Good Morning, Vietnam!
 |
| Vietnam Statue in Hanoi (Playing with the settings on my amazing camera - Thank you Damian!!) |
The city as a whole is similar to the South East Asian
cities I have visited before, but the traffic in Saigon is wholly unlike
anything I have ever seen…in my life. In
Vietnam there are 90 million citizens and about 40 million motorbikes. The traffic flow, devoid of
many traffic lights, signs, or utilized lanes puts “Rush Hour in Saigon” on my
list of most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed. I will never understand it.
I am not one to marvel at traffic flows or inter-commuter
communication, but my jaw was on the ground when we were driving down the road
in our taxi in the “wrong” direction while being approached head on by no less than 30
motorbikes all simultaneously politely exchanging beeps in some dialect of
street-Vietnamese and nonchalantly shifting to allow for the girth of our taxi
to pass.
After I got my jaw off the ground from this cultural
experience, we ate lunch and then began our quest for the perfect tailor. A few minutes of attempted communication with
our first tailor shop, we continued on and ended up on a mini-walking tour of
the city. The workmanship is impressive
at all of the shops, and I do not think there is any piece of clothing you
could show them that would stump these tailors.
(Hoi An is known for their famous tailors and bargain priced custom made
clothing…but we hadn’t made it that far yet!)
Because of his time restraints in the city, Brad did not want to order a
suit without having a second fitting and ended up passing up on the suits for
this trip. Once that was decided, we
were off to see a few sights.
 |
| Stringing their own pearls in the Saigon Market |
We visited the infamous War Remnants Museum, formerly known as the Museum
of Chinese and American War Crimes, and spent a few hours reading, wondering and trying
to make sense of what we were seeing and hearing. The afternoon, like those when visiting sites
like S21 or The Killing Fields in Cambodia, was somber and thought
provoking. It introduced a very
different story from what I remember learning in school regarding our
involvement in the Vietnam War. The
museum held nothing back, and if anything, freely criticized the details of the "War of American Aggression" and introduced the widespread international
opposition to the war. It was chilling
to see the impact of the weapons used, especially chemical ones, during this
war. The museum was four levels, and
after touring each floor we found ourselves needing a break before venturing to
the following level. The images were
alarming, but the overall experience was a very educational one.
After such a heavy afternoon, Caroline had the genius idea
for us to attend the AO Show Saigon, which was a combination of a Vietnamese
cultural show and Cirque Du Soeilei. The
show was clever and enchanting, and helped to lift our moods greatly from
earlier in the day.
The following day we booked a tour through our hostel to
visit the Cu Chi Tunnels about 2 hours outside of Saigon. When we arrived at the tunnels, our guide who
called himself John Wayne gave us a brief history of the village and the people
who lived in the region during the war.
 |
| Entering the tunnels |
The tunnels, which ranged in sizes from large (100 cm round) to
small (60 cm round) were tunneled out in the 1940s and used for safety and
hiding from the American troops. The
entire community rebuilt their lives underground – houses, communal areas, and
tunnels to function for movement between places. The entire tunnel system was extensive, but
with a personal history of claustrophobia, I was not the first one to jump at
the opportunity to scuttle through the caves and experience life underground.
Though my family can attest to the endless years of stairs
instead of elevators, I told myself (and Jennifer who found herself in a
similar state of fright) that of all of the visitors over all of the years, not
to mention those who were confined to these tunnels during a war, I was not
special enough to be the only one to die in the caves. I was going to be fine. Right?
After waiting until we were the last ones from our group,
Jennifer and I descended and crawled through the dark, dirt tunnels. When I say dark, it was not casually lit for
tourist’s comfort, or just dim. It was a
black hole. Another frightening note: there were three mazes that ran from 10
meters to 50 meters in the portion of tunnels we were allowed to visit, and we
weren’t sure exactly how to get out of any of them. Plot
Twist: There were also dead ends.
About thirty seconds into the crawl, the people in front and
behind me were stopped and my anxiety levels rose to record highs. A deep breath, a nervous laugh, and a quick
personal reminder that I wasn’t going to die, and we were moving again – at
least feeling around for the best way to go.
After what seemed like forever, but was well under three minutes on a
standard non-anxious person’s watch, I was relieved to see the light of day and
the start of dirt stairs to my right. After
brushing off my pants and telling myself and whoever was around that “Yeah, it definitely wasn’t that bad” we were off to finish our tour.
The following day, which was Brad’s last day with us, we
decided to do a tour of the Mekong River Delta.
The group from the hostel headed out in the early morning and stopped by
an artisan workshop for disabled citizens who had been harmed, maimed or blinded
in the events of the war. The items were
impressive, but unfortunately carrying a thirty-kilogram statue was not going
to easily fit into my pack so we left empty handed.
 |
| On our Mekong River Tour |
The tour consisted of a ride across the Mekong River, a
visit to an island and fresh green tea and honey followed (naturally) by snake
handling (who thought these were adjunct activities?!), a small boat trip
through their narrow river paths, lunch and biking on another small island, and
finished with music from local musicians and traditional Vietnamese
dancing. When we got back to the hostel,
we immediately showered because of the excessive perspiration we had
participated in throughout the day, and relaxed at the hostel’s happy hour
before Brad had to leave us for the airport (which would ultimately be taking
him to Japan, China, and then Uganda…)
Caroline had read about the Botanical Gardens and Vietnam History Museum in Saigon, and we decided to check it out. The museum was interesting and helped to give
us a perspective of the natural history of the region, although Jennifer did
not find it to be as captivating as Caroline and I did.
 |
| Jennifer was captivated by the history of the country...both she and the guard are asleep in this picture. |
I should note that the Botanical Garden in Saigon is also
combined with the zoo (if you have ever been to a zoo in a third world country,
then you understand our experience a bit).
At the Zoo/Garden we got to wander amongst elephants and bears being fed
by young children and yours truly, feed rabid monkeys that almost attacked Caroline,
and wonder why none of the potted plants were actually planted in the
ground. The day was absolutely
beautiful, and it was nice change of pace to walk around the city instead of
touring the countryside like we had the previous days.
We followed our Garden experience with a visit to the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica, which is adjacent to the Saigon Central Post Office, which
was designed by Gustav Eiffel.
We took
advantage of the post office to send a few notes home to friends and family. The French colonial influence is evident throughout the city and country, obviously these being two obvious examples.
 |
| Notre-Dame Basilica, Saigon |
The following day marked the end of our time in southern Vietnam, at least for the time being, and the following day we took a flight to
Hanoi, the national capital located in the north.
 |
| Inside the Post Office |