Day 3

Cyclos and Stealing

Well, this time it's Erika doing the blog. Oanh thought it best to give you my perspective on this trip, so here goes:

It's been quite a full day indeed.

We got up as usual at the crack of dawn, took our time getting ready, and headed out for breakfast. We were set on finding local food, so we headed down a small alleyway of culinary delights. The locals use the front rooms of their homes to sell food. You have to understand, back home I would NEVER walk down a somewhat dark and dim alleyway into the depths of who knows where, but here, most of the alleyways are dark and dim. And if you want to get a hint of local culture, you just have to make that turn. So we did. We were not disappointed. After receiving little odd but kind looks since we were not their usual clientele, we finally settled with a lady making handmade wonton-like noodles in a bowl with fresh mint and herbs, some kind of pastry, peanuts, and fish sauce. Oanh told me it is called bun-uck. (not true spelling, just what it sounds like to my ear.) The shop keeper made us 2 bowls, fresh. Methodically she laid out a large rice noodle pancake on a round tree trunk looking cutting board, placed her bits of meat and herbs into the noodle, rolled it up and placed it in the bowl ever so quickly yet carefully. (I do not have that skill. I would have made the biggest mess. I can't even roll spring rolls properly at Oanh's family's house.) It was fascinating to watch her. Once everything was placed into the bowl she handed it to us. The smell was rich and fresh and the taste.... OMG it was delectable! I think we will go there again tomorrow! There were 2 other ladies sitting with us. With broken English, one of them asked us if Oanh's mom was Vietnamese. It seems to me that locals can sense returning refugees. He's been asked many times during this trip.

By the way, up to this point I had noticed the absence of pets. No random dogs or cats. I was beginning to think, maybe the rumors were true, but no! It was just that people are smart enough to not let their pets roam the busy streets. In this alleyway, there was a cat lounging in the sun and a dog feeding off of scraps. It made me happy.

OK, back to our day.

After breakfast, we were approached by a couple of Cyclo drivers. The quintessential image of Saigon, a little buggy attached to a bicycle. After a bit of hemming and hawing, we decided to do it. We each hop in one and begin our hour long trek right into the middle of traffic. OK, so I can't upload videos of this excursion (yet), so I will try to describe it for you: imagine yourself getting on a horse drawn carriage and lining up for a NASCAR race. That is the feeling. You are at the mercy of 1000's of mopeds zooming by so close you could grab their helmets. And away you go. Riding in a sea of diesel fumes, gigantic buses, cars and scooters all honking at you to get out of their way. Needless to say you hold your breath, curse a few times, and try not to look too scared. Showing fear is bad. Take it in and hold on tight. And aside from a mishap with a curb that sent Oanh flying (luckily with no bruises), our drivers did get us around safely. We drove by too many sights to mention, but only stopped at one: a pagoda temple. I'm glad I had read earlier that one must remove one's shoes when entering a temple so as not be rude. We were also approached by many vendors to buy their wares as offerings to the gods. We bought incense.

One of our Cyclo drivers lead us to 2 different statues to pay our respects and then into the main pagoda. We removed our shoes and stepped onto the very dirty concrete tiles. Don't they sweep? One dirty step after another we went inside to see a very large sitting Buddha in gold. Surrounding his image were neon flashing bulbs and glitter. It is such a bizarre juxtaposition to see something so ancient and simple surrounded by such glitz and gaudiness. Further into the building was a staircase that lead to a large patio over looking the city. Lining the walls were many sitting Buddhas in yellow clothing. As we headed back downstairs we noticed a small room off to the side that has another sitting Buddha. There is very little light except for the bits of sunlight creeping in from little windows. The smoke from all the incense filled the air with beautiful rays throughout this dimly lit corridor. Lining the walls on either side were many photos. We're not sure who they were or why they were there, but somehow you get a sense that they must have done something great. We pay our respects, drop a donation into the box, and head back out to the sun, the cyclos, and the streets. We're dropped off safely back to our hotel. We shook hands with our drivers and they went on their way to the next set of tourists. Once out of earshot, Oanh informs me that our drivers made a good wage off of us today. Apparently we paid a deal more than the market price for our little adventure. Apparently they didn't know he understood them, so they spent the whole ride boasting to their fellow cyclo driver friends on how much they got from us! We didn't mind since we figured it was worth $10 each to us even if they would normally have done it for $1. And since the government is banning the use of cyclos in June. We felt lucky to be one of the last few to have had the opportunity to see the local sights from this perspective.

