Friday, May 25, 2007

Good morning, Vietnam!






On my first morning in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City my supervisor, Dr. Loc, had meetings in the morning. In the meantime, Khue took me around to do some sightseeing, and I was able to take in my first real impressions of the city. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the madness that is the traffic of Saigon. There is no rhyme or reason to the swarm of bikes, motorbikes, a few trucks made circa 1976, and carts of fruit being pushed by their vendors that all weave in and out amongst each other. Since there are no real traffic lanes and red lights are effectively ignored, one has to constantly dodge oncoming entities that may come shooting at you from any number of directions. The scene reminded me of the higher levels of Galaga (I, of course, being a Ms. Pacman enthusiast have never reached the Galaga’s upper tiers, but Becky is a pro, so I know what I'm talking about) when the bullets and comets come shooting at you with incredible frequency and speed.

Adding to the Galaga-esque outerspace atmosphere are the women riding motorbikes who look as if they have just stepped off a spacecraft. Apparently the Vietnamese prefer fair skin, and the women in particular are very aware of the damage the sun can do to one’s skin. Consequently, they arm themselves against the sun’s force with large, wide-brimmed hats that remind me of a cloth and somewhat smaller version of Spaceballs’ Dark Helmet’s head gear (therefore, really just an average size :-)), sunglasses, what can only be described as stylish surgical masks and gloves that reach all the way up to their shoulders. I simply do not know how the can stand it in this heat.

The street sights are compounded by the cacophony of continually beeping car horns, ringing bike bells, the swish of brooms pushing trash off of street corners, water splashing against the pavement as large tubs of dishwater are dumped into the street, and the cries of vendors hawking their goods. Many of their items for sell include an array fruits which I have never seen before. Some of the vendors actually haul them in two buckets that are connected by a pole, which rides on the backs of their shoulders. Many of them wear the Vietnamese cone-shaped hats. I knew that they were traditional, but I assumed that Vietnamese people today wore them about as often as French people wear berets, black and white striped shirts and twirl their mustaches while carrying around baguettes.

I believe some of the scents of which I caught a whiff included the dreaded durian fruit of which I had been warned (apparently some hotels do not even allow people to bring this fruit into their establishments because the smell is so strong), roasting chickens being turned over coals on street corners, and sweat, to which, I am sad to say, I was contributing given the intense heat.

After viewing the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame, the Continental Hotel and other sights, Khue and I met up with Dr. Loc (my supervisor), had lunch, attended a meeting with Operation Smile International representatives, and started off on the four hour car drive to Can Tho.

Most of the national road to Can Tho is built up with small shops and homes, but occasionally I did catch glimpses of rickety boats gliding down rivers and the intense green foliage of which I have seen photos. By the time we got on the ferry to cross over into Can Tho, night had fallen as had my heavy eye lids, so I was quite content to wait until the next day to really take in my new home.
Ok, so apparently I am not computer savvy enough to figure out how to do captions on individual posts. If anyone knows how, please let me know.
So the pictures at the top are as follows, 1) Khue in front of the People's Party building in Ho Chi Minh City; 2) Me in front of the Reunification Palace; 3)Communist Party banner (elections for the National Assembly had been held the day before).

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christin! Welcome to Asia. We can get things done here. You can head up the Southern Branch, I'm on top of the Eastern District. Vietnam sounds awesome, as I'm a thorough fan of pho and pho-ga.

Keep up the writings so I can monitor your "getting things done" levels. Make sure to document what you do every ten minutes.

Take it easy,

Ryan

PS - I've never used the word 'parasol' until I moved here. Now, saying it, makes me feel classy.

Megan said...

Christin,

Loved your blog. I can't wait to see more. I hope you're having a wonderful time. I'm thinking of you always.

Love, Mom

A D R said...

Hey Christin, glad to see that I'm not the only one who deals with insane drivers! The mixture of scooters and bikes and compact cars and bikes and horses make every day in the Balkans an adventure... Never thought I'd actually miss driving on Cantrell!

pumpkinlove said...

Hey! This is great! I can't wait to read more...
~ parad

Chandle said...

Hey Asian work buddy,
I hear you, hot, stinky, crazy driving, but someone amazing. Hang in there. Maybe you can catch a flight to Kathmandu and we'll summit everest, I'll bring Flat Stanley.

marniandjason said...

christin! i'm so glad you're doing a blog friend! such a perfect thing to make me laugh in the middle of the night when i can't sleep! i love your anecdotes and i'm so glad you're having such an amazing experience...can't wait to hear more! miss you lots!!
love,
kim

Pastor Paul said...

Hey you! I read 'em all, and you're officially a blogger now. You'll receive your certificate in 4-6 weeks... good stuff!

I 2 will blog, when the internet is right and i can catch up on Heifer work. They are great to work with, huh? Don't you dare follow Chandle up any mountains, no matter how tempting a trip with Flat Stanley might be. I think the altitude must be getting to her (catch her blog).

Keep us posted!