Thats right ladies and gents...yours truly is back in Nam for more Viet culture. Main reason THIS time for coming was for a business adventure which I am way to tired to do anything about today! I took the dreaded 14 hour flight from SFO to Taipei which left 40 mins behind, and was took longer due to strong head winds. So 14 siting on the plane was more like 15 1/2! Then once I arrived into Taipei, my connecting flight was delayed an hour and we didnt push back til 20 mins after scheduled departure. So now a 3 1/2 hour flight turned into a 4 1/4 hr flight summing up my flight hours to 19 3/4 hours instead of 17 1/2. For those retards reading (Ash/Fag) ill break it down in decimal terms. 14 = 15.5, 3.5= 4.25...SUM = 19.75 hours.
I am a bit delirious right now I believe with the lack of sleep I had over the course of my trip. No pictures today and no insightful thoughts. Maybe your luck will be better next time.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Home
The Final Day:
I woke up bright and early at 6.30am and walked out with Anh Nam for a cup of coffee in the morning as we normally did for one last time. A lot of the neighbors came over to have a drink with us and kind of just say goodbye to me as they all practiced, for the first time, the little bit of English that they know. It was a nice and cool morning probably only about 80 degrees with clear skies, which is very unusual for Saigon as you normally cant see the blue sky as it is covered with a blanket of smog. The rest of the day we just kind of hung out and spent the last few hours with eachother kind of looking back on the past few weeks.
That afternoon (Saigon Time) Ngoc, Vicki and myself got packed and ready to head to the airport. We said our goodbyes with neighbors who were crying hysterically, at times, and they gave a words of wishes for our safe trip home. I remember thinking, man these are just he neighbors what is it going to be like with the family. Somehow we got all the luggage into the small Geo Tracker like car and we were escorted with a motorcade of mopeds to the airport by the family. We were only missing the sirens for the full effect.
We got to the airport and pretty much all the girls were crying saying, what I would imagine to be "we're going to miss you, come back soon...ect ect". We gave hugs to everyone, even myself, as the were my family too for the past month or so. With all the girls crying even us guys were starting to get a little teary from all the commosion going on.
"Anh Chin, you better take care of my xe honda (moped) while I'm gone. I'm going to need something to ride when I come back," I said to kinda break the tension of sorrow.
Everyone laughed. What a trip its been. Seriously I had so much fun there. Besides the fun, the most important thing that I got from the trip was probably seeing how others live and how living here isnt so bad. Infact the poorest people in America have it better than the average person in Vietnam. It really gave me a lot of perspective and I am glad I went.
We headed off to our dreaded 3hr flight to Taipei followed by a 1ohr flight back to SFO. All was well, EXCEPT for that little shit who cried half the way home 3 rows in front of me. GOD HELP ME!
I woke up bright and early at 6.30am and walked out with Anh Nam for a cup of coffee in the morning as we normally did for one last time. A lot of the neighbors came over to have a drink with us and kind of just say goodbye to me as they all practiced, for the first time, the little bit of English that they know. It was a nice and cool morning probably only about 80 degrees with clear skies, which is very unusual for Saigon as you normally cant see the blue sky as it is covered with a blanket of smog. The rest of the day we just kind of hung out and spent the last few hours with eachother kind of looking back on the past few weeks.
That afternoon (Saigon Time) Ngoc, Vicki and myself got packed and ready to head to the airport. We said our goodbyes with neighbors who were crying hysterically, at times, and they gave a words of wishes for our safe trip home. I remember thinking, man these are just he neighbors what is it going to be like with the family. Somehow we got all the luggage into the small Geo Tracker like car and we were escorted with a motorcade of mopeds to the airport by the family. We were only missing the sirens for the full effect.
We got to the airport and pretty much all the girls were crying saying, what I would imagine to be "we're going to miss you, come back soon...ect ect". We gave hugs to everyone, even myself, as the were my family too for the past month or so. With all the girls crying even us guys were starting to get a little teary from all the commosion going on.
"Anh Chin, you better take care of my xe honda (moped) while I'm gone. I'm going to need something to ride when I come back," I said to kinda break the tension of sorrow.
Everyone laughed. What a trip its been. Seriously I had so much fun there. Besides the fun, the most important thing that I got from the trip was probably seeing how others live and how living here isnt so bad. Infact the poorest people in America have it better than the average person in Vietnam. It really gave me a lot of perspective and I am glad I went.
