This morning Jason and I explored Ho Chi Minh City by foot. We are saving the museums, pagodas, and other really touristy things to see for Monday when Ted is here, so we aren’t seeing everything twice. We walked by the famous post office with a huge painting of Ho Chi Minh, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the opera house, and some famous sights from the Vietnam War, like the Hotel Rex. There are statues and pictures of Ho Chi Minh throughout the city. I’ve been told that the war is referred to here as the “American War.” We plan to tour the anti-American War Remnants Museum with Ted on Monday.
We walked down Le Loi street, seeing more famous buildings and eventually ending at the big marketplace, which had a bit of everything. We saw many of the cyclo drivers camping out on their bicycle rickshaws. Jason told me that many of them are men who fought in the war on the side of the south and were punished and stripped of their citizenship and all rights at the end of the war. They wear tattered clothing and search for tourists to drive around the town. The Lonely Planet guidebook stated that many were former doctors, teachers, and journalists that were punished for siding with the Americans. It’s really sad. Actually there was a family sitting next to me on the airplane that was returning to Vietnam to see long lost relatives. I sat next to a Vietnamese-Canadian girl about my age, and she was telling me that her mother is returning for the first time since 1975 to see the siblings she left during the war, and she and her siblings are meeting aunts, uncles, cousins, and other family members for the first time. Tears filled their eyes when the plane landed in Ho Chi Minh City. What an emotional reunion!
The local market was beautiful but hot. It looked similar to other markets I’ve been to in Asia with fresh, live seafood; beautifully stacked tables of fruits, herbs, and vegetables; and bags of rice and grains. There were also trinkets, clothing, hairclips, a ton of shoes. You name it, it probably was sold somewhere in the market.
We met Rachel again for lunch at a French restaurant and then went back to the cute coffee shop called Nirvana, but unfortunately the power was out there. Rachel and Jason have a really luxurious set-up. Their apartment comes with a built-in cleaning/ maid service, so the towels are changed daily, beds made, and even the floors are cleaned. They also have a cook who comes three days a week. She does the grocery shopping, prepares the meals, and even cleans up and does the dishes! She packs all of the food into nice, plastic, microwavable containers and places them in the refrigerator, so all they need to do is reheat their food in the microwave. She even washes and cuts up the fruit for them!
When Rachel returned from work, we went for a foot massage at the Qing Dong Du Salon, recommended in her Asia Life magazine. The Vietnamese women looked small and frail in their orange shirts, but these women were strong and intense! It was actually a little painful. I felt like they were rubbing the skin off of my legs, but the massage on the soles of my feet felt great. They finish the massage with arms, shoulders, neck, back, and head – bending, twisting, slapping your body. I am not sure if I liked this one that much or not. I prefer the one from yesterday.
We went out to dinner with some of Rachel’s friends and co-workers to a Spanish tapas place called Pacharan. We had a couple of pitchers of sangria and the tapas were pretty tasty. Although I can’t say I had an extremely busy day, I do feel exhausted. I’m looking forward to the weekend. I hope the sun comes out. It’s been overcast with a sprinkle here and there. And tonight it poured for hours. But then again, it is the rainy season!
Friday, August 3, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Unexpected Adventures and a Warm Welcome from Vietnam
After an unexpected adventure, I finally arrived safely in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly named Saigon). My original flight plan out of Reagan National was abruptly changed when the first of my four flights to Asia was delayed significantly. I would have been stuck without a hotel in Dallas at least overnight, so I was in panic-mode. After pleading with the airline, I finally found someone to help me. Rather than fly west via Los Angeles, I was rerouted east through Frankfurt, Germany from Dulles. I called Ted in a state of panic, and after reclaiming my baggage, he picked me up and rushed me to Dulles. Thank you, Ted! I ended up making all of the flights, which ended up turning out better in the long run. So now I will have truly flown around the world on this trip! (I am returning via Los Angeles across the Pacific Ocean.)
After many, long hours and nearly 2 days of traveling, I arrived this morning at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City. I cleared customs rather quickly, and Jason was waiting for me near the baggage claim. Thank you, Jason! We went back to his and Rachel’s place, which is really nice. After a nice long, hot shower, Rachel met us for lunch. I had a delicious glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice and a Vitenamese dish with shrimp, noodles, and veggies. It was delicious.
