Nam

 The craziness of Ho Chi Minh City's traffic

I want to apologize to my loyal readers for my two week hiatus, but I wanted to gather my thoughts about my recent 12 day venture to Vietnam before I posted. 

So, let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start (just a Sound of Music reference…).  I left Battambang on April 1^st and spent the night with my friend and travel partner, Jacqueline.  While we both love Cambodia, we were both itching for a trip and spirits were really high that night and we left early the next morning for Ho Cho Minh City.  I had previously set up my visa at the Vietnamese Consulate in Battambang, so that was one less thing that we had to worry about at the border.  It was really painless and the trip there was pretty cool because it was a place in Cambodia that I had never been.  We drove through a bunch of other PC volunteers’ sites.  It’s always cool to see one of my friends homes, even if it is from the air-conditioned bus passing through.  Nonetheless, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City around 2:30 and the culture shock set in.  Although Ho Chi Minh City is close in proximity to Phnom Penh, it seems light years ahead.  I never thought that I would ever be amazed by a vending machine, but I couldn’t help myself gawk at it while we strolled through the park on the way to the market.  It was obvious once we set foot into the market just how different Cambodia’s markets are to Vietnam’s markets.  For instance, they have much more to offer and it is so much cleaner.  There were ever land lines in the individual stores! Needless to say, we were astounded by the array of goods that we simply don’t have in Cambodia and therefore spend way more than we wanted to.  Regardless, we had a good time walking through the market (Ben Thanh Market) and relaxing with a coconut and talking to a family from Hong Kong.  

One of the funniest parts of our trip was our inability to stop IRB-ing.  What is that, you ask?  It is a little technique that we learned in training and it stands for intentional relationship building and one volunteer refers to it as BFF-ing.  Anyway, it is the effort to let people know who you are, why you are here and establish some sort of relationship.  It is what we do all the time and our IRB-ing skills have really skyrocketed at site, but clearly we don’t know how to not IRB and talk like a regular person.  We kept telling anyone who would listen that we were from America, but we work for the US Peace Corps as English teachers.  Oh yes, we speak Khmer and we live with Cambodian families.  Yes, we miss our families, but we love Cambodia and are really happy there.  Essentially we had the same conversation with anyone who showed ANY interest in us.  I guess our Peace Corps training staff would be really proud of us. 

 The One Pillar Pagoda

The rest of our time in Ho Chi Minh City was spent being tourists.  Our first full day there was spent at the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum and a pagoda, of course.  The Reunification Palace was the home of the former President during the 60’s and became a symbol of the fall of Saigon in 1975 when North Vietnamese tanks broke down the gates.  It was built in the 1960’s and based upon “modern design” and therefore looks something like a Brady Bunch home.  The War Remnants Museum was exactly that, a museum of artifacts from the wars fought between Vietnam and French and America.  There was a large emphasis on the American war, however.  While it was very awkward to be on the other side, there was one thing very clear was we walked around the two floor museum- no matter the cause, war is such an awful thing.  It brings out the worst and divides people in ways that are simply grotesque.  Clearly I have a non-violent stance, being a PEACE Corps Volunteer, which is one of the reasons that I gave up two years to live here in Cambodia.  That’s neither here nor there…. The pagoda was beautiful, but after living in Cambodia and spending much time in pagodas, it wasn’t much to write home about.

We stayed at a family-run hostel in Ho Chi Minh and the family was really nice.  We weren’t excited about our fifth floor room without an elevator, but the father came to my rescue when I locked my keys in my backpack.  We lock up our bags when we leave with those little luggage locks and I had the genius idea of leaving my keys in my bag because there was no need for them.  The father went out and bought a little saw to saw the lock off.  We were happy that we stayed at the place run by a family. 

The next day, we went to the train station and boarded the train for Hanoi.  We left Ho Chi Minh City at 12:00 and embarked on our 31-hour train ride.  It really wasn’t as awful as I thought that it would be, but it wasn’t that fun.  There was not much to do except watch a Jet Li movie dubbed with Vietnamese translations or attempt to play solitaire.  I remember when I interned in New York with the Peace Corps Recruiting Office, one of the woman that I worked with was a volunteer in the Ukraine and she told me that when you are a PC Volunteer, you get used to the idea of a long bus or train trip really quick simply because there is no other option.  This time last year, I was complaining about an 8-hour bus trip to North Carolina with my softball team, how times have changed.  While we were making our plans for our trip to Sapa, Jacqueline said, “Well, it’s only a ten-hour train ride, so it won’t be that bad.”  I agreed with her, but it wasn’t until a few minutes later that I realized just how long ten hours really is, but we were acting like it was nothing. 

When we got to Hanoi, it was night and we were really tired, so we dropped off our things at our hostel and ended up just eating dinner and going to bed early.  The next day, we switched hostels to the one we originally intended, which is a European-style backpackers youth hostel.  It was way more our feel than the other place, plus it was about half the price.  We stayed in a dorm room with two French girls who liked to sleep more than sight see or go out, so we didn’t really see much of them.  We spent the day in the historical part of the city, starting with the One Pillar Pagoda, which was built about 1,000 years ago by the King at the time as a symbol of fertility.  We were too late to see Ho Chi Minh’s remains at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, which was a common theme of our time in Hanoi.  We walked around the city and ended up on some side street and since we don’t know any Vietnamese, when it came time to order food, we usually just pointed to what someone else was eating.  The food in Vietnam is really good and we had pho at least once a day, sometimes more than one.  Pho is basically noodles, chives, broth and meat.  There is a lesser version in Cambodia called gwee tee you, so we ate all the pho we could.  We then went to the Temple of Literature which was built in 1076 dedicated to studying the doctrine of Confucius.  The design and architecture are Chinese and I almost forgot which country we were in for a few minutes.  There is also a section of stone diplomas to honor the few students who completed the rigorous curriculum.  It was very serene there and was a great place to walk around in the hectic city.  Next, we went to Ho Chi Minh’s residence, which is behind the Presidential Palace, which was the home of the French governor.  After the French were thrown out, Ho Chi Minh refused to live there and instead there was a modest house built behind the palace.  The landscape and view was gorgeous, but the house was really small and actually looked like house a Peace Corps volunteer would live.  That was all the sight-seeing that we could do in a day, so we went back and ate dinner then went out.  We were both very impressed with our ability to go out at night then wake up the next day and take advantage of the city.  

