Vietnam observations

I've had a little time to reflect on Vietnam after a short bout with a 24 hr bug that has hit some of us on the ship--headache, fever, gastrointestinal distress.  Thank goodness it is short-lived.

There were a lot of little things that about Vietnam that caught my attention that are different. Telephone poles were different, because they were mostly made of concrete with pre-drilled holes to connect wires.  I think they were made of concrete to hold up to the motorbikes that must hit them daily.






Tee-shirts.  Everyone that visited Vietnam bought at least one tee-shirt. Most of them cost around $3 dollars and should hold up through at leat 5 washings.

Traditional Vietnamese music is beautiful.

The economy seems based on retail and service industries. The streets are lined with open doorways where everything from prepared foods to packs of gum are sold.  We noticed in several shops that the proprietors live in the rooms in the back, and they all have large screen televisions.  I noticed the adult son of one man we met sitting int he back and channel surfing with the remote.  Some things are the same everywhere.

The bus drivers are amazing,  We watched this one parallel park his bus.

Knockoff  products abound, but nobody really thinks we got Oakley sunglasses for $3.


But, the kids who spoke in the post-port reflections on the night after we left Vietnam had some other observations.
A lot of the kids really didn't know much about the Vietnam War.  Visits to some placed like the Vietnam War Museum gave them a look at the impact of the war that they had not imagined. Visits to the the Agent Orange Orphanage  showed the continuing effect of the War

Visits to other orphanages like the Palm Tree Orphanage and the School for the deaf left the students feeling like the resident kids had given the SAS students more than they had given the residents.

Those who traveled outside Saigon noted the beauty of the country and the friendly people.  Even the experience of holding a python was something that many never thought they would have done.

Observations of families made one student observe that he wished families in his hometown would care as much for their kids.

One student learned enough Vietnamese phrases to meet a musician in a hotel, and was rewarded by the gratitude of the musician.  No one had ever tried to talk to her before.

One student had the experience of trying to harvest rice and saw just how hard it was. She will have a greater appreciation for people everytime she eats rice.

Another student who had life altering surgery at a Shriner's Hospital as a child was taken with how much difference that could make to a lot of kids in Vietnam.

Vietnam had a profound effect on a lot of the voyagers.