Mekong Delta: The boats have eyes

     The Mekong Delta River cruise today illustrated lessons regarding ecology, economics, farming, religion, and history. Phillip and I joined ten other travellers for a boat tour from Ho Chi Minh City into the Mekong Delta. After we left the central city with its hi-rise buildings and fancy hotels, we boated thru an area our guide, Hang, called the Saigon slum area. We saw these barely river-worthy boats that Hang said came from deeper in the Delta, people who would bring produce down to the city to sell it, moor on the river and sell from the bank. If the police came, they pulled their goods back on their boat.

just outside the central city, along the Mekong

     The second area was comprised of ramshackle houses built on stilts. When we began our river cruise, it was low tide and we could see the wooden piers in the water.

houses along the Mekong River

    According to Hang, the government wants to get rid of these slums because they discharge sewage directly into the Mekong River. They are building high rise apartments for the people who live in the stilt homes, but the apartments are an hour away and moving would take the people from their livelihood on the water, without new jobs to go to. So, the people here do not want to move, even though their housing situation, and quality of the Mekong water, will be improved.

     A commercial area was our next sight up the river. Barges bring sand and rock down the river and off-load it, then trucks come and take it for construction sites in town. We also passed a huge wholesale vegetable market. We smelled the fish sauce factory before we came to it. A lot of commerce uses the Mekong River for the transportation of goods. 

     After a bit, however, we did leave boat congestion and polluted water. The river water was never clear because of all the silt it carries down, but it looked better the farther we got from Ho Chi Minh City.

Mekong River, away from the city

     We stopped at a Buddhist Temple, then at a farm where we saw tapioca in various stages of growth, sugarcane fields, mango and jackfruit trees. Tapioca is grown for its roots, which are processed and dried, then sold as either tapioca flour or turned into boba, those almost gelatinous balls that can be found in some Asian drinks. In the USA, we are mostly just familar with tapioca pudding, but tapioca can be transformed into much more.

Young tapioca plants

We walked for about thrity minutes through the countryside on this trail.

    I'm calling it a trail, but it was actually also a road. We had to step to the side several times to let motorcycles pass. Note that it is raised above the field level as the fields flood with heavy rains frequently.

     Back on our boat for more water travel before our next stop for refreshment - very fresh coconut juice. Hang said that the best coconuts to drink for their juice are those picked about four months after they form. This coconut juice was quite tasty and the coconut was obviously younger than other I have had.

     We also stopped at a town market along the river. Although Phillip and I generally visit the local markets wherever we travel, several folks on our boat had not walked thru one. Hang explained the different vegetables sold in the maket and their role in Vietnamese cooking. I was drooling over all the fruit that the market sold. It is mango season now.

local market: mangos for sale

    The vendors had brought their wares to the market by boating down the various canals that feed into the river. After lunch, we headed back down the river to Ho Chi Minh City.

Mekong River during our return trip, high tide

About those eyes on the boats....

Hang shared with us that the Vietnamese have been painting eyes on the prow of their boats for a long time, to protect the boats from monsters and evil spirits.

According to several sources, the first king of Vietnam, in the 1st century, B.C.E., ordered that the boats be painted to protect people from sea monsters. Scholars think the sea monsters were probably crocodiles.

We saw the eyes on almost all the boats that weren't barges. Barges have flat fronts so the eyes wouldn't work to scare off the sea monsters. 

Second tour, water puppets, and weasel coffee

     For our second day, we had a full day, custom tour with a delightful young university student, Thu. She was a first year university student, also from the Hoi An area, and also good at English. She is studying German and literature at the university. Thu met us promptly at 9 am. She had planned to take us to the Reunification Palace, but since we visited it yesterday with Hua and Linh, she immediately suggested the History Museum instead.
     Thu knew her Vietnamese ancient history and told stories as we walked thru displays of artifacts from the ancient dynasties that ruled Vietnam. For example, Vietnam was the only country that was able to repel Mongol invaders during their three attacks on Hanoi. They did it by emptying the city just before the Mongols arrived, then surrounding and defeating the Mongols when they moved into Hanoi. This tactic worked for all three Mongol attacks. The museum was interesting, but the fun part of the morning was talking to the groups of kids (probably about 5 years old) who were also touring the museum. To the kids, Phillip and I were more interesting than Khmer jewelry or Cham artwork. A lot of the kids, to our surprise, approached us and said "Hello, what's your name?" in English! The funny part is that we'd bend down and respond, "Hello, I'm Pat (or Phillip), what's your name?" I think their English lessons had only gotten to the question, not the answer, because each one who spoke to us then looked at their teacher who was chuckling and smiling. She translated briefly and several were then able to respond with what was probably their name. They did know "high five" and Phillip high fived several when we realized they couldn't actually have a conversation. Thu said that English is taught in Vietnamese schools these days.

