In Country

We arrived in Vietnam this morning after a scenic cruise up a narrow Saigon River where the Captain had to sound the horn a few times to warn other vessels to give way.  It was definitely worth getting up at 6 am to see as we cruised past forests of mangrove trees and inlets of fishing boats.  The scenic area then morphed into an industrial area, so we went to breakfast for a busy morning.

We all had to get into lines to pick up a "passenger's landing card" which no one has ever looked at. Then we all met in the Union to have our "diplomatic pre-port".  Two consul members gave us some background on the country, present situation, and safety tips.  The main safety tip concerned getting hit by  motorbikes.

 

Ten years ago, this was a bicycle country.  Development has moved it into the motorbike stage, and everyone rides them.  More on the motorbikes later.  We were also warned about the mosquitoes and pick pockets.  Interestingly, in our dinner with some of our extended family members last night, two of them confessed that they had credit/debit cards stolen in previous ports. As Loren Crabtree, our executive dean, said last night in Cultural pre-port, if you used a football analogy to describe our country visits, we have just been scrimmaging.  Vietnam would be the first "game".  The opponents would all be on motorbikes.

A lot of people have SAS trips at this port, so that will help them ease into this country.  We've already heard from students who went to see the Cu Chi tunnels that the North Vietnamese used in the "American War" (as they call it).  They found the tunnels quite interesting.  Another group visited the Mekong Delta and were taken by that sight.  SAS is also providing a shuttle bus from the ship to the downtown.  It is easily walkable except for the lack of sidewalks in some places and the motorbikes.

We caught the shuttle to downtown because one of the things that you do in Vietnam is visit a tailor to have some clothes made.  We had gotten the name of a reputable tailor from one of our Inter-port visitors.  Two American women who have lived in Vietnam for 15 years got on the ship in Shanghai to be resource people and give presentations on present-day Vietnam,  We also had a couple of students from Vietnam who had joined us, as they do for every port.  Anyway, we arrived downtown and were dropped off at the Rex Hotel.  The Rex Hotel is famous for being the place that the military used to brief the press during the Vietnam Conflict.  Next door is the City Hall (now the home of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee) shown below with the accompanying sign.

 After a couple of map checks, we had our first street crossing.  With trepidation, we picked the least busy street to cross.  Our pre-port had come with instructions for crossing. Option 1: Step out and do not try to dodge the motorbikes.  They will avoid you.  Just keep moving at a steady pace while looking at the sidewalk ahead of you.  I led the way with Nancy and Theresa behind me, and it really worked.  I got to the other side and looked back, and Nancy was still planted on the other side.   This is my wife who jumps over big jumps on horseback.  We coaxed her across and tried the next street that was a little more congested.

OK, we really didn't try to cross here,  but we did get fine with crossing the streets, and this method worked.  I didn't mention option 2: Find a little old lady who is crossing the street and follow her.  There were none.  I really think this is the Vietnam equivalent of running with the bulls.  We finally go to the tailor, and Nancy took care of her business of getting a riding jacket made, and I ordered a vest.

Then we headed for the market to shop and have lunch. I got three shirts for 447,729 dong (dong is the currency). The U.S. equivalent is $24.  You can burn through some dong pretty quickly in this country, but fortunately, most places will take U.S. $.

Apparently, a lot of other SAS folks had the same shopping idea, because we ran into them all over the market.  The vendors in the market would latch onto you like a Jack Russell, but we did have some interesting conversations with a few of them. Did I mention that the outdoor temperature was 94 degrees today?  The sun was almost directly overhead at noon so after shopping for much of the afternoon, we decided to see what it might have been like to have been a war correspondent who was attending a briefing at the Rex Hotel.

 

We went for some late afternoon refreshments on the upstairs open terrace and considered what it might have been like to have been there in the War era.  A group of SAS students were doing the same thing at a table nearby.

I suppose we could have hitched a ride on a motorbike, but we waited with the students for the shuttle and headed back to the ship--all shopped out.

As a pre-port note, our Global Studies class on Thursday featured presentations by four of the faculty and staff on the ship who talked about their Vietnam War activities.  Two discussed their time as participants as members of the military, and two discussed their time as protesters against the war.  These were moving discussions and evoked a lot of emotion from the presenters which manifested itself in teary eyes among most of the audience.  Everyone appreciated the heart-felt stories and witnessed the difficulty some of them had in just talking about those days, and most students left with the feeling that this was one of the best Global Studies classes of the entire voyage, so far.  It was the only one that has gotten a standing ovation for sure.