Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Phu My port for Saigon and sea day

Sunday, March 15, 2009 – in the South China Sea headed to Bangkok
Sunny and hot
Slept late and read my book in bed! I think I am so far behind that I have missed the book club discussion but the book is fascinating East of the Sun by Julia Gregson.

Our friends stopped by and Gene went to computer class while I worked in the room.
I love the 12:00 ship’s whistle call! We have a daily report from the bridge and today they almost played a concert at sea with the whistles!

I had an afternoon computer class, worked on the cocktail party, exercised and dressed for a semi-formal night. Delivered invitations for the group and watched the past lectures on TV about astronomy, the Vietnamese economy and Vietnam during the war.

Saturday, March 14, 2009 – Phu My commercial port for the cities of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), CuChi Tunnels and Mekong Delta Cruise and Vung Tau (closest city to the port!)
92 degrees and humid and sunny

It is definitely a commercial port. As we neared the port, we were passing the Vietnamese fishermen and could see swamp lands with tall trees. Manufacturing plants for steel and concrete were nearby when we docked. In the dock area, they had even set up several vendors – including one with suitcases. That tells you the buying power in Vietnam!

Buses were lined up and passengers were pouring off the ship. This port is approx. 2 hours from anywhere of cultural interest so it was going to be a long day of touring. We have been to Ho Chi Minh, the tunnels and been on the Mekong when we traveled from Siem Reap Cambodia to Phnom Penh so we opted for the free shuttle to the closest town to the port – Vung Tau. It is actually only 30 miles from the port but with a speed limit of 30 miles an hour (crawling speed!) it took us over an hour to get there. There was plenty to see out of the bus windows, which is something I always enjoy. Motorcycles and mopeds are the popular mode of transportation for men and women. Helmets are only required on the larger roads but everyone wears a cloth face mask over their nose and mouth. Some even cover their neck and check area. And you see such a variety of items being transported! Two girls were holding a bicycle upside down on the moped. A family of four were on one motorcycle. One man was hauling two huge blocks of ice on the back – about 5 feet long, and 12 inches wide by 12 inches high! I assume he has to go faster than the speed limit or he loses his load in the heat!! Window-watching is a great activity in any country!

In Vung Tau, we quickly realized we were going to have major communication problems. Even at our meeting point, a large hotel, English was not easily understood. Pedicabs were abundant as we contemplated finding a tailor. On a previous visit, I had a typical Vietnamese outfit made for nearly nothing. Young women on motorbikes approached us to try to sell Vietnamese silk jackets and night gowns in various colors and sizes. Then there was a loud confrontation between two women fighting over our business and it made me very uncomfortable. We decided to take the pedicab to the tailor and the women followed us on their motorbikes!!! There was another scene at the tailor and I ended up upset and crying!! It was a mess. We tried to walk away and they kept following us and at that point I was certainly not interested in buying a thing from any one of them. Persistent little saleswomen!!! We stopped in a few shops and ended up sitting down and talking with a nice older gentleman who sold sodas. His English was good and he called a cab for us and told the driver our route.

We drove along the waterfront and passed many fishing boats – wooden junks painted various shades of blue, red and green. They are very colorful as they bob along on the waves. Our destination was to see the 100-foot high Madonna built by the American soldiers at the top of the hill, similar to the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There were benches along the path engraved with the names and home cities/states of the donors – Havertown, PA and Philadelphia, PA are pretty close to home! We met a giggling group of teenagers and they now have our photos for their scrapbooks! The view of the sea was beautiful and the statue is modern.

Our next stop was the market and it turned out to be the fish and vegetable market. Women sit all day under the covered marketplace and sell and prepare their goods. We saw men and women peel the garlic and onions to be put into the large 50 pounds sacks. The fish were alive in the buckets – mussels, whelk, squid, octopi, “normal” looking fish (whatever is normal in these waters), conch, and many varieties I could not identify! Fresh meat is displayed for hours on their counters with flies swarming around. It looks to be of very good quality but I could not guess what type of meat it was. There was a small restaurant section with an electric burner for cooking and plastic stools under the wooden plank for the countertop. The “drug store” was a stall lined to the top with every imaginable item you could need – almost a combo kitchen and drug store.

We walked down the street looking for a hair dresser and an internet café. Gene would have his time on the computer and I would have mine for relaxation. And we found one!! One dollar for an hour on the internet and two dollars for my hour of beauty!! This time I had only a shampoo and a facial massage. The shampoo was done while I was sitting upright in the chair. She slowly poured shampoo on the top of my head and gently blended it into the hair. After a head massage, she led me to the table to lie down and finished washing my hair in the sink. I heard slicing behind me and found out she was cutting the cucumber to place on my face. I was completed covered except for my nose and it was so cool and lovely!! Since it is a hot sticky climate, it could not have felt better. The cool water running on my forehead and then the cold cucumber…I was definitely relaxed and loving every moment of it.

We walked down the street and found a drink called Wintermelon. I read it as watermelon so I thought it would be good. Well, wintermelon tastes like coffee and ginger combined. It was cold and interesting but I’m not sure I would repeat the drink again.

We took another cab to the “market” which turned out to be the new mall!!! What a shock. We wandered around and, of course, I found a pair of shoes to buy!! What fun --. little slip on beige sandals with a small heel – kind of like little ballerina shoes. I have a great memento from the day…

We had a terrible time with a taxi and getting back to the hotel. They were trying to charge us $10 for a $1.50 fare. And we fought it. We kept walking and left the taxis in the dust behind us. But they keep following us and tooting their horns so we finally accepted a ride when they came down to our price. It is really annoying when they try such tactics.

We made the last bus from the hotel back to the ship and the vendors were still there! What a surprise. They made so much money off this ship!!! People go absolutely NUTS about shopping anyway and when the prices are as low as they are here, it is insane. So we were out there in the dusk until the security officer came along and said they were raising the gangplanks SO GET ON THE SHIP NOW!! And off we trotted. We do follow officer’s orders rather well….

Everyone was exhausted. We had open seating for dinner so you could dress and eat when you pleased so that helped relax us a bit. Also had a deck BBQ to enjoy and a crew talent show, which was fabulous.

“He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know.” Lao-Tzu

Saigon has over 7,000,000 residents. The Chinese Funan Kingdom ruled the Mekong River Delta between 2nd and 7th centuries and then became part of the Khmer Chenla Kingdom. By 1200 AD, it was an important port in the Angkor Kingdom. Chinese armies invaded repeatedly until the 19th century. French influence grew in Vietnam and in 1961 France seized Saigon. The empire expanded to become French Indochine within two decades. Saigon flourished and in the 1960s, foreign contract workers, Western businessman, fashion designers and spies all showed up. Businesses collapsed in the wake of the 1975 armistice (it fell to advancing North Vietnamese forces) and more than a decade of austere isolationism. But the country has once again opened its doors. Cell phones and palm pilots are abundant in this busy city.

Saigon City Hall is the headquarters for the People’s Central Committee. The War Remnants Museum is housed (not accidentally) in the former US Information Service building – it was once called the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes. The Reunification Palace was where the first communist tanks arrived in Saigon on April 30, 1975. The building was once the symbol of the South Vietnamese government. The extensive Cu Chi Tunnels network, over 150 miles long, was central to the Viet Cong’s war on Saigon. The tunnels were well-supplied, several storeys deep and equipped with an ingenious system of trap doors, dead-ends, kitchens, weapons factories, field hospitals, storage areas and living quarters.