The motorcyclists are definitely out of control here! The cab ride from the airport would have been a lot scarier had I not been mentally prepared for the chaos of the streets. To my surprise, there aren’t really any tuk-tuks here. The streets are littered with cabs, a few brave drivers of cars and vans, and more than 6 billion motorcycles! Seriously, every time you attempt to cross the street, you are likely to be hit by about 10 of them coming from all directions! People don’t really seem to follow any rules of the road, and I haven’t even really seen that many traffic lights. Needless-to-say, pedestrians definitely do NOT have the right-of-way. Drivers and motorcyclists don’t even slow down at cross walks. I have been ducking behind Rachel or Jason for every attempt at crossing the street so far. You have to start walking out into the street amidst the heavy flow of traffic, usually in both directions. Jason warned me to walk slow because just as we don’t want to be hit, the motorcyclists don’t want to plow over any pedestrians either. As long as they aren’t looking down, text messaging, or talking on their cell phones, and the motorcyclists actually see you, they will more than likely turn their bikes to avoid hitting you. The pedestrian’s important job is to make eye contact with all high speed oncoming bikes, so you can see if the drivers are paying attention and will (hopefully) avoid hitting you. Cars and trucks apparently do not slow down, stop, or swerve, so they must be outrun in a game of leapfrog at all costs. Apparently people making left turns have the right away because they just drive out in the middle of traffic, and people are forced to stop. And no one wears any helmets.
Jason and I went to this adorable coffee shop this afternoon to sift through some guidebooks and spa information while the rain drizzled. Rachel and I are planning to go spa hopping every day I am here in Ho Chi Minh City. When she finished work, we began with our first, the Sen Trang White Lotus Spa, just down the street. We treated ourselves to a 90 minute aromatherapy treatment massage with lava stones for less than $25.
Some of the stones were really hot, but it was so relaxing, I nearly fell asleep. Tomorrow we plan to enjoy a foot massage at another one of Rachel’s favorite spas.
After the spa, we met Jason back at the apartment and made our way to dinner at the Com Nieu Saigon restaurant for dinner. There were locals as well as tourists sprinkled throughout the restaurant, and it is notable for entertaining the guests with a rather unique delivery of com dap, or smashed, rice paddies (looking a bit like pancakes). Once the rice has been baked in a clay pot, one of the men from the kitchen stands in the doorway to the dining area, smashes the claypot, and then throws the remains on the ground, where they shatter into a pile of clay rubble. Next he tosses the rice paddies one by one more than 15 feet across the restaurant to another waiter standing near our table, who catches the rice paddies on a plate and tosses them into the air a couple of times (which made me think of the pizza dough tossed in restaurants in Italy) before serving them to the customers. Tonight they were ours. I wonder what happens the ones the man doesn’t catch… I also ordered some tofu with lemongrass and chili, and Rachel and Jason ordered some steamed veggies, a pork dish, and a traditional southern Vietnamese fish soup. The food is really cheap; entrees were about $2 each. The food was pretty good until our meal ended rather abruptly.
There seem to be geckos everywhere. They were all over the walls of the restaurant. Toward the end of our meal I saw a look of panic on Jason’s face as he lifted his feet. I immediately asked what it was and worried it may have been a rat. He tried to play it off by telling Rachel and me it was a gecko, but I knew it wasn’t. He finally admitted that a huge 7-8 inch rat was running around behind our table, which he spotted only looking more closely at the dead cockroach lying on its back underneath the table next to us. Rachel soon spotted the rat, too, and started screaming. I glanced down; it was now only inches away from our table, and I was wearing sandals! After a few screams and fingers pointing toward where the rat was last spotted, some of the men working in the restaurant came over with the bill laughing. They didn’t really seem at all bothered by this. We quickly paid and ran out of the restaurant and into a cab. It’s been a pretty interesting first day. Welcome to Vietnam!
