World Cruise - Day 72 - Mar 24 - Saigon, Vietnam - Part 1

[I had to split my blog posting into two parts today due to the file size, using my DSLR for most of the pics]

I had trouble deciding how to title the location of this entry.  Specifically, is it Saigon?  Or Ho Chi Minh City?  HCM City is what people are saying for short, BTW.  I decided to use Saigon, since that is the name most widely known in the U.S. and the one that most Vietnam vets onboard use.  Also, HCM City is actually larger than what was Saigon and the part that is/was Saigon within HCM City is still referred to as Saigon by people who live there.  And all of the things we will be visiting will be in Saigon (and most related to the Vietnam War).

As the sun came up this morning, we were already nearing our port and docking location.  Yet it appears that we are in some type of river delta, since we can no longer see the expanse of the sea behind us and there is a flow to the river.  It looks surprisingly like what I thought Vietnam would look like:

There are small boats all along the river and small inlets feeding into the river all along the way.  It looks a lot like the films I have seen of the Vietnam War, which is surprising to me.  The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now and Platoon come to mind, rather vividly now.  I expected that part of Vietnam to be gone and covered over.  Although I guess a river is always a river.  I can actually look out over the landscape and imagine what it might have been like to be on a patrol boat on the Mekong River Delta.  OK, I guess I can’t really imagine that scene, but this is eerily close to what it may have been 40 years ago.

This is an interesting pic for several reasons:

First of all, the tugs are actually pushing our ship, which is unusual (the tugs usually just run alongside the ship and are there only if needed, they typically don’t touch our ship).  Second, I just love the color contrast of the two tugs against the background.  Third, take a look at the flag being flown on both vessels—it is the notorious yellow star on red background that we associated with the enemy in the Vietnam War—kinda eerie.  And last, look at all of the boats dotting the river background—there are 20 or more just in this bend of the river.  The tugs were helping the ship do a tight pivot and turn maneuver to pull up alongside the pier.

After the tugs pulled away, there is an eerie silence along the river.  I keep using that word, eerie.  I think this may be an eerie day.

A few minutes later, I heard what sounded like a chopper coming up in the distance.  Again, my mind goes back to sounds of the Vietnam War on both TV and in film.  I look out across the river and the sound is actually coming from one of the junks on the other side of the river with the chop-chop-chop sound of its engines.  Still sounds like a helicopter.  Eerie.

Krissie and I were talking to someone last night who has been here before who described it as dirty, noisy and they couldn’t understand how people could live in such crowded and unsanitary conditions.  Interesting perspective.  It doesn’t bother me to see someone urinating against a wall (well, er, as long as their back is to me and I’m not too close to be within range of a possible splash effect).  I view it as a picture opportunity.  Or something to talk about.  Or like the “Do not urinate here” signs all along a wall in India with urine marks right below the signs (they assumed that people could read English, bad assumption).  So I’m looking forward to going out and seeing Vietnam, an adventure.  I’m not looking for a place to live, just a place to experience.

We did a Bible study and a video sermon this morning before we headed out.  We went with six others into Saigon today to do some walking around and see the local culture.

Maria, thanks for your feedback.  We really enjoyed your CD and it’s nice to have met you virtually through this blog. 

Patti, not sure what kind of dog they were in Hong Kong, but guessing they were some kind of doodle?

Just got back from our day out exploring in Saigon.  Nice adventure and lots of fascinating sights.  One of the things you see a lot of in Vietnam is motorcycles and scooters.  Technically the law is no more than two on a scooter, but we saw plenty of examples where that was ignored, including this group of four (I think the baby in the front is in some sort of Snuglee bag?):

What we didn’t see a lot of was bicycles, which were very common in China.  Here is one that we saw along the way:

There are outdoor eating establishments all along the way into Saigon, this is one of the nicer ones:

There was something happening with the Vietnam army officers (or maybe they are police officers?) stopping this truck along the side of the road:

Lots of produce stands, including this one.  Note the fruit in the basket center:

…which is the same as the one this guy was carrying on his scooter:

Here are some school kids on the road along the way:

As we got into Saigon, it began getting more commercial and more built up:

Note the scooter center with four passengers and the one on the right carrying something that looks like skis?

I have no idea how this worked, you would think the wind would make it do a wheelie or just take off:

Lots of packages being carried on the back of motorcycles:

Hammocks were pretty common all along the way on the road, although usually under cover.  This one was more out in the open:

Some brands are pretty much everywhere:

We were surprised how warmly dressed most people were, since the temps were in the low 90s:

These guys waved to us from the back of their truck, they will show up again a few pics later:

Note the type of hat being worn by the lady watering the grass.  Very common in Vietnam:

Another threesome on a motorbike.  Apparently it is illegal to have more than two, but lots of people do it anyway:

Here are our friends again:

Now more in center city Saigon at a roundabout.  The guy bottom left is trying to get through the middle of the traffic:

Notice how traffic typically goes all one way, but not always, there is one going across traffic, one going the other way and one person walking:

Our first stop was the Jade Emperor Pagoda:

Apparently turtles are viewed as being good luck for long life, so people buy turtles and put them in the pond outside the pagoda.  Look closely at the king of the mountain contest going on (the two bottom left are at the top):

This woman outside was selling goldfish.  Fish symbolize freedom, so people buy fish here and put them in the pond as well (I wonder if the turtles eat them?):

Turtles for sale, large ones in the tub below, small ones in the container top left:

This lady across the street was selling birds.  Love the hat:

Then we went to the War Remnants Museum where they have some artifacts of the Vietnam War (known as “The American War” in Vietnam):

The museum has a lot of propaganda about the Vietnam War.  While I understand that Vietnam (and specifically the Communists) want to tell the story of the war from their side, what bothered me is that the war was portrayed as Vietnam vs. America.  It was not mentioned that the war was actually between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, that America (as well as other nations) was fighting on the side of South Vietnam and Russia and China were assisting North Vietnam.  And, ironically, that the nation has pretty much shifted back to capitalism in spite of the communist victory in 1975.

Back on the streets, I couldn’t even see the person driving this scooter with all of the packages on the back:

Saigon is still referred to as Saigon (or Sai Gon) in most of the signage around Saigon (HCM City):

We then went to the water puppet show.  The puppets are controlled by puppeteers standing in the water behind the green screen and using bamboo poles underwater to control the movements of the puppets:

The show was all in Vietnamese, so the meaning was somewhat lost on us of what exactly was taking place or being represented:

This was the closing number with eight different puppets doing a dance:

Then the puppeteers came out to take a bow:

[continued in Part 2]