Thursday, December 14, 2006
Good Morning, Vietnam (as the saying goes)
Hello from Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam. I arrived here three days ago after a six-hour bus ride from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Postscript from Phnom Penh. On my last day there, I met a Brit named Michael who spends three months a year in Cambodia. Michael is 58 years old and on his arm, he totes around a gorgeous 25-year old Cambodian woman named Lynn. Lynn does not speak a lick of English so I gather it's a relationship made in heaven from Michael's perspective. I first met Michael at my hotel as he was staying there too. I later met him in the afternoon at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) which is a popular expat hang-out. Our conversation went as follows:
Michael: I love this place. It's what Thailand was thirty years ago. (Pause.) You might ask yourself what a guy like me is doing with this young bird. I'll be honest. I was happily married for years and have two beautiful children. But there came a day when I said to myself, "I want to be free". My wife and I divorced amicably and I proceeded to play the field with no restraint. I love sex. I live in South Africa part of the year where I have African girlfriends. In Cambodia, I have Lynn. When you enter a relationship with a Cambodian woman, you enter an arrangementwith the family whereby you support them. This is reasonable as the cost of living is not high here. I pay the tuition of her young daughter."
At which point, Michael turns to Lynn and asks how old her daughter is. She replies one is five and the other is four. Michael and I are totally confused and he repeats the question. She then indicates she has TWO children, not one, which comes as a surprise to Michael. He is clearly embarrassed about the fact that he is not aware of this but being the good sport that he is, we have a huge laugh at his expense. He shrugs and sighs, saying "well, that's two sets of school fees for me to worry about". A vignette from life in Asia.
The bus ride to Saigon was really interesting as I saw the evolution from poverty-striken Cambodia to more affluent, booming Vietnam. By the time we reached Saigon, I was in shock. The city is a huge, sprawling metropolis. Every available space is taken with shopfronts and apartments and the roads are clogged with thousands and thousands of motorcycles and scooters. Most of the drivers are wearing either the conical straw hats which are typically Vietnamese or baseball caps with either the full faces covered or a surgical face mask over their mouths to block the pollution. Cause let me tell you, this is smog central, way worse than Mexico City. The other reason that the women are meticulous in covering themselves up is that they pride themselves are keeping their skin as white and tan-free as possible as this is the Asian ideal of beauty. (Poor Cambodian women. Because they are a mix of Indian and Chinese, they have dark skin. This does not keep them from trying. Everywhere I went to find body lotion, I came across "whitening lotions" produced by Nivea, Vaseline, Ponds, etc. Unbelievable. I had the saleswomen cracking up by asking 'Do I look like I need whitening cream?!'
Anyway, I have never seen motorcycle and scooter traffic like this. I thought Phnom Penh was a trip but it pales in comparison to this city. You literally take your life in your hands by either getting on the back of one or attempting to walk across the street in front of them. The golden rule when crossing the street is to NOT hesitate but keep moving forward. The drivers will see you and veer out of your way. Never, ever freeze or attempt to go backwards as this completely throws the traffic flow. Saigon is a study in contrasts. The city is full of designer stores such as Roberto Cavalli, Tods, Armani and Gucci with hawkers selling $1 t-shirts out front. Gorgeous restaurants and trendy bars grace high streets like the Dong Khoi where I'm staying but around the corner are street stalls where people sit on plastic patio furniture and enjoy $1 bowls of pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup (which I'm enjoying for breakfast most days).
Yesterday, I did a full-day tour of the city, visiting several temples, the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum. The Reunification Palace was a study in time warp: it looks like it must have in the 60s when President Diem was based here and had to flee it suddenly when the government came under attack by the Communists. The basement contains a bunker complete with a war command room, rooms of old technology and desks covered with phones. The War Remnants Museum was so powerful. It's set up to be a photo exhibition and series of displays which document the Vietnam War (known as the American War here in Vietnam). It is horrible to see photos showing the bombing and poisoning ofVietnamese people and villages. The museum even shows fetuses deformed from Agent Orange floating in formeldahyde. This is a very effective anti-war showcase which I found to be doubly sad and tragic given the current war in Iraq.
Today, following the theme of war, I visited the Cu Chi Tunnels just outside of Saigon. The tunnels cover 250 kilometres of underground passageways where the Vietnamese lived and fought against the Americans. The tunnels contain three levels: level one being three metres underground, level two being six metres underground and level three being 10 metres underground. There were airholes at different points to guarantee air circulation. Everything was done in the tunnels: cooking, sleeping, making clothes and weapons, tending to the sick and wounded. The tunnels are tiny due to the size of the Vietnamese. Apparently, the Americans had trouble getting around due to their larger size. The tunnels opened up near the Saigon River which provided an easy escape route. The Vietnamese even fooled the German Shepherd dogs which the Americans used to locate the tunnels. Since they knew Americans eat black pepper and spicy food, they put chili and pepper near the entrances. Since the dogs were used to the smell of Americans, they couldn't detect any trace of the Vietnamese. A few of us crawled partway through the tunnels. It was a scary, claustrophobic experience - you couldn't see anything around you and it was hot as hades down there.
