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