Saigon synopsis

“Wheeling and dealing, smiling and beguiling, the people of Vietnam posses a vitality as unstemmed as the flow of manic traffic.” This quote comes courtesy of the Southeast Asia Lonely Planet (My book that has been very useful, thanks mom) and gives a great synopsis of my experience in Saigon.
The fun began in our logistical pre-port. The GSA drag ball was after the pre-port so many people came dress up. There is a good story in here but I’ll save it for when I get home. In pre-port we learned important lessons for Vietnam like how to cross the street and to watch out for scooter hookers. You may think crossing the street is a simple thing but in Vietnam traffic signals and crosswalks aren’t always enforced. The analogy we got was basically once you step off the curb just keep walking at a steady pace and the motor scooters and cars will flow around you like you were a stone in a creek. That’s how it is too. It’s a freaky experience to just have bikes whizzing past you as you cross the street. We did have one of our crew members hit by a motor scooter one night but fortunately he only received some minor injuries.
My first day in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) was dedicated to going to the Ben Thanh Market and the surrounding street shops that hawk knockoff t-shirts, backpacks and shoes. I really wanted to find a pair of dress shoes and a pair of Pumas to replace my sneakers that are falling apart. One problem is that I apparently have feet that are a little bigger than your average Vietnamese. Every store I went in and asked for size 13 the person working there would look down at my feet and laugh and say, “No, feet too big.” I devoted many hours to my shoe quest and in the end I ended up buying a pair of Pumas that are size 10 but since they are knockoffs they seem to fit. I’m guessing that one day while I’m wearing them they are going to explode and expose my feet. The markets in all these countries have been an experience. They sell everything from fruits, vegetables, clothing, household items, books and flowers. It’s amazing how every stand I go I am the person’s first customer and how willing they are to give me a “special discount, very good price.” Sometimes I love the haggling of trying to get a good price but in the end I always feel like I could have gotten it cheaper but I just write it off as they need the money more than I do. Vietnam was nice because I could use US dollars so I didn’t have to do much currency converting in my head. I did change some of my cash into Dong, the official Vietnamese currency, just to be able to say I have some Dong in my pocket.
On our first night a group of us went up to the top of the Rex Hotel to have a drink and enjoy the view. The Rex was a refuge for American GIs during the war. Servicemen and women had go to the top of the hotel to have a drink because the café on the ground floor were frequent attacks of drive bye shootings and targets of grenades. It was a great atmosphere and we had one drink and then went out to dinner and to the bar. The bar we went to was called Apocalypse Now and it was crawling with students. Kelly and I left early and had our first motor scooter adventure.
The next morning we had a day trip to the Cao Dai Temple and the Chu Chi tunnels. The temple was a three hour drive through the countryside filled with rice fields. It was some gorgeous sites and it was funny to see all the motor scooters. Our guide, who was named Nam, told us that people carry everything on the back of their scooter. We saw one with a cage with three pigs on the back of it headed to the market. Back to the temple, it was a beautiful building filled with pink columns and multicolored robed monks and practitioners. Caodaism was founded in 1920 and it combines secular and religious philosophies of the East and West. It is a blend of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism mixed with some Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. Plus they have an odd reverence for Victor Hugo that I didn’t quite understand. We got there around noon and it was just during the main mass where there is chanting and music. It was very spiritual.
After the temple we were off to the tunnels. The legendary network of tunnels was used by the Viet Cong to launch attacks on American troops and then seemingly disappear into the jungle. We were able to crawl through a section of them and it was intense. They are dark, tight and hot. They also display some of the booby traps that the VC used to impale the US soldiers. It was disturbing. Some students also took the opportunity to shoot some of the weapons that were used during the war –AK 47s and M16s- for $1 a round. I declined because I didn’t really want to be firing a weapon that was used to possible kill a US soldier.
On the subsequent days I had a service visit to a deaf school to play with some of the children and it was great. I took my funsaver camera and was able to pass out photos of the kids for them to keep and they seemed to love it. Afterwards we went to an orphanage for mentally handicapped kids and it was heartbreaking. It felt weird to be there though because it was more like we were at a human zoo looking at different displays. It definitely was a bit of a downer but it really made me appreciate how fortunate I have been to be blessed with healthy family and friends.
My other heartbreaking day was when I went to the War Remnants Museum. It was filled with photographs and exhibits that focused on the US atrocities committed during the late sixties and early seventies. The photos were from Western news services like Time and Newsweek and showed some graphic examples of how ugly war can be. After seeing the booby traps at the tunnels and then the photos at the museum it is inconceivable how anyone can out of that who situation not crippled with emotionally damage.
Okay this blog has taken a depressing tone so I’m going to tell you about one of my fun evenings. Kelly and I went out one night to the Guns and Roses bar. It was a small hole in the wall bar that played American rock music and had cheap Fosters. Nothing like drinking an Australian beer, listening to Nirvana while sitting in a Vietnamese bar. They also played some Bob Marley which was good because it continued my streak of hearing Marley in every country I have visited so far.
One of my favorite things about Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now officially known, was the fact that it actually had a vibrant downtown at night. There were people hanging out at colorfully light fountains and the glow of florescent billboards. All of the previous countries we have visited have had a stretch where there were bars but no really action going on during the night. Saigon reminded me of a smaller New York City.
To sum it up I go back to the Lonely Planet description of Saigon: “Central HCMC is a small, pulsating universe where French colonial buildings languish along motorcycle coked boulevards. Tall tamarind trees shade sidewalks stalls where teenagers gossip over iced coffee and old men play chess, accompanied by a soundtrack of pop ballads and honking horns. Crazy-making and seductive, Saigon beats with a palpable energy, day and night.”
Next stop China…