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Published: September 7th 2009
It has been a couple days since I have updated everyone. The last time I wrote it was about my Friday night. This will be about my weekend. I will start off by saying it was pretty low key in as I did not go to any bars or clubs. I know that will disappoint some of you back home. I will go soon enough don’t worry. On Saturday I got up and had my usual breakfast here at the hotel. I hung out here until about lunch time when my friend Tram came to pick me up. We were going to go have lunch and coffee at a café and then she was going to take me to some of the sights around the city.
When Tram arrived at my hotel she was worried about taking me on her motorbike. She is so tiny, under 100lbs for sure and handling my fat ass on back was going to be a workout. She wanted me to drive but no way in hell was I going to drive in Saigon traffic. It was all I could do to sit on the back and not totally freak out. She said we would try with her driving and it worked out for the most part. We stopped off at the Saigon Notre Dame cathedral in central Saigon. It is one of the most well known icons of the city. I did not go inside but got some pictures of its beauty on the outside. I hear they have a certain mass that is translated into English. I will have to find out and attend one in this amazing church!
After visiting Notre Dame Cathedral we went to a café called Windows. Wow this was not a café that was laid back with soft music and hot coffee. This place was jumpin!! It was like a bar or night club almost. A popular hot spot among the younger Vietnamese and a trendy place I must say. The décor was modern design and the music put everything we have in the US to shame. Sure they played some of our same music but it was mixed to different beats. This place wanted to make you dance and go wild rather than sit and eat and sip on coffee. I did not get any pics but I am going to go back soon so I will indeed get some. For now you can check out this YouTube link to someone’s video of Windows.
Tram and I both ate a mix of noodles and seafood. Very good! I had an iced mixed coffee and she had a strawberry smoothie. We hung out here for a while and talked a little. The place was kind of loud so we decided it was time to go. Just down the street was the Reunification Hall or Palace. This was the head quarters of the South Vietnamese government when Vietnam used to be separated into the North and South with the North being communist. The grounds were beautiful and well manicured. The inside was left as it was back from the 60’s and 70’s. The decor had that old funky vibe and the electronic equipment was well dated. It was very cool to see. I tried to think back at how it must had been when the North came crashing through the front gates taking over the South Vietnamese government and “reuniting” the whole country as a communist nation. There were many pictures of this even inside that were both graphic and powerful. This nation has been through a lot in its time.
I hear for more of a detailed account of the Vietnam War, or as they call it here the US war, the War Remnants museum is a must see. However, it is pretty graphic and slanted with a Vietnamese perspective. I still want to see it. I hear some of the things shown there are hard to take as an American. Things such as the effects of Agent Orange that is still felt here today. Hopefully this week I will be able to visit this museum.
That was pretty much my Saturday. The rest of the evening I sat and chatted with family and friends from home. I updated some photos and went to bed early. I was tired from the night before and the day's activities. On Sunday I woke up at about 6:30am. It was Saturday back home and the start to College Football. They have ESPN and many other sports channels here so I figured I would be able to catch some games. Wow was I ever wrong. They had on Soccer, F1 car racing, and tennis. Are you kidding me?!?! Not ONE single football game. I ended up on the internet following along with the KU/UNC football game. I was happy to see KU starting off their season with a WIN. Also I was surprised about Oklahoma losing, a little credit to them, they did lose their QB. Anyhow, so much for getting up early to watch football.
After I had some breakfast I decided to head out and explore a little bit on my own. I walked to the Ben Thanh market place. This is where you buy everything from food, clothes, electronics, and appliances. It was crazy!! It was stuffed full of people and merchandise. Being the most popular market in Saigon it is also the most expensive. Most tourists come here to shop as well. Here in Vietnam there are no set prices. You have to haggle for everything. They say at this market you are not getting a fair price unless you talk them down 50%!!! I walked around and was amused all the antics going on. People arguing over prices and tourist being pulled this way and that way to buy from them. “Sir, you buy from me,” “Sir, my American friend, you buy from me.” “Sir, I have BIG size for you.” It was a little over whelming I must say. I ended up not buying anything. I had no idea about prices of things and I am still trying to get the money system down here. Maybe soon I will go back and try my luck. I do need to get a few things to send home to friends and family.
After the market I was walking back to my hotel and came upon a beautiful park out of nowhere. The trees, grass and flowers were so perfect and manicured. Many Vietnamese were taking a nap, or sitting talking to their boyfriend or girlfriend. I had been walking for a while so I sat on a park bench to rest and just enjoy the shade. It wasn’t but a few minutes and a couple of college age Vietnamese kids came up to me. “Excuse me sir, are you from USA?” All I thought about was my Friday night and what where these people going to try and sell me now. I answered, “Yes, I am from the USA.” “Oh great,” they said with a big smile. “We are in college and cannot afford English lessons; can we sit and talk to practice our English?” Hell, why not I thought. We ended up sitting and talking for about an hour. The boy’s English was pretty good. Still a little rough. The girl was somewhat good when she spoke but she was very shy. This was her first time speaking with a foreigner. After an hour we were all thirsty so walked to a café close by and got fruit smoothies and talked for at least another hour! The smoothies were great. They loved my IPod Touch. I showed them some of the apps I use here to convert currency and measurements. They saw some of my games on there so wanted to play a couple. They thought the IPod was amazing. I told them it was mainly used to listen to music. The first thing they asked if they could hear Michael Jackson’s song Billy Jean. I played it for them and they smiled so big. It was nice talking to them but I had to go as a friend was picking me up soon to go get coffee. We exchanged e-mail and hopefully I will hear from them sometime. I really enjoyed our talk.
Later that afternoon my friend Hang came and picked me up. Again she is pretty small and it was a workout for her to drive me around. But she did great. We made it to the café and back in one piece!! The café was amazing. It was a French style place. Soft music and a great ambiance. It was seriously like being in a small French town. Hang was really cool. Her English is really good. Her job is translating Vietnamese and English books. So she is well versed in English and many subjects. I was impressed. We talked a lot about the US and Vietnam. Some of the similarities and differences. She said she hated US music. However, I am not so sure about that. She knew A LOT of U.S. Music, from Ashley Simpson, to Black eye peas. I thought it was a riot. We hung out for a couple hours. I ended up getting hungry so ate some noodles and crab. Really good. They gave me a fork; this was the first time since being here I have eaten with a fork. It is funny when I use my chop sticks. They are amazed at how well I use them. I just laugh. After the café Hang dropped my off at my hotel. I debated what to do. I kind of felt like getting a beer but I was also pretty tired from getting up so damn early. I finally took a shower and watched Band of Brother’s on HBO and passed out.
It is Monday morning now and raining outside. I took a video of the street outside my hotel and will post it soon. This afternoon I think I will take a taxi to district 5 and visit Lis’s family’s shoe store and give them the things that Lis and her mom gave me to bring over to them. Hopefully they speak a little English…lol. I think we are up to date now. Hopefully you all enjoy reading about my time here. I know I am having a BLAST. I LOVE VIETNAM!!!
Signing off from Saigon
-Chris
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Kathy Nguyen
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It was great to read what you have been doing so far! I want to come visit! It sounds so much fun!