The American War…

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city pretty tired from our three day trip through the Mekong-Delta (which dad has filled you in on) – and were happy to indulge ourselves in the three star comfort that Matt had organised. By far the nicest hotel that we have stayed in to date (however the price tag also reflected that).

Ho Chi Minh was an interesting city – they have a saying throughout Asia “Same, Same – But Different”, usually people who are trying to sell you something will use it to get a better price (it is cotton not silk, same same but different). But it could also be used to describe most of the big cities that we have visited. When you have worked out some basics like how to bargin and to watch where you are walking when going down the street you can survive in any Asian city, however there are always little customary things that you stumble upon, only through embarrassing yourself or others. So Ho Chi Minh – same, same – but different. One thing that really stands out in a city of similar size to Bangkok is the lack of development, much fewer shopping centres, high rises and general sight seeing attractions.

After meeting up with Matt he took us to the best budget restaurant in town, that he specifically sussed out for our arrival. It was very nice – on Matt’s recommendation I had an Aussie burger for dinner. We visited the Reunification Palace the next day and got our dose of propaganda – which I suppose just balances out the propaganda that we are indoctrinated with through other sources. The Vietnamese propaganda is just so blatant – and it leaves me feeling sad, because it appears to leave room for only one way of interpreting history. This has developed what appears to be a very patriotic nation – but some of the distorted facts that it (“The Peoples Party”) comes out with are almost laughable when you take into consideration other nations perspective…come to think of it there are a number of nations that you could charge with the same crime 🙂 This is a very strange, complex community – in some ways as Matt has commented we feel very at home here, but in other ways we are really struggling to understand it. You only hear quietly from some people about the hard years – no museum we have visited or famous war site have spoken of the the severe rations on the people which lead to starvation or the “re-education” camps.

The next day Dad and I spent a half day cruising around on the back of motor bikes seeing the sites (while Matt was having his turn of fighting off the food poisoning) – the highlights included some Chinese pagodas, visiting some shops that sold Chinese medicine (I bought Matt a small vile of wine with a cobra in it – medicine), a floating market on the blackest river I have ever seen (pretty much an open sewer), a visit to the Chinatown (every country has one) and a stroll along the river front. It was really good to get out of District One (tourist central) and get a look at how people live in Ho Chi Minh. Dad and I hit the central market that afternoon, I think that dad is now at the stage were he requires a candy bag to get all his wares home! I never realised how much of a shopper he is – and he wouldn’t buy anything for more than half of the original price! The shop keepers often look impressed at his bargaining skills. By the time we got back from shopping Matt was was begging to go to KFC – it was good that he had his appetite back!

The next day we visited Chu Chi tunnels – an area 60km from Ho Chi Minh city were the Viet Com built complex tunnel systems to live and fight from. These systems had everything from a hospital, an ammunition manufacturing factory, kitchen and sleeping areas. It was very eye opening, even frightening to see the way that these people lived. One thing that the Vietnamese people do very well is get across the horror of war! Our guide was an ex-south Vietnamese soldier (another contradiction that it is hard for us to get our head around), who appeared almost pro-vietcom. He was an old guy that would go off on tangents and then come out with really inappropriate jokes and you would wonder if he was joking. He loved the microphone and spent the 90 minutes bus trip telling us stories of the war. Next to the Chu Chi tunnels was a rifle range – so as we were walking through the forest and looking at the tunnels, you could hear the constant sound of gun shots…. A little too realistic for my liking. But never the less Matt was able to satisfy one of his goals for this trip – he shot off 20 rounds on an AK47, at the cost of US$1 a bullet. You can’t be too trigger happy! This was all a bit surreal.

That afternoon it was Matt and my turn to go shopping and we headed down to central market to make some purchases. Afterwards we decided to catch a Cyclo back to our hotel – we were quoted 15,000VND for both of us, which is a bit expensive (about US$1). But we were tired and wanted a lift back to the hotel about 800 meters away, so we agreed to the price. When we arrived around the corner from the hotel we were told that the drivers were not allowed to cycle down the main street at that time of day (about 200 meters left to our hotel) – which was all good, then Matt went to pay them – when he handed over 15,000 they complained that they had asked for 50,000 (just under US$4) for their 4 minutes of work. Matt had been ripped off by a cyclo driver two days prior, so we were very careful to be clear on the price before we took this trip and we felt as though these men were playing us (wanting 50,000 – for a trip that we had received for 5,000 a number of times prior). Feeling disappointed – because we hate the feeling of being ripped off, we explained that we felt that this was a bit a rich. When they dug in and said that they would starve if we did not pay them – a card regularly played with tourists, we also dug in and I said that if they wouldn’t take the 15,000 we would not pay them at all. They threatened to call the police at which I said I would be happy for this to happen as it was clear that we were the ones being ripped off (how self righteous was I). At that they played a different tact and asked for 15,000 each, to which I stated no – then they said 10,000 each and Matt being the wise man he is paid up (as by this time nearly the entire street was involved) to dissolve the situation. Sitting in the hotel room, I felt crap – quivalling over such a small amount of money! How far do you push principles? They were ripping us off – it is so hard to swallow your pride and just pay up! It takes away from the joy of travelling and it leaves you feeling cynical about the general population.

On Monday we jumped on a bus and travelled north to Da Lat – in the high country. Da Lat is much cooler than Saigon and I felt cold for the first time in a while on our first night here. We are staying in a lovely little guest house for US$7 a night. Soon as we jumped off the bus we were recruited for a “cooking class”, which turned out to be five tourists crammed into a one room “house”, watching the “chef” and his 5 assistants help prepare a meal on the floor. The learning side of the evening was pretty light, but the hospitality and the humour of the people made the evening one that we wont forget! The food was also fantastic. Today we took a tour (with the chef of last evening now turned tour guide) around the hills on the back of three motor bikes. It was great fun! I can see why people like riding – you feel a lot closer to it all. Da Lat is a funny mixture of the natural and the really tacky. With theme park like attractions set in the hills amongst a thriving farming community. Tomorrow we head to Nha Trang on the coast.

So if you have gotten this far I have to commend you for getting through my late night babble – we are off to pack our packs and tomorrow is an entirely new adventure 🙂