I really wanted to title this 'saigon fishing', though doesn't
really mean anything... I am planning on seeing a water puppet show
tonight... thats kind of like fishing, right? Oh, and i ate seafood
last night, of course i didn't catch it.
I am very happy to be
writing on this trip; mostly on paper which is a little easier than
finding a computer. I am having trouble remembering what i've
experienced in the last day- making writing both practical and
enjoyable. I have been meeting some great people here, mostly
westerners. I have talked with a vietnamese woman, Thuy, at the coffee
shop where i am writing this the last couple of days. I may try to
practice my oh so humble vietnamese with her later. It takes courage.
I also met a great motorbike driver today, on my way to the history
museum. I have hired Mr Cuong for the day tomorrow, for a tour of the
Cu Chi tunnels just outside of Saigon. Does anybody know how many Dong
a 6 hour tour should cost?
Last night at a cafe i ended up
talking to a guy from the big island of hawaii, about my age and a
group of ex-pats he was with. I have seen a few 'ugly americans' in my
few days here and find it disgraceful to say the least- i feel like a
lot of ex-pats feel that way about me. Ugly until proven innocent. It
was great to get some aloha, as well as the opportunity to experience
saigon a little beneath the surface. I went to an art opening with
this particular group of people and really enjoyed it. As tara told
me- i am apparently in a cultured place. Nice to be among the artsy,
uncomfortable to be smelling fartsy. As i am sure you can imagine, i
was not nearly as presentable as the wonderfully stylish people i met,
and i had only taken two showers... The art was enjoyable, i especially
liked a series of photographs by a local woman. They felt voyeuristic-
people sleeping in every place and position possible, children playing
with anything found etc. They were photos i would love to take but
would not be comfortable taking. I need a spy cam.
I did get
to take pictures at the History Museum today, for an extra 32,000 VND.
This museum was my favorite yet- a glance at 3000 years of life and art
in what is now vietnam. More religious statues than anything else,
also some interest carved political edicts and tools. The religious
culture of vietnam has seemed to me to be an wonderful blend of
distinct schools of buddhism, daoism, confucianism, native animism and
hinduism. Lotsa isms.
The biggest ism must be capitalism.
This is my first experience travelling in a socialist republic and i've
only been here a few days but... i am confident that marx would not
approve.
The tropics seem to be a wonderful place to get to
experience culture. As it is always 90 degrees everydoor is always
open. You can see so much of what keeps this city of 4 million moving
as you walk down the street. Imagine seeing engines rebuilt on the
sidewalk; families and friends crowded together, eating in a still open
t-shirt shop.... and on and on and on.
Its time for me to go
and get another look at the war remnants museum- maybe time to get a
watch (many museums and popular sights close for a couple of hours
mid-day).
I almost forgot probably the most memorable thing that
happened lately- definately the best story- after spending a couple of
days in a nicer hotel i moved to a cheaper place. My room is on the
6th floor and pretty basic. I was walking up to check out the room and
was told to leave my big backpack at the bottom. As i walked up the 6
flights of stairs, my backpack followed, being hoisted by a winch. On
the 6th floor as i started to grab my bag, something went wrong and
yelling in horror watched my backpack fall back down all 6 stories and
crash into a pile of luggage at the bottom.
Everything was fine
in the end; another guests broken vase was replaced and i was able to
fix a broken buckle on my backpack myself. A young woman at the hotel
was probably relieved of her bag loading duties though i am sure that she gained some knowledge of the stress tolerance of your average buckle.
though horrible at the time, its strangely delightful in retrospect- nobody was hurt right?
