Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City

---

What a full day. What a day of myriad impressions.

We woke up late, and by the time we got going it was already 11. Off to breakfast at the same bakery, and we hogged great sandwiches and Sanaa lopped up a Tiramisu. A good way to start the day. Free wifi at the coffee shop, and though we ended up spending quite a bit more than what we intended - a good beginning to the day all round.

So we decided to walk down to the war museum. Vietnamese streets are full of two wheelers and tha traffic has its own life. For us Indians, not that amazing, not that difficult - though in some ways it is different - the rhythm, the method. After many twists and turns, and some very interesting colonial buildings, we arrive at the war museum and we have to wait for another 20 minutes before it opens up after lunch break. Vendors try to sell stuff - coconut water, bottled water (which we need). Mathew and I are getting used to haggling - 15 dongs...no 5. I did nto expect him to sell it to me at 5 but he did. 15 dongs per person tickets to the museum.

Okay, this was something. I had expected it, I must say - the Vietnamese version of the war. I had expected to see some harsh pictures and some harsh words. But this was more than that. Pictures after pictures of massacres by the G.I.s. Stories told with facts and figures. Okay, the languages were harsh, but how can all of it be a lie? How can the pictures lie (G.I. Setting fire to a house)? Independent reporters and their pictures and commenteries - a lot of them americans. Excerpts from military transcripts of the times. It was harsh, and it was real. And even if you try and forget the conflicting historical details of who was in the right in the war between north and south Vietnam, you cannot forget that the Americans had no business being here, being here and killing - the old and the child, the women and the men, families and houses, fields of rice. And then the horrors of the pictures of the agent Orange victims. Shot by independent reporters and photographers. Forget the politics, forget the jargons. But how can one people do this to another? Probably only because it was a world away and it was easy to imagine that these people where not like them. To send your own men to die horrible deaths in a country which they have no reason to fight for, to condemn them to years of duty under the most unfamiliar and forbidding landscape, fighting people who are the natives, who know the land like they know the back of their palms, and who have support on ground. Suicidal madness. And they continue to do it - again and again. Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq.

Sanaa was very interested. I was afraid that the pictures were very harsh for her. Just as the stories which she insisted on knowing. Fortunately children have short memories, and soon she was busy eating her banana and romping around the museum counting numbers.

A little known museum, tucked away from the rest of the crowd and referred to me by someone who I should listen to more often - the South Vietnamese Women's Museum. And thank god I went.

It seems that mother goddess or mother earth worship is an integral part of any agricultural race. And so it was here. Problem of this museum was that the information was not always available in English. And no one to answer questions. So I was not sure if these practices and worship carry on till today. My impression is that present day Vietnamese is more Christian.

Beautifully done up dress details through ages, and for different tribal communities. Weavings, silks, dying, mat making. All crafts which are almost arts - practised by women, kept alive by women. Sad that the grass mats have almost died out in Kerala. They are so beautiful and so cool to lie on. I have to check up the local silks a little more. Some exquisite materials there. Displays of jewellery, combs, fans (tortoise shell - that would be a nice thing to have).

The next floor was the women's role in the wars. Starting from old legendary queen and princess warriors 9some wonderful ceramic and inlay art forms), to all the women who participated in the Vietnam war and the French resistance. Guerrilla warriors, contact women (who would carry messages in their rice baskets), mothers and home makers who gave up their homes for resistance army shelters, martyars who died with their children in their arms, fighting, women who went to the prison pregnant or with their kids. They really played up the whole duality of the female existance - the gun and the baby suckling at her breast - cliched, but powerful. Women patriots and martyars who sat and embroidered in their prison cells, or wove baskets, or sew clothes. It was fascinating.
While we rushed back to see if we could make it on time for the reunification palace, that was not to be, but we had a pleasant time walking through central Saigon. Strong 70's modernist architecture lined the streets, interposed by old colonial sloped tile roof buildings and new glass and glitzy fashion neon light ones. Bikes, bikes and bikes on the streets. Yes, now we do start getting that Saigon is as polluted as India. As we walk back, we eat tiny fried eggs from a street vendor (no one can speak english). And then we find a very local place full of vietnamese people and stop there - to rest our feet as well as to eat something. So we eat....sorry drink more beer. Yes, we are really getting that - beer at about 30 rupees is very difficult for us to pass over. And we have pho. The quintessential beef and noodle soup. Yummy and more yummy. Sanaa has her milk, without ice, its twice the cost (yeah - they put ice in everything here - even in the beer, but we are getting used to it, and liking it). Some more beer, and some pork spring rolls.

We are looking for a supermarket but cannot find any yet. And now its time for the CS meet. Alex, a French Cs guy who lives in SGN has called a CS meet, and we reach Ben Than (were the meeting is supposed to be) before everyone else - because we are tired of walking. First its Alex and Anju, and then one by one all the CS people trickle in. Quite a big crowd - and interesting mix of locals and ex pats. Some lovely girls from France and Canada. Locals have a little problem with English, but the ones that can - Jenny and Austin, seem to be the active ones in the CS local scene. Talks loop around each other, and Sanaa is busy making her own fan club.

Food is mixed and we order prawns and some more prawns and some pork - the pork is heavenly. Some of the best pork I have had. And ofcourse some more of the Saigon Beer. Alex and Anju are sharing a hotpot which looks very interesting, as is some kind of a earth grill thing that some people are having on the next table. Must try these.

After this - yes, we are moving to a pub, which has of course more beer (surprise!), but also ahhh hot tea!! Vietnamese leaf tea and I love it. And very very good French Fries for Sanaa. Which she finishes off in a jiffy - its food she understands. And some people have stuffed many many balloons in her hand - its someone's birthday. And its quiz night - they pass out sheets. And we give it a try - but in all honesty - Puerto Vallarta? No idea!

Tomorrow morning, we gotta deal with the train tickets and a little shopping for the Mekong Delta trip.

---