Cute kids who knew a few words of English

     We joined the kids for a performance of the Saigon Water Puppet show. Some of the kids were absolutely enthralled by the water puppets. None of the kids acted up a bit. Thu had told us this was the smaller, less elaborate show. It was cute with a plotline of fishing and dragons, and a cat that darted out and tried to eat the ducks. The kids squealed when the dragon puppet squirted water at them.

Saigon Water Puppet Show

     After lunch of sizzling pancake, crab soup, and barbecue pork with broken rice, Thu took us to the War Remnants Museum. This was the most serious museum we visited, and probably will visit. One floor was dedicated to the photojournalists who died during the war and the photographs they took. Other displays were of the devastation of the people and the land caused by Agent Orange and some of the other atrocities of the war, including My Lai. The grounds outside had a replica of the island prison built by the French, including the guillotine that the French, and later the South Vietnamese leaders, used on prisoners. I didn't take pictures inside the museum because it was a somber place, but I did get a picture of one of the many tanks parked around the building.

tanks on the grounds of the War Remnants Museum

     Thu took us to a coffee shop after the War Remnants Museum. The coffee shop was not a serious place. It served "weasel coffee," which I ordered. Thu whispered that it was "poop coffee." She was referring to the coffee beans eaten by civet cats, then harvested after the beans pass thru the civet cat's digestive system. I checked on-line and learned that Vietnam's "weasel coffee" is probably made with a chemical process that replicates the action of the cat's digesive system, so my coffee was most likely not poop coffee. But then again, maybe it was! It actually tasted like strong coffee to me. My palate is not refined enough to really taste anything special in weasel coffee, but now I can say I've had it!

weasel coffee and the ice to pour it over

     Phillip and I really enjoyed our day with Thu. She is such a great representative of the young people of Vietnam. She answered all our questions, was curious about life in Texas and was such a joy to talk with. Thu said that Saigon Hotpot has about 80 students available to conduct tours and they provide about 100 free tours a month. I'm glad I arranged similar tour guides in Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi.

Phillip and Thu

Keyword for Ho Chi Minh City: Humidity

    Phillip and I arrived without incident into Vietnam. Our flight from DFW Airport, layover in Hong Kong, and flight to Ho Chi Minh City were quite the test of our endurance. We both dozed a little, not much, on the flights and Phillip slept for about an hour in the lounge in Hong Kong Airport. Twenty-five hours after first boarding, we landed in Ho Chi Minh City.

Heading out from DFW Airport

    Our e-visa worked exactly as it was supposed to. We went into the regular immigration line immediately after deplaning and breezed thru, being processed even quicker than the Asian lady ahead of us in line. A note for future travelers: get your money changed into Vietnamese dong at the airport in Vietnam. Phillip stopped at the exchange desk at DFW Airport, but they only offered 3.5 million dong for US $220. At the HCMC airport, he exchanged $200 for 4.5 million dong, over 25% better value! We are still getting used to the Vietnamese currency, but I do like it. It is made of an almost plastic material. About ten years ago, the Vietnamese government went to this material because the paper bills did not last, disintegrating in the humidity.

600,000 VND = about $28

    Our hotel, Huong Sen Hotel, is well-located and the staff is friendly. The breakfast buffet is exceptional and is served on the rooftop terrace. An egg station so you can request fresh eggs cooked to order; warming trays with different fried rice and entree items, mostly pork; bacon; fresh fruit; pastries; and beverages such as coffee and juices. I tried the aloe vera yogurt - it was surprisingly good and I'll eat it again. A slightly grassy flavor and the chunks of aloe vera worked to provide a bit of chewiness, just like strawberries and peached work in yogurt. I didn't get any gelatinous feel in my mouth like I thought I would.
     After breakfast, Phillip and I walked around for about two hours. We weren't yet brave enough to cross any major streets, so we basically made a large block. The information in the guidebooks about traffic is absolutely correct.
     Promptly at 1:30 today, we met with Hua and Ling, our student guides. We spent a delightful afternoon with them. Their command of English was exceptional, especially Hua. She was the more studious one, taking summer classes and planning to graduate early from college. Both girls were second year college students, majoring in Economics.

The girls took us to the Reunification Palace, the former Presidential Palace which is a very well-preserved museum.

The rooms were time capsules of the 1960s, with furnishings, telephones, and telegraphs from that era. The girls explained the history, that this was where the fall of Saigon officially occurred in 1975 when the North Vietnamese tanks came thru the front gate. The grounds are well-maintained and contain actual tanks and planes from the era.