We headed off to our dreaded 3hr flight to Taipei followed by a 1ohr flight back to SFO. All was well, EXCEPT for that little shit who cried half the way home 3 rows in front of me. GOD HELP ME!
Friday, March 9, 2007
DONT SHOOT
The other day there wasnt much going on around the house and people were pretty busy, including Vicki with some doctor appointments, so I took it as a chance to go see Downtown. I saw a huge Catherdral church which was absolutly beautiful inside. The main corridor was very dark just barely enough light to see your way down the asiles to find a seat and make your way to the alter, but the outer walkways on eachside like these open rooms with statues of Popes, the Virgin Mary and other people. Behind them are these gigantic stained windows that just beamed above you, they had to be atleast 30ft tall, and with the dark interior of the main corridor the sun would magnify through these windows showing briliently these colors and images. Truely amazing. One other thing really stood out for me, which was a statue of Saint, at first look its just another statue of a lady and the French words below her to describe what she did (I assume). But at a second look she was standing there looking at you with her hands downwards towards you like she was take a gift from you or something, but as you look past her to the way just below the stained window she was standing there with her hands far above her head giving your gift to god. I took double look at it and was like, woaw.
Other notable things in Quan 1 (downtown) is the main post office, which isnt like your typical post office in the US. Its pretty cool. Theres a gift shop since they know a lot of tourist go there, a bank to exchange money, postal booths to go to based on what type of postal you are sending and where it is going, which seems to work much better than the crappy system we have of the "DMV" mentality postal workers and many benchs and chairs to sit in to enjoy the scenery or just take a break. Aside from that the actual arcitecture alone is an amazment with high arching ceilings in a tunnel shaped builing, a mix of the NY Central train station and DeVince work. Another good place to check out is the Rennescance Palace which is just an old place where the President use to live. I tried to go there but they closed just before I got there. Lastly, there is the People's Committee Building, similar to our Senate or House of Reps buildings, located at the end of a long garden filled with tulips (many provice's elected flower), trees and green grass.
I was walking on the same side of the street as this building and as I come up to it there are guard booths at each end of the driveway and accompanied by military men with big guns (I have no clue what kind). As I briskly walked towards them I remember reading or mayb dreaming about people always having bad experiences with police or military in Vietnam and I was begining to get nervous. Not sure if I should cross them, or run across a busy intersection filled with mopeds, buses and taxis or just turn around. The first gaurd in my path seems somewhat nice, he definetly was better looking than a N. Korean Armistice Line patrol person, so I as kindly and submissivly as possibl asked if I could cross infront of him to keep walking. He noded and everything seemed totally cool. As I got to the center of the driveway and looking in through the gates you can see a great big fountain in the middle of a courtyard with a set of pearl white stairs on either side and the sun shining through the top of the courtyard onto the water making it glizen. As I saw this I thought "man this would be a great pic" and I started to pull out my camera from my right pocket. Doing so alarmed the guards and one of them started to yell while 3 others, as thought they had been egeraly waiting since basic training for a real life situation, properly had their guns set on my body. I raised my hands above my head and had my heart stopped along with almost peeing my pants froze. One of the guardsman started to push me to the other side like I was just a bug you squashed and now were using the dustpan to cleanup. Not sure what I did, I then saw 10 black Fiats rollup to the place all carrying 1 person in each car and to my surprise they were French (or atleast not Vietnamese) all going into the palace. Man was that close and thankfuly I did not need to change my shorts. Later on in my walk I noticed a sign that show a picture of a camera and a BIG slash through it. Who knows what the real reason was for them doing a practice drill of a National Defense procedure they practiced on me but sure enough from now one ill just cross the street instead of going directly infront of an important building.
When I got back to the house and told Vicki and the rest what happened, they all said "WHAT, YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE A PICTURE". Even though I dont know enough Vietnamese I sure knew what they were thinking. HAHA. There were all just glad I got home ok. "Vicki this is how you would explain it to my grandparents" I replied "Yes Richard did get shot to death because he was going to take a picture." HAHA.
Loving Vietnam. Until next time.
