We are greeted by a different towel creature every day.
The food so far is very good, with an attempt to offer new foods each day for the adventurous. Had wintermelon soup with fishballs today and my first taste of fresh soursop and guava yesterday. Morning and afternoon excursions to towns, factories, and landmarks. There’s a lot of coming and going and eating and meeting, but there's also the river to rest your gaze on and watch the boats go by.
Thursday we began our travels with a bus ride through the Chinese-Vietnamese district of Ho Chi Minh City
Along the way to the Mekong River to meet our ship, we stopped at a lacquer factory to watch how lacquerware is made. The most interesting craft to me was the placement of egg-shells into the wood. Painstaking and involving many steps placing new layers over old ones with varnishing and polishing steps in between.
One of the obligatory stops on a Vietnam tour seems to be a water puppet show. We went to one in Hanoi on our last trip and didn't love it, but I rather enjoyed this one. The puppets are sort of like marionettes, but instead of hanging from strings, they are operated from underwater poles while the puppetmasters stand in the water up to their waists behind a screen. The craft dates from the 1100s and is accompanied by traditional instruments. The last one we saw seemed to be a military version of Punch and Judy with a lot of bashing each other. This one seemed to be more allegorical ( a guess since we couldn't understand the words). The colors were brilliant. Some of the others didn't care for the music, but I found it fascinating. The musicians also provided all the voices for the puppets.
There was a birdie chorus greeting us outside one hotel. And we happened on the Saigon Opera House with A sculptural display of shrimp traps outside.
Tuesday Vietnam beat Qattar to get into the Asian Cup! The first we learned of it was when we were riding in a taxi back to the hotel and heard a crowd of male voices erupt. As we rode further we saw crowds around tv screens in every bar and restaurant, frequently going nuts. So far so good. Lots of jubilant Vietnamese fans. In 40 years, their team had never gotten that far before. Fast forward to dinner time. The tour director had arranged for us to have a multiple course tasting menu at a restaurant in an old museum. Sounded interesting, but what we didn't know was that meanwhile every young person with a motorbike was headed to downtown, waving Vietnamese flags and shouting in celebration. There are hundreds of thousands of motorbikes in HCMC so it was quite the spectacle. Fun to see everyone so happy......Until we found ourselves completely surrounded by exultant kids on bikes. It literally took 30 minutes to go a few blocks. My friend Chris said it was like trying to drive a bus through the Women's march. Finally the driver and guide decided that we just were not going to be able to get there by bus. So we had to get out and walk the rest of the way (about two football fields distance). Linda and I are among the youngest in the group so this was 20 folks, average age probably 70, threading their way through a tight mass of folks on bikes headed the other direction. The mob was friendly, but not exactly yielding. The restaurant was only a couple of miles from the hotel, but total time to get to dinner about 2 hrs. Time to get back home about the same. Since this was the first full day after the all day, all night flight, it was challenging to put it mildly. Quite the adventure though. The kind that gets better in the retelling, but a little hair-raising at the time. We're not unhappy to be out of the City in time for the first round of the finals.
Our first day in HCMC/Saigon was pretty laid back at the beginning. We opted out of the War Museum ( dedicated to the American War) as they call it here). We were in desperate need of sleep and a shower and had been to the museum on our first trip (it's well worth a visit to see just how dreadful that war was for the Vietnamese). We rested up and then headed downtown to wander around a little. A sudden shower caused us to shelter under an overhang of the local Starbucks (Vietnamese coffee is extraordinarily good, but as in Italy good coffee does not shield you from the ubiquitous Starbucks phenomenon). There are a few more cars than on our last visit 7 years ago, but the motorscooter is still queen of the road.
HCMC residents are fearless on these things, riding them in pouring rain wearing nothing but flip flops, high heels, or barefoot. Some ponchos have a special clear window so the bike can be covered, but the headlight can still shine through. Others have double hoods so the passenger can be shielded too. Our guide tells us that the maximum people allowed on a single bike is 5 (down from 8). Most we saw was 4 on one bike. More helmet use, thank God, than last time we were here, but still a lot of kids without them.
The stop lights etc. are observed in an inconsistent way. When crossing the street y u have to summon up your courage a plunge in, keeping your pace as consistent as possible. And pray. The last step is essential. Turning it over is the only option. Mostly it works. Wedid see one wipeout though( more on that in next post).
Our first day in HCMC/Saigon was pretty laid back at the beginning. We opted out of the War Museum ( dedicated to the American War) as they call it here). We were in desperate need of sleep and a shower and had been to the museum on our first trip (it's well worth a visit to see just how dreadful that war was for the Vietnamese). We rested up and then headed downtown to wander around a little. A sudden shower caused us to shelter under an overhang of the local Starbucks (Vietnamese coffee is extraordinarily good, but as in Italy good coffee does not shield you from the ubiquitous Starbucks phenomenon). There are a few more cars than on our last visit 7 years ago, but the motorscooter is still queen of the road.
HCMC residents are fearless on these things, riding them in pouring rain wearing nothing but flip flops, high heels, or barefoot. Some ponchos have a special clear window so the bike can be covered, but the headlight can still shine through. Others have double hoods so the passenger can be shielded too. Our guide tells us that the maximum people allowed on a single bike is 5 (down from 8). Most we saw was 4 on one bike. More helmet use, thank God, than last time we were here, but still a lot of kids without them.
The stop lights etc. are observed in an inconsistent way. When crossing the street y u have to summon up your courage a plunge in, keeping your pace as consistent as possible. And pray. The last step is essential. Turning it over is the only option. Mostly it works. Wedid see one wipeout though( more on that in next post).
On our last day, our friends Chris and Marg took the ferry over from Orient to spend some time with us. First we had to get everyone into the proper relaxed mood:
Coco got the hang of it immediately
Next we had a stroll around the nearby town of Guilford which had a fabulous toy store and a pretty sweet bookstore where Chris had to pose with an item from the display window
Next lunch by the marina
And then back to our deck for more lounging and water gazing, accompanied by wine and conversation. Nice to have someone to take a picture of the two of us together
Friday back home to gear up for re-entry.