 The Temple of Literature

We went to the Museum of Ethnology the next day, which is dedicated to the ethnic minorities in Vietnam, which there are a lot.  It really got us excited for our trip to Sapa, which is home to a few ethnic minorities.  We especially liked the section about the Khmer minorities in Vietnam.  On display were the sampots that we teach in everyday, as well as the kramas that the men wear everyday.  From there we went to the Hanoi Hilton, which was the prison that was used to hold POWs during the Vietnam War, including John McCain.  We toured around the rooms as they displayed how the prison was used to house Vietnamese rebels and how the French used it to torture and kill.  The music was really scary and the lighting was dark.  We then came to the part about how the Vietnamese used the prison against American POWs.  There was a sign that discussed how well the prisoners were treated as well as pictures of them playing basketball, celebrating Christmas and altogether enjoying their stay.  Like I said, we were on the opposite side of the equation this time, so I left with the same feeling of just how awful war is. 

The next day, we had seen everything we really wanted to and the traveling really got to us, so we went to the shopping section of town and then went to the water puppet show, which is an old Vietnamese tradition.  We went into a theater and listened to a Vietnamese band narrate the various stories through music.  There were a lot of families there and I think that it was one of the cooler things that we saw there.  The pictures don’t really do it justice. 

 Water Puppets

We left the next morning for Sapa, which was a ten hour train ride then an hour bus ride to the mountain side town.  It is really close to Laos and China and we were thankful for the cool weather.  We were awed instantly at the beauty.  Like I said, there are many ethnic minorities who live there and still farm on the mountainside.  The fields looked like steps and when we came into town, we were really pleased with out decision to go there.  As for sight seeing, the most to do is to take a tour through the mountains, which we did.  The markets were flooded with woman and children selling jewelry, clothing and purses.  We really relaxed there and met a lot of cool people.  Unlike the rest of Vietnam, most of the people there spoke English, so we were able to communicate and learn a little more about their lives.  The food was really good and we stayed at a cute French hotel with really good food.  The nightlife for us consisted of getting food massages then singing “YMCA” at a karaoke bar that only had 5 people in it, all Vietnamese.  

 The mountainside in Sapa

A Hmoung Woman, Voo, with her daughter, Coo in Sapa

The trek back to Battambang was awful, to say the least.  We left Sapa in the morning on Sunday, April 11^th for Hanoi.  We took the minibus to the train station and were appalled to find out that there weren’t any seats left.  We freaked out a little because our flight was at 7:00am the next day to Ho Chi Minh, so we were really scared we were going to miss our flight when a man come up to us and told us there is a bus.  It was a lot less money and the bus had all recliners.  We found out soon why people still preferred the train, however, it was sooo windy that we had motion sickness the whole time.  Regardless, we made it back to Hanoi safe and sound, which was a relief.  We spent the night at the backpackers hostel and woke up at 4:30 and made out way to the airport.  Despite the fact that we witnessed the drama of a 50-year man throw a tantrum about a bag, we checked in and were so thankful for the 2 hour flight, instead of a 31 hour train back.  We stopped in Ho Chi Minh for lunch (it was Monday by then).  By this time, Jac and I were really missing Cambodia in general and were so happy to hear a man next to us say “Kinyom jung ban nyum bye” which means “I want to eat rice” in Khmer.  We both stared and each other then struck up a conversation with him in Khmer, but he wanted to practice English.  He lives in PP and thanked us at least three times for being volunteers in Cambodia and bought our lunch for us.  Not to say that anything bad about Vietnam, but there is something so special about Khmer people.  They are just so friendly and warm and we really missed that when we were in Vietnam.  Meeting this guy and talking to him really made us realize that we were in the right place.  By that time, we were itching to get home to our families.  We took a bus into PP and once we crossed that border, we were instantly happier.  Jacqueline stopped at her site and I proceeded into PP.  The trip from Ho Chi Minh to Battambang in one day is just too much, so I left PP early the next morning.  I was so happy to be able to speak Khmer again and felt like I was home.  The tuk tuk drivers were all happy to see a foreigner who can speak Khmer.  When I got home, my family was all happy to see me and at dinner, Huck told me that he asked Chun Lai if he missed me and his response was “nuk nah!” which means “I miss her a lot” which warmed my heart.  It feels good to be back, except for the heat.  It’s so hot. 

It is now Khmer New Year and my family isn’t really doing anything today, but tomorrow we are going to the pagoda, which will probably be an all day affair.  All in the name of cultural exchanges.  I am really happy to be back and can’t wait to start teaching again.  A student called me this morning to wish me Happy New Year and to have good luck and good health.  So, to all of you back home, during Khmer New Year, I wish you good health, good luck and all the happiness forever (this is something that my students say to me a lot, even if it’s after English Club or class…)