ho chi minh city/saigon, vietnam

in an effort to get caught up on my blog and an attempt to share my thoughts about the country i am currently in, i am going to blog for two days in a row :)

before we arrived in india we were told that india would change us. i believe that each country we have spent time in has changed me in some way, and yet the country that has changed me the most so far is vietnam.

we arrived in vietnam after spending a couple of hours going through the channel to get there. the channel was amazing-it was lush and green on both sides and it took patience and time as we wove our way through it.

my first day in vietnam was spent with a few other folks getting acquainted with the city. it was hot and we dripped sweat as we made our way to the market. the market was filled with so many different booths that it looked like sardines in a can. should you ever visit vietnam it will be important to hone up on your frogger skills so you can survive crossing the streets. once you make the commitment to cross a street and you step off the curb there is not turning back, no slowing down and no hesitating-you must walk with confidence and at a steady pace.

i spent the next few days flying and riding in a bus to a mountain village in mai chau where i stayed with a man and wife (who are of the black thai hill tribe)-there six daughters were already grown and all but one was married. the father asked us a few questions about obama and shared with us that the people of vietnam were glad we had elected him-they trusted him because of what they saw in his eyes; his kindness, his caring, his intelligence and most of that he smiled with his eyes. i think it was at this moment that vietnam began to change me. i started listening to what the people of the village had to say by looking into their eyes-their hopes about obama, their pain about the vietnam war, their life in the village.

we stayed in a long house in the village-there were twelve students and myself. we had meals that were cooked by the wife (after she had chopped wood, worked in the rice patty fields and did the shopping) after breakfast on our first day we ventured to the food market-along the way we saw people working in the rice patty fields or going to the market to sell their meats and vegetables. on the way to the market i took a picture of a bike that i want to share with you all-it it my favorite picture by far as it speaks to the life of the village people.

after we left the village the next day, we got back on the bus for our four hour ride to ha noi. we arrived in ha noi, checked into our hotel and then we were off again-this time we went to a water puppet show.

the next morning we had an early breakfast since our day would be jammed packed. our first stop was to see ho chi minh-even though he wanted to be cremated the love that the people have for him is so immense that the had his body preserved. until recently ho chi minh's body was sent to russia every year to insure that his body was being well preserved-now the vietnamese have learned to take care of his body so well the russians have stopped coming back to check their work. when you are waiting to view his body it is important to remember that you must stay in a single file line, there is no talking, no wearing of hats or sunglasses and your hands must be at your sides. we also saw the house of ho chi minh even though he did not stay there since he knew there were poor people living in the streets. while there we also saw the one pillar pagoda that was built for uncle ho (the name given to him by the people of vietnam)

our next stop was to the army museum where we learned a little bit more about the army's role in vietnam. we also learned about the chu chi tunnels (if you get a chance i strongly encourage you to learn more about these tunnels). i wish i would have had time to visit the tunnels and get even an ounce of what it must have been like to live in them every day, all day in order to safe your life.

we then moved on to the temple of literature where we learned about confucius and his teachings. then we were off to the heart of ha noi-we walked through the market as it poured rain and then were on our own for lunch and free time. we left for the airport by three thirty.

on my last day in ho chi minh city/saigon, i spent the morning at the war remnants museum-i left there feeling like i had been punched in the stomach, unable to breath and feeling nauseous. i wept as i read about the atrocities of the vietnam war- the indescribable birth defects that have occurred due to agent orange, the senseless murders of innocent children and families, the fear, the bloodshed. i am struggling to make sense of it-but i don't know that i ever will. i have attached one of the many pictures i took at the museum (please read the caption in the picture-i hope you can see it)

in an effort to end this blog entry on a happy note, i am including a picture of me eating coconut ice cream from a coconut.