Traffic and Biking

On Tuesday we left the gentle, easy countryside and flew in to Ho Chi !inh City or Saigon as the city is still frequently referred to. This is Vietnam’s largest city. It is a fast-paced metropolis full of contrasts, with street vendors selling fruit and vegetables next to glitzy western-style bars and boutiques. Amazingly, the city’s history dates back only 300 years. In 1859 the city was captured by the French and became the capital of Cochin China. From 1956 until April 1975 it was the capital of the US-backed Republic of Vietnam. Today, Ho Chi Minh City is very much the heart of Vietnamese business and entrepreneurial activity. The French left their mark with some fine colonial-era buildings such as the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. An interesting and frenetic city to say the least. Contrary to what we've experienced thus far, there are many, many more cars. There are at least 4 lanes of traffic going in any direction, both sides of the street. Lines in the road are only rough suggestions, as are traffic lights. One lives by the horn here. It means: coming through, watch out, move over, turning, look out pedestrian, hello, and much more. When crossing streets as a pedestrian, one just walks slowly into the traffic. Don't stop, for heavens sake, don't turn back, just keep moving and things just seem to work out. This day we saw...The Notre Dame Cathedral and Old Post Office: Built between 1877 and 1883 this is one of the best examples of classical French colonial architecture. Remarkably every stone used in its creation was shipped from France to Vietnam. Her two forty metre towers, topped with iron spires, still dominate the city’s skyline. The Old Post Office is another example of French colonial architecture and is also the country’s largest post office.

The Reunification Palace: This is one of the most important buildings in the city. Here on April 30th 1975 the ‘American War’ officially ended when tank number 843 of the North Vietnamese Army crashed through the gates of what was, at the time the residence of the President of the Republic of Vietnam.
The War Remnants Museum: Formerly known as the Museum of American War Crimes, this is a poignant display of the futility of war. Some of the black and white photography in the ‘Requiem’ exhibit is particularly touching, dedicated to both foreign and Vietnamese journalists and photographers who perished during the conflict. The courtyard outside contains the spoils of war, namely rusting jets, tanks and cannons captured from the American military machine. This was a particularly difficult place to visit. The Requiem exhibit is truly touching and I''ll leave it at that for now.

This morning we were picked up at 7:15 A.m. We drive out of the bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh Long. We have 40 km cycle ride along a combination of well paved, sand and dirt paths. It was obvious that not many tourists come here biking. Little kids, old ladies and construction workers to name just a few ran to the side of the path to stare, smile, call out "Hello," and wave. Lovely. At the end of the briking, we have a 2 hour traditional boat trip from Cai Be to Vinh Long to experience river life. We went from the Cai Be floating market, to lunch on the Mekong Deltaand back to My Tho where our van is waiting to drive back to Ho Chi Minh city. The delta is a huge water way. We think about the young John Kerry and so many others who traveled these waterways. Amazing.

Tomorrow we check out at 9:00, visit the Cu Chi tunnels, and then in the early afternoon, we fly to Cambodia where we will stay in Siem Reap.

Hotel, Saigon



Post Office


Below our windows at night...a gambling boat on Saigon river


Saigon city street


War Remnants museum


Biking


Elephant fish for lunch


The Mekong Delta...forever and miles and miles of water




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Location:Saigon--Ho Chi MInh City

Cooking School

We are in a beautiful hotel about 20 klicks down the shoreline from China Beach. Outside we see and hear the sea. The breeze is constant and here we have found rest. Arriving Sunday afternoon, we entered our room and both fell onto the bed. We awoke about 2 hours later--each from a seeming blackout. It is very tiring going from place to place, just the two of us with a guide. No hiding. No time-outs. The upside is that we are learning a lot.

It is a bit daunting to look at the jungle-forrested mountains, the rivers, and rice fields and not think of what a terrifying time it must have been to be a U.S. soldier, fighting in a war against a people and a culture totally unknown and unfamiliar. And for what? The Vietnamese farmers wanted only to grow rice and their families. The Vietnamese politicos wanted their own country. The American government allowed neither to happen. We came over two mountain passes to get to Da Nang. At the top of one, our guide pointed to a mountain far distant. " There," he said, "lies part of the Ho Chi Minh trail. It runs 1,000 miles from Hanoi to Saigon, and totally? It is 10,000 miles."

