Behind the Bamboo Curtain

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Gooooood Morning Vietnam!

Well, I must first apologize for the lame and obvious title, but it was better than the one quote from Forrest Gump.

One word- Ho Chi Minh City, I mean Saigon, wait, I mean Ho Chi Minh City. Whatever. Arriving was a culture shock from Malaysia. I meditated for ten minutes on the plane before taking on Vietnam. It rushed over me like a hundred pumping motorcycles. Wheeling and dealing, smiling and beguiling, the Vietnamese people possess a vitality as unstemmed as the flow of manic traffic. I love it.

Traffic. I thought Cambodia had lots of traffic, near accidents, and tons of motorcycles, well, its craziness is all relative. Although there are stop lights here, people don't really care about them. Nate and I have coined the term "stop-tionals." Moto drivers sort of plow through and chose whether or not the intersection with eighty motos is crossable, to them, it usually appears to be doable. The streets overwhelm and overload your senses. Rather than fight it, we still down and drink a beer with the local working men, buy plates of rice from the women with pole-baskets, and cross the street multiple times for cheap thrills.

The People. Friendly, charismatic, and clever. Those are the best words to describe them. They smile more than any other group of people. This of course causes me to smile back and everyone is happy. They are always trying to make a deal, sell a toy, or take you off to show you something. My advice: smile. It’s as simple as that.

The Mekong. Mighty, mighty. We took a day tour that had us learning about coconut candy production, honey and bee keeping, python holding, and long boat riding. Touristy, yet informative and interesting. The python took quite a shining to me, and her constricting was a little embarrassing and frightening. Luckily, I got out of her clutches….at least I think it was a her. Anyways, it was a nice day and the islands on the Mekong were covered with agriculture and life.

The Cu Chi Tunnels. These were amazing. There are 200km of extensive underground tunnels outside of Saigon that lead to the Saigon River and into former US bases. Our guide was quite a comedian. He explained that Americans and westerns can’t fit in the tunnels because of their “big asses.” He says, the Vietnamese women have small asses and cook great. So, his advice was for each of us to find our own little Miss Saigon. Apparently, I have a small ass because I fit in the tunnel and went about 30 meters before claustrophobia kicked in and I had to exit.

After the tunnels, we went to the War Remnants museum. It gave a graphic portrayal of the war and several pictures of Mr. McNamara. In fact, they tried to sell me “In Retrospect” outside the museum. Little did they know….In any case, the museum was informative, and I learned more about the efforts of both sides.

That just about brings this chronicle to an end. I have uploaded even more pictures. They even cover the Mekong and the Cu Chi tunnels, so be sure to take a look. Oh, and there are a couple of different facial hair styles. Just for the record, I am back to being cleanly shaven though, the mustache didn't last. Enjoy: http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=183770203205&page=1&sort_order=0

Smile.

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