Chao,
Anh Muoi
Other notable things in Quan 1 (downtown) is the main post office, which isnt like your typical post office in the US. Its pretty cool. Theres a gift shop since they know a lot of tourist go there, a bank to exchange money, postal booths to go to based on what type of postal you are sending and where it is going, which seems to work much better than the crappy system we have of the "DMV" mentality postal workers and many benchs and chairs to sit in to enjoy the scenery or just take a break. Aside from that the actual arcitecture alone is an amazment with high arching ceilings in a tunnel shaped builing, a mix of the NY Central train station and DeVince work. Another good place to check out is the Rennescance Palace which is just an old place where the President use to live. I tried to go there but they closed just before I got there. Lastly, there is the People's Committee Building, similar to our Senate or House of Reps buildings, located at the end of a long garden filled with tulips (many provice's elected flower), trees and green grass.
I was walking on the same side of the street as this building and as I come up to it there are guard booths at each end of the driveway and accompanied by military men with big guns (I have no clue what kind). As I briskly walked towards them I remember reading or mayb dreaming about people always having bad experiences with police or military in Vietnam and I was begining to get nervous. Not sure if I should cross them, or run across a busy intersection filled with mopeds, buses and taxis or just turn around. The first gaurd in my path seems somewhat nice, he definetly was better looking than a N. Korean Armistice Line patrol person, so I as kindly and submissivly as possibl asked if I could cross infront of him to keep walking. He noded and everything seemed totally cool. As I got to the center of the driveway and looking in through the gates you can see a great big fountain in the middle of a courtyard with a set of pearl white stairs on either side and the sun shining through the top of the courtyard onto the water making it glizen. As I saw this I thought "man this would be a great pic" and I started to pull out my camera from my right pocket. Doing so alarmed the guards and one of them started to yell while 3 others, as thought they had been egeraly waiting since basic training for a real life situation, properly had their guns set on my body. I raised my hands above my head and had my heart stopped along with almost peeing my pants froze. One of the guardsman started to push me to the other side like I was just a bug you squashed and now were using the dustpan to cleanup. Not sure what I did, I then saw 10 black Fiats rollup to the place all carrying 1 person in each car and to my surprise they were French (or atleast not Vietnamese) all going into the palace. Man was that close and thankfuly I did not need to change my shorts. Later on in my walk I noticed a sign that show a picture of a camera and a BIG slash through it. Who knows what the real reason was for them doing a practice drill of a National Defense procedure they practiced on me but sure enough from now one ill just cross the street instead of going directly infront of an important building.
When I got back to the house and told Vicki and the rest what happened, they all said "WHAT, YOU WERE GOING TO TAKE A PICTURE". Even though I dont know enough Vietnamese I sure knew what they were thinking. HAHA. There were all just glad I got home ok. "Vicki this is how you would explain it to my grandparents" I replied "Yes Richard did get shot to death because he was going to take a picture." HAHA.
Loving Vietnam. Until next time.
Chao,
Anh Muoi
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Cu Chi
FINALLY! I was able to go see the famous Cu Chi Tunnels. Basically the major advantage the Vietnamese had over opposing forces. Anh Chin, Anh Tam and myself took a 1.5hr moped ride to this site just outside of the city. It was a very beautiful ride becuase there was tons of rice patties, fields full of cows and horses and just great scenery. Unfortunatly the roads were VERY bumpy which made my ass pretty sore by the time we got there.
*WARNING: RANT*
When you first get there they as you to watch a movie that depicts the history of Cu Chi, the people and why it has become famous. It was a very....well....interesting movie to say the least. "Cu Chi was a beautiful country side were city people would go to, to escape the city life for a day. It was filled with rivers, streams, picnic areas and beautiful trees. UNTIL the horrible American Man decided to take those simple pleasures away all for a horrile cause of changing our great government." As I sat there ALL the tour guides were just staring at me waiting to see what I would do. It was basically a 30min movie on how America and the american "man" are horrible killers. I dont think I've ever really been that uncomfortable in my life!
*END*
After that we go to go through alot of tunnels, which I didnt really fit in. Half the time I was in a prone position crawling through the tunnels hitting my head, back and arms along the walls. It was actually REALLY funny. The guide showed us the secret entrances that as you walked up couldnt even notice it was there. And then when you thought it was a secret entrance, it was a bouby trap. It was pretty cool.