"The first U.S. air strikes occur against the Ho Chi Minh trail. Throughout the war, the trail is heavily bombed by American jets with little actual success in halting the tremendous flow of soldiers and supplies from the North. 500 American jets will be lost attacking the trail. After each attack, bomb damage along the trail is repaired by female construction crews."

We pass through Da Nang with a side trip to China Beach. "March 8, 1965 - The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam as 3500 Marines land at China Beach to defend the American air base at Da Nang. They join 23,000 American military advisors already in Vietnam." (http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1965.html)

As we enter Hoi An, one of the most ancient cities in Vietnam, we turn our thoughts to resting and our cooking class. In the morning, after a good night's rest, our guide delivers us to the Red Bridge Restaurant and bids us good-day. We have a welcome drink--papaya smoothies. Soon we are together with six others and a guide takes us to the local market. Happily this is an informational tour. The ingredients for our class are already purchased. We learn about vegetables, spices, fish, chicken...amazing stuff. At the market we buy two small 1 cup coffee makers, and some spices. When we finish, our guide puts us on a boat and we are off to the cooking school.

Now, we are a group of about twenty. We end up at a beautiful spot along the river and have a tour of the herb garden. We then wash hands and are shown to a large outdoor room. There are bout 20 chairs, each with a clipboard and a pen. The clipboard contains menus and recipes. Flanking 3 sides of the room are 20 cooking stations, each with a one burner "stove" and whatever other materials we will need. In front of us is a demonstration table and over that is a mirror, lest we not be able to see the cook. The cook! His English is wonderful, his talents to sing about, and his sense of humor is amazing.

Menu:
1. Seafood salad with Vietnamese herbs served in half a pineapple...a warm-up demo to put us at ease. "cut pineapple in half...like this, trying not to cut finger...shocking to guests."
2. Fresh rice paper rolls of shrimp...nice demo of making rice paper wrappings (batter onto cotton cloth over boiling water...). Take off with bamboo stick, put on plate, add shrimp and herbs, roll like you roll joint...simple. Now you go to station and make...and we did and they were delicious.
3. Hoi An Pancakes...rice batter again...add to oil in pan...let sizzle, add shrimp and other veggies. Stir, stir so the batter becomes loose in pan, then flip like so (he flips the pancake with a nudge of the pan, we ohh, ahh--groan when we realize we're next)...it comes out OK, most of us use spatulas to flip.
4. Vietnamese Eggplant in clay pot...first chop all ingredients...then start with oil, garlic...do not burn garlic. People will not like...we use clay pot. Know why? Keeps food warm, but mostly, if you cook in regular pot it's ugly. No one will want to eat what you cook. Use clay pot...use regular pot your family will hate. Then family will starve. Better to use clay pot. So we did and it turned out...delicious.
5. Food Decoration...oh god! Just what we dreaded. Cook takes 1/2 cucumber...removes seeds, makes a series of angled cuts down cuke, then folds every other cut into a loop...beautiful. We are miserable at this. Knives are dull, disaster. The Aussies next to us do miracles just like teacher. Next? Peel tomato in one long, spiral strip...no look at pretty girl, no talk to friend, no answer phone as you peel tomato...now wrap peel back and see? He has a rose on top of a peeled tomato...needless to say, we are dunces. Pam gives up half way. I finish peeling with my peel in three pieces. I wind it up, tuck the ends Into one another, looks like flower after a hard rain.

After that we take our clay pots and go to the outdoor eating area where we have beer and several of the professionally prepared dishes we just cooked. Our clay pots are just great and we have several ideas for party where friends and family can make their own rice paper hors d'oeuvres...what fun it will be.

After we eat, a boat comes to get us. On the way back we stop and watch a man and a woman net fishing off of an old wooden boat. When we return to the ancient market, we walk to get a taxi...on the way we buy some lanterns. We get a taxi and come back to our hotel. In the bar we sit and have wine and talk about what great fun the day has been. Now we are resting some more. Our guide comes for us at 8:15 a.m. And we are off for Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Sweet dreams.

Da Nang helicopter base




Lantern market



Cooking school market tour (and below)


Drive through shopping







Crabs



Mackerel



Fabulous chef



Way to Go...nice clay pot


A flop...



How it SHOULD look


Cast you nets!



