Vihn Long/HCMC-Day 5

Now this is where things really started to head downhill. All week, of course, everyone had been trying to rob me, overcharging me, refusing to give me change, etc.

So, in the morning I went to Holly's for breakfast and to see her neighborhood. It was wonderful, her mother was so kind to me. They were the only people who were actively nice to me or willing to help me, really. Holly even took me to a really cool wet market.

Anyway, on the way back I burnt my leg on a moto. It was pretty bad, bleeding and dripping yellow and huge. It was hard to walk so I went to my hotel, they had no first aid kit. So I went to try to clean it up (luckily Holly's mother had given me some numbing ointment as a souvenir-though I'm not sure why exactly). So I put it on and tried to go to the store to find bandages-they had none, nor did they have any ointment.

So I went back to the hotel (7 blocks or so) to check out and they didn't have a credit card machine-which they had neglected to tell me. So I had to go back out and look for an ATM machine because the security guard at the hotel wouldn't look at the one in front of the building. Still dripping at this point.

So I get the money and get checked out and I have to try to find a moto to take me to the bus station. I ask a few guys and they are doubling the price and when I finally find one that agrees on a reasonable price he takes me to the wrong bus station (one that pays him for bringing people there-I saw them exchange the money). He refused to take me to the proper one and took money out of my hand and tried to drive away. I grabbed it back and made him give me the change for it first-all as 5 or 6 locals stand by and laugh with the man.

When I finally get to HCMC my leg was killing me and so I decided to go to this place near the airport. Climbing out of the truck I tore the remaining skin from my burn and start bleeding all over again-it turned a dark, gross color. I found a meter taxi that my hotel recommended and he takes me to the wrong place-an expensive hotel by the airport and takes my money and refuses to give me my change back. Instead he just laughed.

So he left me stranded and bleeding all over myself in the city. The moto drivers started following and harassing me again and I finally decided to go into the hotel and just pay to get myself off the street. I was really upset.

It was a terrible culmination of a week of incidents like those. Really exhausting..

My leg (I'm going to the doctors tomorrow, but at least I was able to get some bandaging for it finally).

The wet market!:
These frogs were still alive...
skinned, dead rats.

me and holly's nephews

Me, Holly's mom, and nephew
me and Holly..

Vihn Long-Day 2

I met a german girl in town (one of the only other tourists around) and we agreed to haggle a boat price with the men on the pier for a trip on the river. We got one (vastly overpriced im sure) and set sail to see a floating market-Cai Be!

The problem is that in the morning tides are too low to get there, but in the afternoon when the tide rises enough, most of the market disperses. Such was our case. By the time we got there (at around 9 AM) most of the market was gone. It was still lovely though.







We stopped at a bonsai garden before taking a sapan ride. I rock those hats, btw.




I thought of Travis the whole time because I knew he would appreciate the jungle-ness of it all.

We even saw a brick factory..
When we returned I got ready and had dinner and karaoke with Holly and her mother!

Vihn Long-Day 1

I was happy to leave Ho Chi Minh behind and the hotel was really helpful in helping me get to Vihn Long-a town deep in the delta region and not a very common tourist destination.

I had a bit of trouble finding a hotel to stay at (one that seemed to have electricity of some sort). But I finally found one with a great view of the river, too.

I have been dying to see the Mekong ever since I heard about the Mekong Giant Catfish-a predatory fish that grows to the size of a full grown man and weighs 500 pounds. It is said that it eats children who swim in the Mekong and spawns up near Laos.

It was too late to go out on the river by the time I got there-the tides are very particular and very extreme. So I wandered around the town and found a lovely wet market. The old women there were friendly, always asking how old I was. Traffic practically stopped to see me-they think I am so strange looking!

Later that evening I met a mother and daughter on the boardwalk. The daughter, Holly, studied English and we became fast friends and agreed to have dinner the following night.

Ho Chi Minh-Day 2

The next morning I booked a tour down the Saigon River to the Cu Chi Tunnels. They were really rather interesting and I had a lovely time riding the boat down the river.

It was so well hidden, I had no idea it was there..
Me in a fox hole!
Climbing in and out required some maneuvering, even from me.
A dog trap.
A spider hole.
We were allowed to crawl through one tunnel-it was really fun and this is where we ended up. The room was pitch black and still underground.

When I got back I went to try to have a late lunch in the park I went to the day before. But as soon as I sat down a 20 something year old man and two small boys started inching around me. One little boy took my guide book from next to me and rifled through it to see if I had anything in it (I didn't), stole my water, and tried several times to yank my camera out of my hand. They didn't succeed in taking anything of value but I was upset.

That night one of the security guards from the hotel and I had dinner and coffee (we were unable to communicate at all, but he did give me a red pocket with 500 dong-about 25 US cents).

Ho Chi Minh-Day 1

I arrived late in the evening and so I didn't see much of the city until the next morning. It looked, to me, very much like Manila..crazy amounts of motos, no street signals (so crossing the street requires a death-defying leap of faith that they will swerve to avoid you), wires everywhere, people starring. I didn't feel that HCMC was especially safe, especially at night. I guess I can't put my finger on it, but even that first day I felt uneasy. I'm sure lots of others will disagree with my statement and maybe it is silly and spoiled of me but that is how I felt.

I visited a boring market and sat in a park to figure out where to go. Lots of students dropped by to practice their English with me which was kind of fun.

The heat was really intense but I spent the day walking around District 1. Walking past all the hotels that the journalists from the war made famous, the Reunification Hall, the Saigon River. I stopped at the War Remnants Museum, which was heavily anti-American. It chronicled in great detail the effects of Agent Orange of individuals, including a remarkable set of conjoined twins perserved in formaldehyde or what have you. Outside were a dozen planes/tanks abandoned by the Americans and a reconstruction of an old prison camp-detailing the horrors of interrogation methods and confinement.

Afterwards I walked over to the temple where the monks immolated themselves in protest of the religious persecution under the Diem regime (not the war itself). It was unremarkable though, no signs of what had occured remained. Though, I don't know what I was expected.