After many, long hours and nearly 2 days of traveling, I arrived this morning at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City. I cleared customs rather quickly, and Jason was waiting for me near the baggage claim. Thank you, Jason! We went back to his and Rachel’s place, which is really nice. After a nice long, hot shower, Rachel met us for lunch. I had a delicious glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice and a Vitenamese dish with shrimp, noodles, and veggies. It was delicious.
The motorcyclists are definitely out of control here! The cab ride from the airport would have been a lot scarier had I not been mentally prepared for the chaos of the streets. To my surprise, there aren’t really any tuk-tuks here. The streets are littered with cabs, a few brave drivers of cars and vans, and more than 6 billion motorcycles! Seriously, every time you attempt to cross the street, you are likely to be hit by about 10 of them coming from all directions! People don’t really seem to follow any rules of the road, and I haven’t even really seen that many traffic lights. Needless-to-say, pedestrians definitely do NOT have the right-of-way. Drivers and motorcyclists don’t even slow down at cross walks. I have been ducking behind Rachel or Jason for every attempt at crossing the street so far. You have to start walking out into the street amidst the heavy flow of traffic, usually in both directions. Jason warned me to walk slow because just as we don’t want to be hit, the motorcyclists don’t want to plow over any pedestrians either. As long as they aren’t looking down, text messaging, or talking on their cell phones, and the motorcyclists actually see you, they will more than likely turn their bikes to avoid hitting you. The pedestrian’s important job is to make eye contact with all high speed oncoming bikes, so you can see if the drivers are paying attention and will (hopefully) avoid hitting you. Cars and trucks apparently do not slow down, stop, or swerve, so they must be outrun in a game of leapfrog at all costs. Apparently people making left turns have the right away because they just drive out in the middle of traffic, and people are forced to stop. And no one wears any helmets.
Jason and I went to this adorable coffee shop this afternoon to sift through some guidebooks and spa information while the rain drizzled. Rachel and I are planning to go spa hopping every day I am here in Ho Chi Minh City. When she finished work, we began with our first, the Sen Trang White Lotus Spa, just down the street. We treated ourselves to a 90 minute aromatherapy treatment massage with lava stones for less than $25.
Some of the stones were really hot, but it was so relaxing, I nearly fell asleep. Tomorrow we plan to enjoy a foot massage at another one of Rachel’s favorite spas.After the spa, we met Jason back at the apartment and made our way to dinner at the Com Nieu Saigon restaurant for dinner. There were locals as well as tourists sprinkled throughout the restaurant, and it is notable for entertaining the guests with a rather unique delivery of com dap, or smashed, rice paddies (looking a bit like pancakes). Once the rice has been baked in a clay pot, one of the men from the kitchen stands in the doorway to the dining area, smashes the claypot, and then throws the remains on the ground, where they shatter into a pile of clay rubble. Next he tosses the rice paddies one by one more than 15 feet across the restaurant to another waiter standing near our table, who catches the rice paddies on a plate and tosses them into the air a couple of times (which made me think of the pizza dough tossed in restaurants in Italy) before serving them to the customers. Tonight they were ours. I wonder what happens the ones the man doesn’t catch… I also ordered some tofu with lemongrass and chili, and Rachel and Jason ordered some steamed veggies, a pork dish, and a traditional southern Vietnamese fish soup. The food is really cheap; entrees were about $2 each. The food was pretty good until our meal ended rather abruptly.
There seem to be geckos everywhere. They were all over the walls of the restaurant. Toward the end of our meal I saw a look of panic on Jason’s face as he lifted his feet. I immediately asked what it was and worried it may have been a rat. He tried to play it off by telling Rachel and me it was a gecko, but I knew it wasn’t. He finally admitted that a huge 7-8 inch rat was running around behind our table, which he spotted only looking more closely at the dead cockroach lying on its back underneath the table next to us. Rachel soon spotted the rat, too, and started screaming. I glanced down; it was now only inches away from our table, and I was wearing sandals! After a few screams and fingers pointing toward where the rat was last spotted, some of the men working in the restaurant came over with the bill laughing. They didn’t really seem at all bothered by this. We quickly paid and ran out of the restaurant and into a cab. It’s been a pretty interesting first day. Welcome to Vietnam!
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