) but their headquarters is an enormous church/temple/mosque decorated with colorful emblems
of a variety of religions. They incorporate aspects of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, and some other religions, and their three major saints include two Vietnamese guys and …Victor Hugo. Don’t ask me to explain - just go to Wikipedia, please! We were able to watch their noon service, which is quite a spectacular sight with the participants wearing a variety of white or colored robes, women on one side and men on the other, chanting and singing and kneeling and bowing.
The other highlight of the day was a stop we made at the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. This is a foundation started by an Irish woman that helps meet the educational and medical needs of street kids, and we stopped in so I could drop off a duffle bag full of medical supplies. (They had a wish list on their website that nicely matched a pile of supplies we had at the VNA that weren’t needed.) They were pleased with the donation and invited us in for a tour of their facility, which was really quite lovely. They have a bright and colorful nursery where they care for a dozen or so babies who have been abandoned (usually because
of some kind of disability), another floor for toddlers and older children, and a K-5 school for disadvantaged kids. (The kids spend 2 ½ hours a day in school and then spend the rest of the day helping support their families by working and selling things on the street.) They run a child sponsorship program to provide ongoing education for older kids, and finance medical treatment for kids with serious medical problems. There are nurses and teachers and physical therapists on staff, and what they are all doing is quite impressive - though there is still something unsettling about seeing a room full of babies who are lying quietly in their cribs, no matter how clean and bright and colorful the facility is.
We made it back to our hotel by about 5:00, by which time Mom was ready to call it a day. I went out to explore the area around our hotel, taking videos of traffic and people doing aerobics in the park, strolling through the market (where I passed up the chance to buy any number of designer knock-off shirts and bags), and discovering that while crossing the street in broad daylight is a huge adventure,
Family out for an evening drive
They were kind enough to pose for a photo, which they seemed to think was quite funny doing it after dark feels even more like taking your life in your hands! It was delightfully busy and bustling, and I was surprised at how few Westerners I saw given that we are staying in the most-touristed part of town. I stopped for a quick dinner at a Vietnamese noodle shop, where I had a bowl of delicious
pho for about $1.60 and brought another back for mom.
Overall, a busy and satisfying day. Tomorrow, our Mekong adventure begins!
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Judith Janone
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trip
Have a WONDERFUL time on the river....and yes, I will miss your blogs and look forward to your return.