Hello everyone and happy holidays!
We're in Ho Chi Minh City right now (although everyone here seems to call the city Saigon still), having traveled from Phnom Penh into the Mekong Delta and then to Saigon. It's hot here and doesn't seem to cool down as fast as Bangkok or Phnom Penh did with their large bodies of water nearby. It doesn't help that we're on the 8th floor of the hotel...and it's a walk-up...and there's no AC in the lobby. I honestly feel like I'm going to die everytime I walk up to the room. It seems that in Saigon, all property is approximately the size of my former office (read: very small) but you can build UP as far as you want. Lucky us.
Actually the trip has been quite scenic from Phnom Penh. We traveled via boat into Vietnam - and the Mekong Delta is just beautiful. The delta is primarily a rice and farming area, with some fishing - so tons of idyllic views of what you might imagine Vietnam looks like. The first night, we were dumped (tour) in Chau Doc at a hotel about 6km from the town...this way they can ensure you eat, sleep, and spend all your money at a "company" shop. I took a moto-taxi into town to find an ATM...on the way back I stopped at (what turned out to be) the Costco of Vietnam. I just wanted one soda. After ten minutes of negotiations I managed to get a great price on a whole case of soda - but could not communicate with the phrasebook that I just wanted one can. When I finally left (with no soda), I think they thought I wanted to buy the entire pallet for 15,000 dong ($1).
In Cantho, we slept at a homestay - thinking it would be nice to actually meet some real (non-tourist focused) Vietnamese people. Unfortunately, the man of the house worked for the tour company and his wife and son didn't really speak to us. Still it was great to walk around and see how "real Vietnamese" live in the Delta. It was also my first experience sleeping under a mosquito net and actually waking up to see the net covered with bugs...yikes. No malaria yet Mom. From Cantho, we toured a bit - seeing the floating market where all the vendors put their wares at the top of a pole (like a pineapple 15 feet above the boat) to show customers what they're selling and entice them to pull alongside to look at their wares. We also went to a rice-noodle making factory where I was amazed by how dirty everything looked - all the tanks, pipes, etc... especially in comparison to the food processing plants I've been to in the US. Still...the food in Vietnam has been absolutely delicious.
Saigon has been a real experience for me. First off, there are just tons and tons and tons of motorbikes here. Our guide told us therewere 83 Million people and 40 Million motorbikes in Vietnam. It is simply incredible. Last night walking home, there bikes were ten rows deep (going each way) on the street. You have to see it to believe it. And to cross the street, you just start walking - slowly and deliberately - so that all the traffic can avoid you. It was the same in Cambodia, but there's just SO many motos here that it's overwhelming as you're parting the sea to cross the street.
It's a beautiful city with a lot of great buildings (many the French built) and wonderful circles and squares to admire. There are many museums as well - we went to the War Remnants Museum - which used to be called the "Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes". There are exhibits showing a lot of the atrocities of war - the effects of napalm and Agent Orange...and also showed some of the worse behavior of the US soldiers during the war. It was pretty depressing. I recognize that the exhibit was one-sided, but being here makes me wonder if any of the soldiers knew why we were in Vietnam...the parallels to what's going on today in Iraq are scary. There's one picture in particular of soldiers posing standing over decapitated Viet Cong soldiers that's just stuck in my mind.
Tomorrow we're off for Dalat and hopefully to Hoi An for Christmas. One interesting thing we've come across is that there's no ATM's in Vietnam outside of the major cities (Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi) so we've started withdrawing money to cover us until we reach Hanoi. Since the currency is so weak, we've had to get a lot of bills - right now we have 8 Million Dong that we're carrying around in a briefcase thatDeanna has handcuffed to her wrist.
Best to everyone -
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