My last hours in Ho Chi Minh City

I am sitting at Highlands Coffee with Jason. It's very similar to Starbucks, but much cheaper. There are several people "deep cleaning" Jason and Rachel's apartment, so we went out for breakfast. There is free WIFI, which is wireless Internet, so now we are just chilling out in the cafe.

Yesterday I was watching the Travel and Living television channel when a travel show about Vietnam came on. I was excited to see it since I am here and curious to see which parts of Ho Chi Minh City they would highlight. After less than a couple of minutes, the entire show cut out for its duration. I assumed it was censored, and when I questioned Rachel about it later, she agreed. They censor all travel shows about Vietnam. I would think they would want to promote tourism in their country. It's weird to be somewhere where there is so much censorship. There are censored newspapers, television shows, and it's against the law to speak out against the government. Imagine if no one could oppose or disagree with George Bush! Or other politicians... There are also propaganda posters all over the country. They are stuck to the sides of buildings, on large billboard signs, etc.; they are even in the countryside. Most of them are anti-American, pro-independence, and celebrating a liberated, communist government. I can't really read most of them, but Rachel and Jason can usually get the gist. Most are accompanied by large, colorful pictures of planes being shot down, Uncle Ho hugging children, or other images. Some are funny. They have to do with elderly people doing exercise and traffic. There are a few propaganda stores that sell the posters with the English translations at the bottom of them. I visited a couple out of curiosity but didn't purchase anything.

I have about 6 hours before I need to start heading to the airport. Unfortunately Rachel can't meet us for lunch because she is in charge of hosting someone special today and can't get away. She said goodbye to me early this morning before she left for work. I was still not really awake...

Last night for my last night in Ho Chi Minh City, Rachel and I went to the V Spa near their apartment for one last massage. We got a 75 minute aromatherapy massage, which was nice and relaxing. When we returned home, Jason heated up a spinach and mozzarella pizza the cook had made; Rachel got some wine; and we all played more of American Idol karaoke. Jason and Rachel asked if I wanted to go out, but I was really tired, and everyone was getting up early today.

I'm certainly not looking forward to the long flights ahead, but it will be nice to be back in the states. I am also looking forward to visiting my sister in Los Angeles for a couple of nights on the way back.

The Mekong Delta

Yesterday Jason and I took our second and final day-trip to the Mekong Delta. After a couple hours of driving in a bus, we arrived at My Tho in the Ben Tre province. I was gagging when we descended the bus because the smell from the nearby fish sauce factory was really potent. They have large vats of rotting fish fermenting or something like that. But after walking about 100 feet, the smell began to fade.

From the tourist office, we boarded a boat that took us around parts of the delta. I could observe many of the houses and shacks up on stilts, boats, local fishing traps, and a lot of banana and cork trees. The water as a shade of milk chocolate, and the shores were lined with jungle. It was really pretty. There were four main islands we went around: Phoenix Island, Unicorn Island, Tortoise Island, and Dragon Island. Those are four important animals to the Vietnamese people. We actually stopped at Phoenix Island.

The tour was pretty well organized. At Phoenix Island, we got off the boat and walked down a small, narrow, bridge that looked like it didn't have many years left standing. We walked though the jungle and observed a rice paper making hut. At first Jason and I thought they meant stationary paper, but we soon learned that it was the rice paper wraps for cooking. They baked some of them into a mild tasting snack, which was for sale of course. We made many of these cultural "pit stops," where we had a brief introduction and then conveniently 10-15 minutes of "free time" to shop. From there, we had lunch. The lunch was included, but it was terrible. They recommended trying the Mekong's famous elephant ear fish, which was not included and, of course, the most expensive thing on the menu.

After lunch we taken to a bee farm. By this point it was raining pretty hard, so we weren't able to observe many of the bees before they descended upon the tables where we were sitting. The locals made us some honey, citrus tea and allowed us to try some honeycomb and a strong coconut wine. The wine was really strong and not very good. Our guide told us it was 35% alcohol. It tasted like straight vodka. Next we took an "ox cart" through the village. We expected a yak or water buffalo, but instead there were tiny ponies with feathers and fake flowers tied into their manes.