     After the Reunification Palace, we went to a coffee shop: a mango smoothies for Phillip and iced coffee with coconut milk for Hua and me. Ling had a tasty-looking yogurt beverage. Hua had a class in the evening, so she left and Ling took us to Ben Thahn Market. We didn't buy anything there, but the market is on the highlights list for Ho Chi Minh City. Ling said that the market has developed into a more tourist destination. She had actually never been there before. It reminded me of the Bangkok markets with vendor stalls piled to the ceiling and very narrow walkways.

      By this time, our shirts were drenched with sweat, so we enjoyed going to an air-conditioned restaurant for dinner with Ling. Pho and the noodle/pork dish I like for me. Although it was after dark when we walked back to our hotel after dinner, the humidity was still extremely high. Another tip for travelers: don't expect to wear your clothes for more than one day!
     We thoroughly enjoyed our first day in Vietnam, especially our interaction with Hua and Ling. Their enthusiasm for learning about us and their pride in their country was evident. They both came from small communities, Hua from the north and Ling from near Hoi An, so we talked farming with them. They described their university system (future military people and teachers get a free university education, everyone else has to pay). They referred to Ho Chi Minh City several times as Saigon, so we asked about it. Ling said that HCMC is more proper and her friends that are politically connected do try to correct her, but Saigon is still a common usage name for the city since that's what older people know it as. It was so rewarding to have them as our student guides and as the website said, the girls would not accept a tip and did recommend we donate to the charity described on Saigonhotpot website.
     We are happy that we chose to visit Vietnam and look forward to meeting another student guide tomorrow for more sight-seeing.

Vietnam: Our Next Adventure

    Our travel year is here again! Phillip and I alternate a year of journey and adventure with a year close to home, tending to my garden. 2017 was a garden year, and a bountiful garden it was, over 1500 pounds of tomatoes and new harvest records for ten of the vegetables we grow. The effort is worth it for the nutritious food we have, but I'm glad our travel year is here.

     Vietnam is our first destination. Our knowledge of Vietnam prior to my research for our trip came from the evening news during the 1960s and early 1970s. The Unites States military involvement in Vietnam ended while Phillip and I were in high school, although my older brothers served in the Army and Navy during the conflict.
    After the fall of Saigon in 1975, we rarely heard about Vietnam as the country followed an isolationist path and had very little economic growth. To us, it was just a poor country in Asia that did not want outsiders to visit. In 1986, the Vietnamese government realized its policies were not working and committed to economic liberalization and a more market-based economy. The Vietnamese government still controls political expression, but steps are being taken toward better protection of human rights.
    Vietnam has changed greatly from the country that Phillip and I saw on the news fifty years ago. A country of 96 million people, Vietnam has a 95% literacy rate and 53% of the population uses the Internet. The greatest share of Vietnam's exports come to the United States. The country is slightly larger than New Mexico in land mass and much of the terrain destroyed by napalm and Agent Orange has been reclaimed. According to the World Bank, in 1995 Vietnam had just over one million tourists. During 2016, that number had grown to over ten million visitors. The southern portion of the country is tropical, while the northern portion is temperate. Time for a map:

     The map indicates the route of our adventure. We fly into Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon) then make our way north to Hanoi. Acording to Lonely Planet, the Vietnamese road system is not the best, so we chose to fly from Ho Chi Minh City to the middle of the country, into Danang, then take vehicle transportation south to Hoi An, and back north to Hue. We then fly from Hue to Hanoi. That loop near Hanoi illustrates our 3-day, 2-night cruise of Halong Bay.
     We are looking forward to tropical fruit, excellent food, and seeing locations we heard of as children. All five cities we are visiting have a program where university students who want to practice English serve as free tour guides in the central city. I've arranged the student-led tours in all but Danang (because Danang is a 2-night beach stop for us).
    Regarding trip preparations, we did have to get a visa; however, last year Vietnam started an e-visa process. Our visa process was completed entirely on the Internet. The only hiccup was that my browser did not approve of the security protocols on the payment page. I went to my cell phone and was able to make the payment. We received our e-visas within a week of application. Our packing is almost exactly like the packing we did for our Thailand and Philippines trips. I no longer have an argument with Phillip over blue jeans. He has accepted the fact that they stay home! Two carry-on size suitcases, although we will check them; a small lightweight backpack for me; and Phillip's small carry-on duffle for charger cords and snacks.
   Another trip preparation item was lunch a few weeks ago at a Vietnamese restaurant with my retiree buddies. I took a picture of the restaurant version of pho (soup), I expect to have pictures of authentic pho to post and compare in the next month!

American version of beef pho

     Our itinerary will unfold and you can share our journey as I post to this blog. All of the hotels I selected have Internet access in the rooms, breakfast buffets and swimming pools. Phillip and I are ready for this new adventure! As the famous philospher Anonymous once said, "We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us."