Chez Moi

May 3, 2011

Saigon alleys

Each day we’ve been in Saigon we’ve found ourselves drawn to the little alleys that wind their way throughout the inner city. Walking along the streets, these alleys suddenly open up in your peripheral vision – blink, and you’ll miss them. They are wonderful to walk through – bringing you into close proximity with tiny hotels, shops, and residential apartments, and glimpses of everyday life – children practising the piano, families gathering on the front steps for a meal, washing drying on balconies, motorbikes zipping past, little dogs growling if you get too close to their territory. When approaching a corner you never know if you will come upon another alley, hit a dead end, or almost step through someone’s front door.

You may notice the proliferation of Vietnamese flags in the photos below – people are very patriotic here, but there were probably even more flags than usual since we were here over the holiday period celebrating the 1975 Reunification of North and South Vietnam.

May 2, 2011

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Chaos, beauty, glory (Saigon)

Fine Arts Museum

We knew within 2-3 hours that we loved Saigon. Like any big city in Asia, there is a certain degree of chaos that comes from the intensity of concentrated humanity. Saigon is a very modern city, and it’s buzzing with activity. The traffic, particularly, seems crazy. Drivers in Cambodia were fairly sedate, but in Saigon they drive much faster and seem less courteous. A few major intersections have traffic lights, but most don’t. To get through, you must employ a mixture of pushing in (because you’d never get anywhere if you didn’t) and giving way. Crossing the road has been a bit hairy – pedestrian crossings painted on the roads don’t register with motorists at all! On our first day we were too scared to cross busy roads by ourselves, so we had to wait until a local came along so we could stick to them like glue. But we’ve adapted surprisingly quickly. It takes a bit of guts – basically you have to do your best to cut through the gaps, and the rest of the time, trust that the oncoming traffic will swerve to avoid hitting you. Apparently, Hanoi is even worse (Mum, try not to worry!).

Interestingly, despite the obvious greater wealth of Vietnam, we’ve found it significantly cheaper to travel here than in Cambodia. We can eat a full dinner for around 100,000 Vietnamese Dong (about $5 US), and take air-conditioned taxi’s all around the city for around $1-2 US. Our entry fee to the Fine Arts Museum was 10,000 Dong each (that’s US 50c). There’s been no trouble sticking to our budget here.

The state of the power lines in Asia continue to fascinate me (on D Bui Vien)

Saigon is often very beautiful. It has lovely green parks, sculptures, and amazing buildings (old and new). We loved visiting the Fine Arts Museum – I took more photos of the building itself than of the artworks though. The Vietnamese presentation of recent history in artworks produced since the 1970s seemed quite propagandist in tone, depicting the ‘glories’ of the US-Vietnam war – benevolent Uncle Ho, brave soldiers, and the triumphant reunification of North and South Vietnam on April 29th, 1975. The displays at the War Remnants Museum produced similarly mixed feelings for me. Photographs of brutalities against civilians and deformed children (due to the generational effects of exposure to Agent Orange) were truly awful. But there was no hint of what the Khmer Rouge did to their own people, and having just come from Cambodia, I think it’s important to emphasise that 1975, the year of Vietnamese reunification, was also the year that Khmer Rouge supported Pol Pot to power in Cambodia.

But what would a ‘balanced’ point of view look like, if it was indeed possible? History is always from some particular point of view. The best attempt was a display of photographs from over 100 photo-journalists killed during the war. These photos were hugely compelling, depicting dirt and blood, the pain, terror and exhaustion of soldiers, a devastating war of attrition set against beautiful landscapes. One photo in particular has stuck in my mind – a US soldier with his head down, weeping, following a day of severe losses to their side. I don’t know why we do such things to ourselves and each other.

At the Fine Arts Museum – a very old, beautiful building

At the Fine Arts Museum, posing nonchalantly as per Colin’s direction. This painting is by a contemporary Vietnamese artist who is a recognised master in lacquer-on-wood painting. Up close, you can see that the lacquer technique results in a real sense of depth on the wooden surface – quite lovely.

Escaping the heat at a lovely inner city park. Saigon isn’t as hot as Cambodia, but it’s still very warm. We can manage about an hour walking around in the heat before we have to seek out an iced tea or icecream

Notre Dame cathedral – Buddhism is the predominant religion by far, but 7% of the population is Catholic

The beautiful Central Post Office is a tourist attraction in its own right

Apartment block on D Bui Vien, the vibrant backpacker area where we have spent most of our time

In general, we’ve found that people here aren’t quite as friendly as in Cambodia. But this doesn’t mean that we haven’t met some lovely people, such as this guy who helped us catch the right bus to Cholon Markets. Colin’s tattoos continue to get heaps of attention wherever we go, opening up opportunities to talk – even if sign language is all that both sides can manage!

And the food is sooooo good – this is Pho – the ubiquitous beef noodle soup

May 1, 2011

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Floating down the Mekong

What better way to travel from Cambodia to Vietnam than by boat down the Mekong? The boat was virtually empty, with only four other tourists on board. It was a very overcast, grey day, but Colin and I amused ourselves for most of the five hour trip on the deck at the back of the boat, watching the world go by and listening to our iPods.

Almost our last view of Cambodia

We stopped at a small town close to the Vietnamese border for lunch before switching boats and continuing on to the border crossing.

The sudden appearance of Vietnamese flags marked the border crossing

Almost as soon as we were in Vietnamese waters, everything changed. Most noticeably, the shape of the small fishing boats were different, and the hats the fisher(people) were wearing also changed shape. It was also apparent very quickly that Vietnam is a wealthier country than Cambodia. We stayed the night in Chau Doc, which we had thought was a “small” town just over the border. When we got there, we found it to be a bustling town with a population of 150,000. It seemed like an interesting town, and we would have stayed longer if we hadn’t already booked a bus to Saigon leaving at 8am the next morning.