We arrived at another thatched hut with tables. Outside there were a couple of cages. Inside one was a huge python, and the other housed a small squirrel. Our guide called us over to the tables. We sat down and were given some fruit while we listened to traditional music played by some of the local people. A couple of the women sang, and three men sat on stools, each playing a different instrument. Our guide kept reinforcing that they were not professionals, but he hoped that we enjoyed listening. The fruit plate was filled with different fruits: watermelon, pineapple, dragon fruit, rambutan, longan, etc. I ate some pineapple and dragon fruit before biting into my rambutan and finding a white worming crawling around in the shell. I quickly spit it out and that was the end of the fruit plate.

Two local woman in the traditional hats took us back to our boat in small wooden boats, paddling us down a small stream in the estuary. Our final stop was the coconut candy factory. We observed the local people making the candy, drying and cutting it, wrapping it, and packaging it all by hand! It was pretty amazing, and the wrapping looked like a boring, monotonous job. There were about five women sitting in chairs around a larger table. They grabbed one of the tiny cut candies that were constantly tossed into the center of the table. They then wrapped them in tiny rice paper and then regular paper. When Jason asked, our guide said they probably made about 700,000 dong (42-45 US dollars) a month. I can't imagine!

Cao Dai Temple & the Cu Chi Tunnels

It’s a little before 7 a.m., and in about 30-45 minutes, Jason and I will leave for our second day-trip to the Mekong Delta. Yesterday we went to Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels. Caodaism, which is a unique religion that began in the 1920s combining the teachings of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam and other religions into one religion to promote peace, is the religion practiced at the temple. Imagine that! We were able to observe a mass at 12 noon, which was beautiful. Upon removing our shoes and leaving them outside, we entered the colorful temple. At the front, in the center, is the main alter, which has a large painted eye in the center of a ball. The people come to worship the eye of god, looking down upon them.

The religion is a mix of the east and the west. The organizational structure roughly follows that of the Roman Catholic Church with a pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests. There are several colors present in the temple. The common people, who come to worship, wear white. Women use one hallway/stairway, and the men use the other. Some of the worshippers had white scarves on their heads, others had black, and there were others who didn’t use any scarves at all. There are three main colors (other than white) represented by members. Red robes signify Catholicism, Christianity, and Islam. Yellow robes are worn by Buddhists, and Taoists and Confusionists wear blue robes. French writer, Victor Hugo, is one of their famous saints. At least that is what I got out of our guide’s information. It was sometimes a little hard to understand his English. We were able to walk around the temple about 15 minutes before the mass began and then observed about 20 minutes of their rituals, which consisted of a lot of chanting.

The next stop after lunch was the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were essentially an underground village used by the Viet Cong and one of the most famous battlegrounds during the Vietnam War. The Cu Chi Tunnels were an underground city with living areas, kitchens, storage, weapons factories, field hospitals, and command centres. In places, it was even three stories deep and housed up to 10,000 people who virtually lived underground for years.... getting married, giving birth, going to school. They only came out at night to tend their crops. Parts of the tunnels have been renovated and restored; it’s a major tourist attraction today. We arrived and watched a 15 minute black and white propaganda video. It was of very poor quality and difficult to hear any of the narration or dialogue, but the sounds of the bombs were amplified. It was more anti-American sentiment, and by the end, you got the point. The guide then showed us a map of the grounds and a model of the tunnels, which went down several levels into the ground, consisting of short, narrow hallways, weaving underground, connecting bedrooms, kitchens, and even a complicated chimney system to release the smoke slowly into the air to avoid bombing by the Americans.

We observed several of the pit traps, booby traps, gruesome bamboo spike door traps, and window traps the Viet Cong set throughout the jungles. The American soldiers fell through beds of nails. These traps were usually covered by leaves. It was even hard to find the entrances of the tunnels without our guide pointing them out. I really can’t imagine how horrifying it must have been to have been here during the 1960s and 70s. Today there are thatched roofs so tourists can see the structure of the kitchens, hospitals, and bomb/ landmine making rooms (which are all underground), but during the war, all the soldiers would have been able to see was dense jungle. The Viet Cong had camouflaged the air holes in large termite mounds. There were also ditches all along the path today where Viet Cong soldiers hid to fire at the enemy. There are rooms holding four soldiers, one at each corner, where there were small holes in the ground. The soldiers would fire at the enemy from there.

You could see a couple large holes where bombs were dropped. As we continued the tour, the experience became even more horrifying as we neared the shooting range. For a little more than a dollar a bullet, tourists can fire M 16s and AK 47s. The guns themselves appeared to be bolted down, but the sounds were deafening. I had to hold my ears even near the range. Most tourists, who chose to participate, fired a bullet at a time, but every once in a while, we’d hear a string of 5-10 bullets. It was one of the scariest feelings I have ever felt.