Tomorrow, I head for a two day trip to the Mekong Delta.
Michael: I love this place. It's what Thailand was thirty years ago. (Pause.) You might ask yourself what a guy like me is doing with this young bird. I'll be honest. I was happily married for years and have two beautiful children. But there came a day when I said to myself, "I want to be free". My wife and I divorced amicably and I proceeded to play the field with no restraint. I love sex. I live in South Africa part of the year where I have African girlfriends. In Cambodia, I have Lynn. When you enter a relationship with a Cambodian woman, you enter an arrangementwith the family whereby you support them. This is reasonable as the cost of living is not high here. I pay the tuition of her young daughter."
At which point, Michael turns to Lynn and asks how old her daughter is. She replies one is five and the other is four. Michael and I are totally confused and he repeats the question. She then indicates she has TWO children, not one, which comes as a surprise to Michael. He is clearly embarrassed about the fact that he is not aware of this but being the good sport that he is, we have a huge laugh at his expense. He shrugs and sighs, saying "well, that's two sets of school fees for me to worry about". A vignette from life in Asia.
The bus ride to Saigon was really interesting as I saw the evolution from poverty-striken Cambodia to more affluent, booming Vietnam. By the time we reached Saigon, I was in shock. The city is a huge, sprawling metropolis. Every available space is taken with shopfronts and apartments and the roads are clogged with thousands and thousands of motorcycles and scooters. Most of the drivers are wearing either the conical straw hats which are typically Vietnamese or baseball caps with either the full faces covered or a surgical face mask over their mouths to block the pollution. Cause let me tell you, this is smog central, way worse than Mexico City. The other reason that the women are meticulous in covering themselves up is that they pride themselves are keeping their skin as white and tan-free as possible as this is the Asian ideal of beauty. (Poor Cambodian women. Because they are a mix of Indian and Chinese, they have dark skin. This does not keep them from trying. Everywhere I went to find body lotion, I came across "whitening lotions" produced by Nivea, Vaseline, Ponds, etc. Unbelievable. I had the saleswomen cracking up by asking 'Do I look like I need whitening cream?!'
Anyway, I have never seen motorcycle and scooter traffic like this. I thought Phnom Penh was a trip but it pales in comparison to this city. You literally take your life in your hands by either getting on the back of one or attempting to walk across the street in front of them. The golden rule when crossing the street is to NOT hesitate but keep moving forward. The drivers will see you and veer out of your way. Never, ever freeze or attempt to go backwards as this completely throws the traffic flow. Saigon is a study in contrasts. The city is full of designer stores such as Roberto Cavalli, Tods, Armani and Gucci with hawkers selling $1 t-shirts out front. Gorgeous restaurants and trendy bars grace high streets like the Dong Khoi where I'm staying but around the corner are street stalls where people sit on plastic patio furniture and enjoy $1 bowls of pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup (which I'm enjoying for breakfast most days).
Yesterday, I did a full-day tour of the city, visiting several temples, the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum. The Reunification Palace was a study in time warp: it looks like it must have in the 60s when President Diem was based here and had to flee it suddenly when the government came under attack by the Communists. The basement contains a bunker complete with a war command room, rooms of old technology and desks covered with phones. The War Remnants Museum was so powerful. It's set up to be a photo exhibition and series of displays which document the Vietnam War (known as the American War here in Vietnam). It is horrible to see photos showing the bombing and poisoning ofVietnamese people and villages. The museum even shows fetuses deformed from Agent Orange floating in formeldahyde. This is a very effective anti-war showcase which I found to be doubly sad and tragic given the current war in Iraq.
Today, following the theme of war, I visited the Cu Chi Tunnels just outside of Saigon. The tunnels cover 250 kilometres of underground passageways where the Vietnamese lived and fought against the Americans. The tunnels contain three levels: level one being three metres underground, level two being six metres underground and level three being 10 metres underground. There were airholes at different points to guarantee air circulation. Everything was done in the tunnels: cooking, sleeping, making clothes and weapons, tending to the sick and wounded. The tunnels are tiny due to the size of the Vietnamese. Apparently, the Americans had trouble getting around due to their larger size. The tunnels opened up near the Saigon River which provided an easy escape route. The Vietnamese even fooled the German Shepherd dogs which the Americans used to locate the tunnels. Since they knew Americans eat black pepper and spicy food, they put chili and pepper near the entrances. Since the dogs were used to the smell of Americans, they couldn't detect any trace of the Vietnamese. A few of us crawled partway through the tunnels. It was a scary, claustrophobic experience - you couldn't see anything around you and it was hot as hades down there.
Tomorrow, I head for a two day trip to the Mekong Delta.