After the tour and walking around, we made our way to the rifle range, otherwise known as the "National Defenses Sport Fire Range for Distinguished Forgeiners". Got to shoot a couple of guns and damn was it loud! Got a couple of good pictures of it for you all to see. But I dont think I will show my target paper cuz it was pretty bad.
Side note, I got 2 suits for $100 each made with wool/cashmire blend fitted exactly for me the way I want it...pretty cool.
*WARNING: RANT*
When you first get there they as you to watch a movie that depicts the history of Cu Chi, the people and why it has become famous. It was a very....well....interesting movie to say the least. "Cu Chi was a beautiful country side were city people would go to, to escape the city life for a day. It was filled with rivers, streams, picnic areas and beautiful trees. UNTIL the horrible American Man decided to take those simple pleasures away all for a horrile cause of changing our great government." As I sat there ALL the tour guides were just staring at me waiting to see what I would do. It was basically a 30min movie on how America and the american "man" are horrible killers. I dont think I've ever really been that uncomfortable in my life!
*END*
After that we go to go through alot of tunnels, which I didnt really fit in. Half the time I was in a prone position crawling through the tunnels hitting my head, back and arms along the walls. It was actually REALLY funny. The guide showed us the secret entrances that as you walked up couldnt even notice it was there. And then when you thought it was a secret entrance, it was a bouby trap. It was pretty cool.
After the tour and walking around, we made our way to the rifle range, otherwise known as the "National Defenses Sport Fire Range for Distinguished Forgeiners". Got to shoot a couple of guns and damn was it loud! Got a couple of good pictures of it for you all to see. But I dont think I will show my target paper cuz it was pretty bad.
Side note, I got 2 suits for $100 each made with wool/cashmire blend fitted exactly for me the way I want it...pretty cool.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Can Tho / Mekong Delta
Yesterday, Monday 9-02, I went to Can Tho where the Mekong Delta is located. We were going to take a cab to the bus station but the guy offered to take us to there and back plus any driving around we wanted aslong as it was within 18hrs from pickup for only 1million Dong. (exchange rate = 1.600.000d:$100usd) The bus ride would be 100,000 per person each way and there was 4 of us, so for an extra 200,000d we had an a/c car instead of a cramped bus. WHAT A DEAL! 3 hour drive to the delta where we had to board a ferry to cross the Delta becuase there is NOT a single bridge to connect the two sides of the river. You can see they are building a bridge as we speak but i think it wont be done for another 3-5yrs.
Its much hotter in Can Tho than in Saigon and for most of the town there was a strange smell, it was like a cat had darrieha all over the town, that was almost unbarable. We took another small little boat across another river to a island that basically was just housing and forest. I was shocked to see how dense the forest is here. I really have a new perspective of what it was like 30yrs ago during the war here. This side of the island we just visited family, eat fresh fruit and enjoyed the cool breeze.
The Delta is a busy place, there are hundreds of boats either fishing, hauling trash, delivering rice or in the morning is used as a market on the water. The water however isnt very clear, it has a merky brown color to it but from what I can tell i think its just from the bottom being turned as boats go by.
The actual town of Can Tho is very busy and is just like HCM. The only difference is that the roads in Can Tho are much better and its less crowded. Well gotta make it short, im off to go get some suits made for me.
Its much hotter in Can Tho than in Saigon and for most of the town there was a strange smell, it was like a cat had darrieha all over the town, that was almost unbarable. We took another small little boat across another river to a island that basically was just housing and forest. I was shocked to see how dense the forest is here. I really have a new perspective of what it was like 30yrs ago during the war here. This side of the island we just visited family, eat fresh fruit and enjoyed the cool breeze.
The Delta is a busy place, there are hundreds of boats either fishing, hauling trash, delivering rice or in the morning is used as a market on the water. The water however isnt very clear, it has a merky brown color to it but from what I can tell i think its just from the bottom being turned as boats go by.
The actual town of Can Tho is very busy and is just like HCM. The only difference is that the roads in Can Tho are much better and its less crowded. Well gotta make it short, im off to go get some suits made for me.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Marley & Me
Today, Saturday, was the day we headed back to Saigon from Dalat. Boy was this a LONG trip! Its only like 200km away, but the roads here are very small, crowded and only 1 lane in each direction. Which makes the bus go about 40-50kmh for most of the way. This was a good opportunity to finish Marley & Me, since I only read a few chapters on the flight over, and boy was it a GREAT book! At the end of the book I really felt like Marley was MY dog. Vicki on the other hand didnt really care for me reading the book and I was constantly waking her up from laughter at Marley histarical antics.
