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