Back to the hotel to get ready for grandpa's big Skype call. All sweaty and gross, we first take a quick shower. We video Skype into Oanh's family and everyone is there eagerly awaiting grandpa's arrival. We talk a little about the prior day's adventures until we hear a knock at the door. He's HERE! For real this time. He and our aunt enter our little room and immediately we show him to the computer. He sits down to speak to his daughter digitally face to face after 30+ years. The chat went on for over an hour and although I didn't understand a single word, I could sense the magnitude of the moment. The call ended, we all hugged each other multiple times, we took more photos, and said our goodbyes. Afterwards Oanh told me that everyone was happy, they like me, they want mom to come home and visit, and that they were so glad they could speak this way. What a wonderful and simple thing that brought so much joy to our family! This moment made our trip.

Back to our bellies... starving we take a taxi to a little restaurant listed in our guide book nearby the Reunification Palace. We arrive at the address to find a marketing firm instead. Confused when we opened the door, where a very nice Vietnamese man with impeccable English was kind enough to suggest another option about a 5 minute walk down the street. He was right, we come to this place filled with people. It was a lovely teak wood structure and we were seated almost immediately. Mostly natives with a few experienced travelers inside, we looked at all of the incredible dishes surrounding us. We were ready! We ordered lots of food, I had a strawberry milkshake (I was sure it was safe to have ice here) and then finished our meal off with some AMAZING coconut ice cream. It was a score! Thank you Mr. Marketing Man!

We then headed across the street to the reunification palace only to find out that it was CLOSED. My guidebook does mention the rare instance that it would close for government meetings. And OF COURSE this was one of the rare days! Pretty funny. So we decide to make our way by foot to the War Remnants Museum, which we passed by earlier in our cyclos. So off we go. Finding anything in this city is a bit difficult. The maps are hard to read, there are few street signs, and NOTHING is in English. Anytime we actually get to our destination it feels like a mini-victory. So... yes we found it.

You'll notice that we didn't take many photos of this museum as it feels like walking through a concentration camp. The whole museum is filled with photographs of the atrocities of the war. We didn't speak much during our time there. After seeing a guillotine that was used as recently as the 60's, I had to leave. There are no words to really express how moving and heartbreaking this exhibit was.

After the museum we were spent. It was time to head back to the hotel. We were both emotionally exhausted and jetlagged, so we ended up taking a nap for a couple of hours (after our 2nd shower of the day). We woke up to a phone call from our cousin, Hue. We were to meet them at their hotel around 9pm to have a late snack and plan the rest of our time in Vietnam. It was only 5:30pm, so we decide to hit the nearby Ben Thanh Market for some shopping and a light dinner.

We ventured into Pho 2000 located on the outer edge of the market. Apparently Bill Clinton ate there too. There were 3 very large photos on the wall of his visit. And yes, the Pho was very good. (Not to mention there was a little bit of Air Con, a nice bonus.) Bellies full we headed out to the market and soon realize that eating Pho was a BIG mistake. There were stall after stall of fresh fish, meats and amazing fresh delicacies. See our photos, it was truly an amazing sight and we were a bit bummed we had just eaten. We should have paid attention to our favorite TV travel guide, Anthony Bourdain, and hit the Market first!

Then off to meet Hue. It was great to see some familiar faces and some new ones! We meet Hue's Uncle and Aunt and his son and head out to get some food. No more than 5 minutes after walking down the street, Hue gets robbed by a guy on a scooter. He actually rode onto the sidewalk and swiped her purse out of her hands practically knocking her over! It all happened so fast we hardly knew what occurred! She had about $20, her drivers license, a credit card, ATM card and her military ID in her purse. Thank God she didn't have her passport in it! Dinner plans were off. She needed to get to an internet connection to cancel her cards and then to the police station to file a report. We head to her uncle's house around the block, yet another little dark alley, and waited for her to get online. After she finished, we said our goodbyes and told some bad jokes to ease the tension. We had a wonderful time commenting on her aunt's herb bushes. At first glance there is a lovely bush with pretty yellow flowers. As you look closer, you see that each of those little flowers are tied on with green wire and are actually made of silk! Oh the drama.

We hop into the taxi and head home. A little disturbed but more exhausted we collapse into bed (after shower number 3). Tomorrow, Hue's uncles is showing us around Saigon. I can't wait.

So there is my crack at this blogging thing. I was probably a lot more long winded then Oanh, and I apologize for that. It's time for breakfast and the day is getting on.