I think I have finally figured out the bloody nose issue, not the cause but rather an attempt to subside it, by taking 4 pills a day of vitiman C along with 1x/day of some sort of generic vietnamese allergy pill. I can tell when I have taken them or not by getting bloody noses when I blow my nose out. We'll see how long this lasts but hopefully I have it under controll for alteast the duration of my trip.
Chinese New Years is now over and things are back to normal. You can tell by the full force of police that are on almost every corner watching traffic and stopping people as they please. I havnt had any interaction with any so I not quite sure what to expect or rather what it is they stop people for. Ive read of many issues with forgienors having problems because they see us as "money" so we must be doing something wrong.
We are about halfway through the trip and just now am I begining to see things as normal and "home" like. I havnt quite yet had any urges for the McD's, pancakes or other traditional western food. Which is good. The only thing I really miss is the subtle things that I use to take for granted. Like warm or cold showers, which ever you want, clean bathrooms, cool rooms to sleep in and things of the sort. The plumbing system here is very poor and in order to flush the toilet you get a bucket of water and pour it down the toilet. Which in heinsight, is much better than an outhouse. Vietnam is very much like Mexico but even more poor, hotter, more humid and I know less Vietnamese than Spanish.
Other than that, things are great! I really like the city of Saigon. Its a huge city but unlike SF I really enjoy the fastpace atmosphere of the city. Dalat and Nha Trang was a great place to visit kind of like going to Santa Cruz for the beach or Napa for the wine country but I sure missed Saigon when I was there. There is ALWAYS something to do here!
I think I have finally figured out the bloody nose issue, not the cause but rather an attempt to subside it, by taking 4 pills a day of vitiman C along with 1x/day of some sort of generic vietnamese allergy pill. I can tell when I have taken them or not by getting bloody noses when I blow my nose out. We'll see how long this lasts but hopefully I have it under controll for alteast the duration of my trip.
Chinese New Years is now over and things are back to normal. You can tell by the full force of police that are on almost every corner watching traffic and stopping people as they please. I havnt had any interaction with any so I not quite sure what to expect or rather what it is they stop people for. Ive read of many issues with forgienors having problems because they see us as "money" so we must be doing something wrong.
We are about halfway through the trip and just now am I begining to see things as normal and "home" like. I havnt quite yet had any urges for the McD's, pancakes or other traditional western food. Which is good. The only thing I really miss is the subtle things that I use to take for granted. Like warm or cold showers, which ever you want, clean bathrooms, cool rooms to sleep in and things of the sort. The plumbing system here is very poor and in order to flush the toilet you get a bucket of water and pour it down the toilet. Which in heinsight, is much better than an outhouse. Vietnam is very much like Mexico but even more poor, hotter, more humid and I know less Vietnamese than Spanish.
Other than that, things are great! I really like the city of Saigon. Its a huge city but unlike SF I really enjoy the fastpace atmosphere of the city. Dalat and Nha Trang was a great place to visit kind of like going to Santa Cruz for the beach or Napa for the wine country but I sure missed Saigon when I was there. There is ALWAYS something to do here!
Friday, March 2, 2007
Nha Trang / Dalat
I've been traveling North to Nha Trang and Dalat (which is where I currently am). Vicki and I took a tour and have been staying in 4star hotels all food included (except for bia) and entrance to all the tourist attractions for just $150 USD! This is a 5day 4 night tour of some great beaches, mountain side and waterfalls.
We went to an island off the coast of Nha Trang and I was able to take part in some Scuba diving. We got some great underwater photos of coral reef, fish and us swimming. Because we are with a tour we haven't really had any good amount of time in one spot to rest, so right now I am pretty tired. We head back to Saigon tomorrow, Saturday, for some much needed rest. Not really sure where we are going to go next but probably the Mekong Delta.
We went to an island off the coast of Nha Trang and I was able to take part in some Scuba diving. We got some great underwater photos of coral reef, fish and us swimming. Because we are with a tour we haven't really had any good amount of time in one spot to rest, so right now I am pretty tired. We head back to Saigon tomorrow, Saturday, for some much needed rest. Not really sure where we are going to go next but probably the Mekong Delta.
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