Basket boats


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Location:Hoi An

Kings, Monks, War, and Tombs

After breakfast (at 8AM), we begin with a trip to the ancient walled Citadel containing the former Imperial Palace. The Citadel was closely modeled along the lines of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Later take a cruise on the Perfume River to see Thien Mu pagoda. In the afternoon, set out on a tour of the Emperor's residence is a trip into the surrounding countryside to see the final resting place of the Emperors by visiting two of the most impressive royal tombs.

The imperial palace is being restored...a lot of building and refurbishing going on, a huge lot of buildings gone, and some of the original buildings still standing. In front is a moat and a three tiered structure. It was here that for 23 or so days the Viet Cong and Regular Vietnam army fought against each other for the right to raise their own flag (the communist flag flies uncontested today). The Viet Cong occupied this imperial Palace and apparently the Americans were reluctant to bomb because of the destruction it would cause to historical structures (apparently our government used to care about things like that). Finally, it was decided there was no other way to remove the Viet Cong and the bombs dropped. Even today the large stone walls contain bullet chips and holes, and in some places shrapnel remains embedded. We entered a room in which the Emperor abdicated in favor of the French in 1945. From then on, the Emperor was only a French puppet and did little to help his people who wanted to be free of French rule and live in an independent Vietnam. The Imperial grounds are enormous covering hundreds of acres. It is hard to imagine the labor and resources it took to construct this place...let alone maintain it. The Imperial Capitol was moved from the Hanoi area to Hue in the early 1800's. The reason was an auspicious building site (water in the form of a river, and several mountains) and the desire to place the Capital more nearly at the center of the country. Only the first four kings opposed foreign rule and worked for the people. The rest know towed to foreign influences and did very little for the people.

We went on to Thien Mu pagoda from the Imperial Palace. This is not truly a pagoda, but a stupa that hold the remains of holy people. It is also a monestary. We were fortunate enough to be there when two women and a child were receiving blessings. All of the monks (1 doing the main part of the blessing, two drumming and chanting, and one chanting and striking a large, brass bell/bowl) were dressed in saffron robes. The temple was very beautiful and peaceful, and we made a video and voice recording of the ceremony. We walked around the grounds as our guide told us a bit of the history of the place. "I have a surprise for you," he said and led us to a building that housed an old and rusting Mercedes. "What do you think this is?" he asked. Thinking a car in a monastery was odd we were silent. "This is the car belonging to the Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc. On June 11, 1963 he drove from this monastery to Saigon. Once in the city, he got out of his car, sat in the street in the lotus position, and his assistant poured gasoline over him, and lit him on fire. The protest was against the Diem regime's discrimination against and prosecution of Buddhist monks. This was the man who made headlines in the US news and was seen on televisions around the world. And here we were standing before his car. It was overwhelming. A while later I asked our guide if Vietnamese people still knew of Thich Nhat Hahn. Because I pronounced the name so badly, it took a minute for Quoc, our guide, to know who I was asking about. Then, "Oh Yes! He has come back to Vietnam many times. After the war he returned to Hue to hold a very large ceremony to honor the dead soldiers of both the Viet Cong and regular Vietnamese army. I liked the story as I knew that Thich Nhat Hahn had been part of the Vietnamese delegation to the Paris Peace talks...representing the hope of peace and bringing his country together. Later, because he refused to acknowledge the communist government and condemn others, he was banished from his homeland.


After those visits, we had a cruise on the river, lunch, and visits to two tombs of former kings. Before viviting the second tomb, we made a stop at a street vendor who was making joss (incense) sticks and traditional hats. Pam was invited to try her hand at making a joss stick from the fragrant cinnamon paste. It was pretty funny and we all had a good laugh. We also made amends bt buying several packs of joss sticks. Now we are resting at home...Pam is having a massage, and I am writing.

Traditional junk, HaLong Bay


Our junk...the govt mandated that all tourist boats be painted white...kind of loses the magic, we think.



Four years old. His Grandpa is the village leader and because Gpa was talking to us, this guy just unmoored the family boat and rowed across to see what was happening.



Our room at this beautiful Pilgrimage Inn in Hue




Bullet holes and shrapnel in wall of Imperial Palace


Pam making a joss stick. Oh, No!!!



