From now on please call me Miss. Saigon, because that's how much I love this city. It's interesting to see the influence that Europe and America has had on these Asian countries. It's as though you are in Asia and them bam, there's a baguette in my face or a beautifully designed french colonial building. Some may think it takes away from the Asian-ness, but I'll tell ya, there's nothing not Asian about Saigon. I had at least 3 snot rockets blown in front of me walking on the street today....that's when you know you are in Asia. Or NYC's Chinatown! Yeah, there are big buildings and business, but I'll never complain about baguettes in my face. What's also interesting to me is how different Thailand, with no history of colonization, is so different from its SE Asian counterparts. It could be because I know Thailand more intimately than I know the others, but even on the surface, Thailand remains different to me.
Day 2, Marj and I prepared ourselves for the War Remnants Museum. It was very hard to see and learn about the details of the Vietnam war and time period all over the world, and it was extremely difficult to know the role Americans played in it. As much responsibility as I take for it on behalf of our country, I can't help but recognize the museum's propaganda and the feeling that the museum was certainly established by the northern Vietnam government that went out of their way to point fingers, and take no blame for any of the trauma the war caused. I was really interested to see what the museum would offer regarding post-war, since now I knew the story of Phuong and so many other families after 1975, but interestingly enough, nothing was mentioned about post war. It was yet another day heavy on the emotions yet I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn about this time period, the tragedy of it all and how the American government handled it. What was most fascinating was how the American people reacted.....you gotta love a people who believe in a cause and take action on behalf of it. It was obvious that the people of America didn't want to be in the War and drastic measures (such as burning oneself alive) were taken to express that. You gotta love a country that allows you to be vocal and say what you want without fear of prison or death for it. Our government made a lot of mistakes and continues to do so, but at least we have that.
After the museum, Marj and i were emotionally exhausted, but we had agreed to meet with this English Professor that I met via couchsurfing. Couchsurfing is great not only for hosts, but also to meet locals who want to give you a taste of their country. This professor teaches english and asked us to come speak with his students for a couple of hours to help them practice their english and to share our cultures. As tired as we were, Marj and I were really looking forward to this. We met the teacher, Thang, for coffee first and he was very sweet and grateful that we were so willing to do this. Yet we knew we'd get so much out of this as well, so I guess it wasn't as selfless of an act as he thought! Throughout the week, he invited us to his families home for dinner and invited us on his family vacation to the Mekong Delta for the weekend, just because he wanted to share it all with us. Marj and I don't know how we have gotten so lucky with these amazing people, but day 2 once again proved to us how lovely people are.
Anyway, the evening with these students was unforgettable. They were hungry for information, were excited to speak English which they did pretty well, and were eager to learn about America. It was a fabulous experience and so happy we had a chance to do this. Afterwards, Thang and one of the students took us out for a vegetarian feast. He literally ordered everything on the menu so I could taste as much Vietnamese food as possible and it was amazing, with a capital A. I can't lie, one of the coolest parts of the evening was the motorbike ride. There is something special about being in the middle of all the traffic, people and craziness, and at night...it was really cool. Rather than going back to Phuongs for the night, Thang paid for a motel in the heart of the city to make things easier for us, as another thank you for meeting his students. An absolute doll. We sadly had to decline his other offers as it just didn't fit into our time-frame.
The next day, on our very long walk to Chinatown, the most delicious baguette sandwich stand was screaming my name. The baguettes were enormous and included 2 fried eggs, tons of veggies, spicy chili's and get this, CHEESE!!! She had Laughing Cow cheese and hooked me up with 2 of those bad boys....it was unbelievable. Since, it remains the most delicious baguette sandwich in Vietnam. I guess I have to eat one everywhere I go just to put it to the test.
Our walk to Chinatown was long - we literally got there and then got on a bus to go back to main city. Despite the un-eventfulness of it all, we had a very memorable moment this day. We were about to cross a particularly scary street and this older Vietnamese lady approaches us and signals via eyes and face language that she'll help us cross...she grabs our hand and patiently walks us across the street. We graciously thank her, only to see her walk back across the street. As it turned out she didn't have to cross at all, she only did it to help us and never looked back.
The next day was Phung's birthday and Marjie made him a nice little birthday sign. We also got him some ice cream because in his short story, he spoke of this ice cream stand he passed every day on the walk to feed his father in the camp but could never afford. Because of this, Marj was set on getting him ice cream and he loved it. We really have become friends with him, which is the most special part of Saigon for me.
We spent our last night waiting for our night bus just hanging out in a cafe eating and drank a nightcap beer. We had our first rude confrontation with the bus company. I realized once we got there that the ticket they provided us was daytime, but we had requested nighttime. I approached the lady to fix the problem and she bugged out and immediately blamed me for it, and that chick got loud. After giving her a little "ummm, I don't think so toots", she got us on the correct bus-good eggs and bad ones everywhere. We didn't care because were off to Dalat, the Central Highlands of Vietnam!!!!
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