A Little Taste of Vietnam

 I went to Vietnam last Sunday.  Apparently one has to leave Cambodia after the second visa is issued in order to change visa status (I need a long term Business work visa/permit) so on June 10th my little extended tourist visa was up and I was an illegal for 4 days until I crossed over into Vietnam.

My boss decided that the best way for me to cross over was to join her son, Scott and his friend, Neal on their mini-trip to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for a two day adventure without having to forgo vacation days.  So, Sunday morning we met up at Lucky Supermarket and headed over to the bus station where we were surprisingly greeted by a very nice comfortable bus advertising "LCD/AIRCON/TOILET!"  All our bases were covered.  No problems during the bus ride at all- we swerved around cows, trucks, motorbikes, and kids on bicycles in the just in nick of time as usual, all while having Vietnamese/Cambodian/Japanese music videos blasting in our ears.  At the Cambodian border the guard looked at my Passport Visa and said "You Overstay. 4 Days. 40 Dollar." To which I responded, " Yes I overstayed, $5 dollar fine per day x 4 days = $20 dollars." Response: "Okay, Okay." And then I proceeded to wait an eternity and make the whole bus wait while they created a receipt for me.  

Having left Phnom Penh at 1:30pm, we finally arrived in HCMC around 7:30pm.  As the bus rumbled down the well-paved streets, I looked out the window in wonder at all the bright lights and millions of motos, more than I had ever seen in Phnom Penh, race past.  I had entered the second world.  

Left to fend for ourselves in the toursity/backpacker area, we were quickly spotted as foreigners and some guy took us to a nice cheap hotel close by. We dropped of our bags and headed out to eat some Pho something or other, i.e. noodles with veggies,  ice

cream and drinks. Exhausted by the long ride, we called it a night and the next morning awoke bright and early for some breakfast and Vietnamese coffee (condensed milk + coffee + ice = what they drink in heaven), before heading out on our one-day excursion of the city.

Armed against the heat with water bottles in hand, we marched off to the War Remnants Museum, which pays tribute to the victims of the Vietnam War and is really quite disturbing. 

American army vehicles and artillery as well as images and photographs from the war of the soldiers and victims intoxicated by Agent Orange and such chemicals, bring 

to life the monstrous side-effects of modern warfare.

I was left speechless and heartbroken, especially since the children of this war live amongst us in Cambodia and Vietnam, often without limbs, physical deformations, and skin diseases.  

 

Afterwards we continued on our own walking tour, admiring all the garbage cans and park areas (heavily lacking in Phnom Penh) and stopped in front of the government palace for a quick picture before resting at Au Parc, nice little french bistro for a cool drink. 

Scott had his like, third coffee of the day and I chose a mint/passion fruit juice which is a testament that he drank more coffee than I did on that trip.  We then walked around a bit more to the Cathedral...

WAIT, WAIT... The NOTRE DAME Cathedral (outside is pretty, but does not even compare with ND's Basilica) and the Central Post Office. Architecturally speaking, both were gorgeous but were ruined by the string of dumbstruck tourists standing about.  Admittedly, it was weird to even see a Cathedral and just as weird to be in the post office where they had these like, wooden telephone booths that had a British air to them.  

Next, it was off to the Cho Beng Than Market were we picked out some trinkets and gifts while we waited for the afternoon deluge to subside.  I bought a stuffed monkey. And a purse. And some colorful bowls that I will never use to cook so I don't even know why I bought them. They're really cute though, but I like the monkey the best.  It was fun to haggle in a currency

 where $1 USD is worth $16-18,000 VND give or take.  While I was haggling for some

 bookmarks some Asian tourist punched into his calculator $100,000 and pointed at me.  I turned gave him a big smile and said "priceless."Ah at least I can make people laugh.  He didn't take me home for the record.

Once the rains died down we trekked back to our hotel, rested a bit, grabbed so

me lunch and continued to meander about the city.  I felt like I was on a shopping spree- havin

g found a modern city with cheap clothing stores where I could find a good pair of jeans (I didn't bring a pair from home) that actually fit, a dress, and a shirt. No wonder people leave Cambodia with empty bags... It's for all the stuff you can't seem to find in Cambodia or you can, but

 cheaper and/or higher quality.  Cambodia is cheap too, but it is one of the poorest countries in SE Asia and usually things are out-dated (including foodstuff in good supermarkets).

After dinner we walked around trying to find an area outside of the tourist bar scene to go out in... this didn't worked as planned so we grabbed a taxi and told him to take us to a bar.  I had to clarify to a bar where "a lady" could go in.    Naturally, he dropped us of at "Fashion TV".

No joke.  A woman greeted us in French, asked us if we were French, was semi-disappointed at the response, but escorted us anyways into a super loud dark (empty) night club, to which we quickly backed out and motioned our preference for the quiet (full) lounge next to it, where I could catch the end of the controversial Brazil-Egypt WC qualifier.  Soccer + Mojito + good company = a good way to end the night.  

Tuesday morning we had one last breakfast and Vietnamese coffee for good measure before packing up and heading out on the bus again.  Surprisingly, no music videos this time... just quality Japanese action film all dubbed in Khmer, and by dubbed I mean that a woman or man would speak in monotone voice during the entire film, reading the script for all genders and characters.  

No problems with border crossing and obtaining visa status "E" for me, but the boys were held up because they only had single entry Cambodian visas. While the bus conductor and his pal talked with the border guys and pulled out $40 bucks for to lend the guys (no ATMS but plenty of Casinos across the border in Cambodia) I was ushered through border security, and then proceeded to make friends the border lieutenant (female) who took out her

mobile phone and played a video of her little baby. By the end of the whole wait we were BBFFs (best friends forever) especially since I it was my "Third Visa Cambodia! Good!"  Yes, my passport is now bulging with visas, stamps, and extra pages.

Overall, 2 gentlemen for travel companions + amazing coffee= excellent trip.  I need to return to Vietnam for a longer stint, hopefully make it up to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay where it is truly gorgeous, and maybe then it'll be okay for me to call it " 'Nam".

Two final notes: 

1. Yesterday I went to get my hair cut and highlighted.  The total price was $30 and at one point in time I had 5 people working on me. No joke.  Either I have too much hair or the Cambodians really know how to make you feel special.

2. Can we say, camera? Canon D10, I love you.