Day 13 - Good Bye Vietnam

On my way to China, then to JFK and home. Looking forward especially to see my hubby, family and friends. Thanks for following my travels.

Day 12 - Goodbye to my travel companions

Everyone except me is leaving for home today. We had a great experience here in Vietnam. See you at Home Improvement. Rick and Diane Carson, Lanette Duggan, and Jim and Melinda Gall.

Day 11 - Mekong Delta

Mekong River

It was a long ride by van out to the Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City today. It's very warm and the humidity is worse than Houston on a bad day in the summer. We had 5 down pours that lasted maybe 10 minutes each during the day.

Roadside rest stop

Along the roadside were hundreds of "rest" stops were the locals grab a bit to eat and rest in hammocks that are lined up in rows right next to the tables and sometimes there were just rows and rows of hammocks. That

Checking it out

was amazing.

I didn't realize the vast amount of agricultural and handicraft production that comes from the Mekong Delta, yet the people live in the poorest conditions along the Mekong River.  If there are more attractive areas, we didn't see them. Such a stark contrast from Ho Chi Minh City, which is like NYC transformed with scooters.

Life on the Mekong

View from my hotel room in Ho Chi Minh

But we had a very interesting day learning about life on the river. We took a bike ride along a path through one of the local villages and stopped to learn how they make rice paper waffles and weave baskets. I got to drive my own motorcycle by myself. The first time I started it I nearly ran over people because I was in the wrong gear. It made me anxious, and it made the Vietnamese pretty nervous, but I was OK after that. I checked out one of those hammocks at the basket weaver's shop. A boat took us over to an island where we jumped in a sampan and our rower glided us along one of the Mekong's tributaries. At one of the large shops we got to see their production of coconut candy, traditional rice paper, popped rice, and sweet rice bars. The production was all by hand - no machine production - and each person produces thousands of these foods every day. It's like stepping back 200 years.  

Making rice waffles

Basket making

Elephant fish for lunch - It was good

Sampan ride up the Mekong river

Grind coconut here to make candy

Packaging coconut candy

Making rice paper

Packaging sweet rice bars

Popping rice like popcorn

Day 10 - Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City

Secret entrance/exit to the tunnels below.
This was a live demonstration!

After about a 1 hour flight from Hoi An City to Ho Chi Minh City, the first thing we wanted was lunch. We stopped to have traditional Vietnamese Pho noodle soup, which was actually very good, before heading immediately for the Cu Chi tunnels, about 2 hours from the airport. The Viet Cong dug these tunnels to protect themselves initially from the French air and ground sweeps, then from the Americans during the Vietnam war.

 It's interesting how history is shaped by each persons perspective. Many Vietnamese refer to the war as "the American war" and refer to the land as "occupied by the Americans" because of Vietnam's history of colonization and their fight for independence.

Me coming through one of the tunnels
into an underground room. You can
get an idea how small these tunnels were.
Small enough for Vietnamese; too small
for Americans

A former VC was one of our tour guide at the tunnels. He lost his right arm during the war.He told us 2000-3000 VC (men, women, and children) lived in the tunnels at any one time during the war. They were farmers during the day and at night they worked at digging the tunnels and setting up land mines and traps for the American soldiers. He said 90% of the people in Cu Chi were VC who lived in the tunnels. He lived in the tunnels for 12 years. We saw the weapons the VC used against the U.S. and the ways they out-smarted and trapped their enemy. I got to crawl through the very small tunnels underground to see how they lived and survived.

Recovered, unexploded cluster
bombs. Notice how the bombs
inside the tubes glow under
the flash of the camera!

 It was a very somber experience that stirred up a lot of emotion in all of us. It helped me understand much more clearly the emotion behind the anti-war protests of the Vietnam War era. Neither the north nor the south wanted the Americans in Vietnam. I also wrestled with the realization that my step-mom and her family were from Cu Chi and that my father was a civilian working in Vietnam during that time with a private construction company under contract with the U.S. government. I try to imagine what it was like.

IN HONOR OF ALL OUR VETERANS, HAPPY VETERANS DAY!

The VC even had an emergency
medical room set up underground

Day 9 - Hoi An City

We learned calligraphy from a small shop owner in town this morning, something I've never thought of doing. I learned there is no right or wrong way to do calligraphy, but your writing must show emotion and expression with a flow of thick, medium, and thin lines. You have to be calm to do calligraphy well. It does make you more peaceful and would be a great activity to do with some of our elderly clients.

Calligraphy lesson

This one was done by the teacher

My personal best

Our guide showed us around Hoi An. It's a beautiful, vibrant city with lots of shops, colorful lanterns, and scooters everywhere. Shopping is all done by negotiation.

My Vespa driver, and our guide,
 let me pose as if I was the driver

In the evening we took a street food tour on Vespas, the scooters. Don't worry; the food was safe for Americans to eat. That was soooo much fun as our Vespa drivers wove their way through the streets and alleyways of Hoi An. It's a great way to see the city. The drivers took us to the Thu Bon River, which runs through Hoi An. We took a sampan down the river where we lit candles and made a wish as we placed the candles in the water. There were hundreds of brightly colored candles lighting up the water and colorful lanterns everywhere. It was magical!

Our Vietnamese friend who we met on FWM, An,
making a wish before putting her lantern in the river

Day 8 - Hoi An City

Tuan, our guide in Ha Long Bay, seeing us off at the airport.
He was a great guide. Even I feel tall!

We flew a short trip from Hanoi to Da Nang where a new guide met us at the airport and took us by van to Hoi An City. Our hotel, La Siesta, is beautiful and within walking distance to the old city, with architectural influence from the Chinese and Japanese, and plenty of shopping and restaurants. It was so nice of An, who was one of our hosts and translators on the Free Wheelchair Mission, to meet us at dinner time and show us around. She lives in Hoi An. She brought us to a tailor who makes custom clothes for you and delivers them to your hotel within 1 day, made with very fine silk cloth and at an unbelievable low price! We ALL had a great time picking out something to be made. The ladies got beautiful Ao Dai's and tops made and the guys got custom fit sports coats. An Ao Dai is the traditional long silk tunic worn over silk pants. I have never had custom made clothes - it's amazing how much difference a perfect fit makes! I'm spoiled now.

Day 7 - Ha Long Bay

Six of us left early this morning for the northern coast of Vietnam, Ha Long Bay. The mission trip is over for us and now we are visiting other parts of Vietnam. My first impression of Ha Long Bay - Awesomely beautiful! Imagine over 2000 little mountainous islands jutting up from the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. I understand this is where the Americans first bombed North Vietnam.

Ha Long Bay from top of Ti Top Island

 

The junk

We stayed overnight on a junk that took us out to Cua Van, one of the floating fishing villages, where we took a ride in a sampan. It's amazing to see how they live in the village. We saw some of the villagers rowing sampans with their feet. The rowing motion is very different than we are accustomed to. 

Cua Van floating fishing village

At night we had a cooking class and learned to make Vietnamese  spring rolls. They were really good. I have the recipe and will plan to make some for appetizers the my next social gathering. 

Here I am doing Tai Chi on the top of the junk. The food was outstanding. Definitely needed this early morning exercise.

Tai Chi the next morning