The car of The Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc




Gates at one of the Imperial Tombs



Royal Unicorn



Looking through another gate



Confucian tomb guardian



Soldier guardian



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Location:Hue

Back from SaPa on to Ha Long Bay

Day 6 [05, Mar]: Lao Cai - Sapa
The overnight train was way different than we thought. Perhaps we were thinking of the Orient Express? Our impressions are colored by fatigue, I''m sure judging by the fact that we both fell asleep even before the train pulled out of the station. What we heard and felt was from a dream-like, half asleep, trance state. We had a small cabin with two platform beds (factual). The window was foggy, so we couldn't see out...no matter, it was dark, as this is, of course,the overnight train! There were noises as we rolled up into the mountains...something by our cabin sounded like a bocci ball rolling and banging against something metallic. I could also hear voices once in awhile. We stopped several times in the night to take people on and let them off, and of course, when conditions are least lovely, that is when I have to use the "toilette" at least four times during the night: come semi-awake, lurch my way down a swaying corridor (thank goodness the corridor was only shoulder wide), get to the common toilet (which is a squat toilet), try to hit the small bore opening without hitting my shoes (cause the train is still lurching and there is only one small handhold), heave myself to a standing position, grab my pants and fasten them before they drop to the floor in the, well even mutt would be preferable!), stagger back to our cabin, remove shoes and fall immediately to sleep. We tried to remember that Duc our guide, cautioned us about pickpockets, so keep the cabin door locked, don't get in crowds where people are pushing (no problem, I was the only person lurching to and from the toilet all those times) AND don't try to get off the train until Duc comes for us. Some passengers have been kidnapped to China (at my age, with an over-active bladder? Don't kid yourself, Duc!)

That day we take a long walk in the morning after a freshen up shower in our beautiful hotel...we see several markets, buffalo, kids, families, dogs, roosters, and pigs. We return to the hotel for a rest and then walk the gold of the afternoon through small villages where families tend the newly planted
or still under cultivation rice fields. The smoke from burning fields puts a haze over everything. We are accompanied everywhere by Hmong women.
If I drop behind to take a picture, they close in on me..."Hello, Miss. You buy from me?" "No, thank you." I hurry to catch up. They hang off my shoulder. "Hello. Your name?". "No," I say. "You buy this small purse?". "No" we both smile acknowledging the ridiculous game we play. "Where you from?". "No" I say, and they drop back resuming their walking gossip. I imagine they say: "Stupid, rich people. No buy. Don't know own names, don't know where they come from."

The next day we are awakened at 5:00 a.m. By the local communist committee's wake up and announcements to the village. The community is encouraged to work hard for the benefit of all. In the evening there is another announcement to say, stop working and to give a few highlights from the day. On this day we visit a distant, once a week market of Hmong. It is filled with people, food, goods, animals and families who are here to shop for the week and catch up with friends. After the market we take a river cruise on a long tail boat, then back to Hanoi on the overnight train (sit down toilets, very nice), a quick repack and now we await the bus that will take us to Ha Long Bay...and our two day luxury cruise. No more postings 'til we get back to land. If you want to say howdy, just send an email to our regular addresses. Also, when I have my head more together about the visit to Ho Chi Minh I will write about...Conflicting emotions, lots of good talk, and very interesting.
Ho Chi Minh Mauseleum




Overnight train...






Chickens to market

Hotel






Chilies at market




Mom n baby

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Location:Hanoi

Catching Up #2

Pictures from Bangkok and first hours in Hanoi




Rose apple...delicious, and it was under a rose apple tree Siddhartha, the young Buddha, sat and first experienced meditation at age 9.




From the 20th floor balcony of our room, Bangkok.




Spacious and oh so comfortable.




Looking up river




At the Grand Palace.




A monkey god pushes a mountain back into place.




The face of the gigantic Reclining Buddha.




Hmmmm...




Bringing trade goods back from China long, long ago, boats required ballast. The Chinese put huge chunks of stone in the holds of trade boats. They carved the stones to give them added value. This is a carving representing Marco Polo.




The Palace of the Dawn with long tail boards darting about in foreground.




One of the many massage positions I experienced during our 2 hour, traditional herbal massage. Notice how the masseuse uses feet on the victim as well as pulling joints. The recipient here is The Hermit Doctor, personal physician to the Buddha.




York rubbing the belly of the Smiling Buddha--for good luck and good health.




Pottery shards that form facade and decoration of the Temple of the Dawn.




Our room in Hanoi.




Getting fixed up on the lakeshore in Hanoi.




A very BIG Tur-tel, and mutt.
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Location:Hanoi,Vietnam