Toward the end of the tour, we were able to go through a part of the Cu Chi Tunnels with one of the guards working at the site. There are now steps to help people down, and at first it was hard to really see how small the actual tunnels are. But soon enough, I was on my feet, crouched as low as I could possibly go, waddling through 3 or 3 ½ by 2 foot tunnels. Parts had a small light on the floor, but most of them were pitch black. It was terrifying. It was hard to see the person in front of my and parts came to a Y. About halfway through, a little claustrophobia set in, and I was ready to be out. I can’t imagine how the families lived in these tunnels. They were so hot and tiny. The Viet Cong stayed in them all day and only came out at night when the Americans were sleeping.

After exiting the tunnels, we were fed some tapioca. Because a bowl of rice can only sustain a person for a couple of hours, the Viet Cong primarily ate boiled tapioca, dipped in chopped peanut. It was pretty good. The tapioca didn’t have much of a taste; it was much like eating a boiled, peeled potato. I’m sure the peanut helped give it some flavor.

A Farewell to Ted, and We're Back in Saigon

Ted left last night from Hanoi, and Rachel, Jason, and I have returned to Ho Chi Minh City on a long, noisy two hour domestic flight. Our last day in Hanoi was as hot as all of the other days in the north. We woke up early to have breakfast before taking a taxi to view Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum, which is supposed to be free.

The Vietnamese take great pride in their “Uncle Ho,” who helped reunite them against the Americans and reunify the country into the communist, I mean “socialist” republic it is today. People from the countryside make the pilgrimage regularly. There are thousands of Vietnamese, and even a few tourists here and there, in a long line, winding around the streets. Luckily it moves continuously. Once you reach the front entrance, everyone is supposed to check their purses, bags, cameras, etc. There is counter for Vietnamese, though I think these rules weren’t really enforced with the locals. It is strictly enforced with the tourists; there is even a separate counter to leave behind all of your things. One woman at the counter tried to sell Jason brochures. He was confused and pointed to the sign that said the mausoleum and luggage/ bag check was free. She then proceeded to tell him that those were free, but he should buy the brochure. She seemed offended when he told her we didn’t want the brochures. But, we were in…

There are a lot of strict rules. For starters, there are armed guards in bright white attire everywhere watching the crowd. The public must follow a strict dress code, no shorts or short skirts and no tank tops. You aren’t allowed to take any pictures, talk, or even put your hands in your pocket. There can be no disrespect for Uncle Ho. After walking sometime on concrete, under blue tented walkways, we approached the rubbery red carpet that led up to the mausoleum. We were still moving at a pretty steady pace, and we finally entered. We continued around a couple corners and up a few steps until we had finally reached the room where his embalmed corpse lay in a glass box lit up in the center of the room. Uncle Ho is surrounded by 4 motionless bodyguards at all times. He looked almost too perfect with his wispy, white beard and arms crossed. Apparently his body is returned to Russia a few months each year for touch-ups, but there is also some discussion and doubt as to whether it is really him or some wax figure. The old, Vietnamese woman in front of me couldn’t get enough. She stopped dead in her tracks, staring at Ho Chi Minh. One of the guards on our level had to eventually shuffle her along in the line.

Upon leaving, we were ushered to a yellow house, fishing pond, the house on stilts that Ho Chi Minh supposedly spent some time in, and a one-column pagoda. This was free for all Vietnamese, but 10,000 dong (about 70 cents) for tourists. We were irritated to pay -- not because it was super expensive, but because the visit was supposed to be free. And we were getting nickel and dimed to continue the tour to get out. It was just another of many scams. After that we went into the Ho Chi Minh Museum, which was another 5,000 dong (about 35 cents). The museum was strange. It had more anti-American, pro-Communism sentiment, and weird lighting. There were some paintings of Ho Chi Minh on the wall, and Ted and I saw other old, Vietnamese ladies rubbing the hands and touching one of the paintings of Uncle Ho.

We spent the rest of the morning relaxing at the air-conditioned hotel before we had to check-out. After lunch, we did some shopping and met some of Rachel’s friends at a nearby café.

It’s nice to be back in Ho Chi Minh City. It’s been an exciting and tiring two weeks. We did a bit of American Idol karaoke on Playstation 2 last night, and I hope to return a bit to the spas. Tomorrow and Tuesday Jason and I will take some day trips if the weather holds up. It’s sunny today!