A Search for Hanoi’s Train Street and Last Minute Shopping in Vietnam:

Mon, Jun 26, 2023 A Search for Hanoi’s Train Street and Last Minute Shopping:

Today, being the last day of our vacation, we decided to take it very easy. Our flight to Bombay was at 6.20 pm which meant we needed to be at the airport at 3.20 pm. We were flying back on a budget, no-frills airline (Viet Jet Air) which required us to pay $41 for each of our checked bags (carry-on bags were free). Llew had been trying to get this payment made online for the past couple of days but was simply not succeeding. This meant that we would need to reach the airport just a little before the counters opened, to make the payment in their office.

Accordingly, we had asked for our private taxi to arrive at our hotel at 2.30 pm to make it in time to carry out this errand. We decided to complete all our packing and get ourselves fully organized before we set out to find the last item on our agenda: A Visit to the famous Train Street that fascinates all visitors. Actually, we had not even heard of this feature as the edition of Lonely Planet that I had been using was probably not current and this phenomenon is relatively new. My friend Delilah, who is taking a similar trip to Southeast Asia in November, told me about this and asked me to investigate it, on her behalf. As it turns out, our guide Thom had mentioned this to us on the first day of our arrival in Hanoi. Not having researched it enough, we decided to save it for the last day and to cover it only if time permitted.

Last Breakfast in our Hotel:

Accordingly, we finished most of our packing but for the last-minute gifts we’d be taking for family and a couple of friends. That done, we went to the second floor for breakfast and since this was our last day in Vietnam, both Llew and I decided to have Beef Pho (Pho Bo) for breakfast together with Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and fresh fruit (dragon fruit and water melon). Breakfast done, we went back to our rooms to pick up our maps and carry a bottle of water with us. It was our intention to walk to the Train Street from our hotel—a walk, we were told by the Receptionist, of about 15 minutes.

Walking Through Hanoi’s Old Quarter to find Train Street:

As it turned out, it took much longer than fifteen minutes as it was drizzling throughout and I was quite afraid of slipping on the wet streets. We also lost our way and, despite the map, had to ask for directions several times before we finally arrived at Phung Lung which is the street on which the train runs. This is, in fact, the very heart of Old Hanoi—so do not expect antiseptic tourist white-washing anywhere. This area is gritty, rough and ready and 100% local. We passed by an island garden that had a large sculpted monument in the center. We passed by little shops filled with tourist merchandise such as coconut and ginger candy, pandan cookies, mung bean cake with matcha (green tea) flavor. We soldiered on until the train tracks came into view. But without a tourist guide or a book to help us along, we were quite lost as we did not know what to expect.

I had done some reading in my hotel and discovered that the interest in this feature derives from the train track that runs so close to hundreds of human settlements—in fact, these homes are just inches away from the tracks. The train follows no time-table and is known to be late by as long as an hour and a half. When the phenomenon gained attention, an enterprising local lady decided to create a coffee shop on the tracks with a second-floor balcony seating patrons to sip a coffee or beer and view the fascinating spectacle below. Other entrepreneurs followed suit and a small portion (right at the end) of Train Street developed into a hip segment filled with foreign visitors especially at the times that the train is scheduled to pass by. Apart from reading about this, two days ago, I also stopped at a tourist office along the way because I was certain the staff inside would speak English. I was right. A very helpful man inside directed me precisely to the spot to which I should go. However, he checked the train timetable and confirmed what he believed to be right. There are no trains in the morning during weekdays. The only train runs in the evening after 9.00 pm. On weekends, he said, the train runs about four or five times a day. Of course, this meant that we would not see the train pass, but at least we could go to the spot where most visitors gather to see it go by. Touts swarm around to attract you to their coffee shops—of which there is a whole chain, some fancier than others. Llew and I merely took pictures at this spot and since we were still so full with our substantial breakfast and did not even have the room for coffee, we used our maps and retraced our steps back to our hotel. This was a long and very tiring walk and, being that we had been going non-stop for nearly two weeks, my energy levels were at depletion point.

Last-Minute Shopping:

However, there were some last few items we needed to buy: Now that we live in Bombay and will return home to the fury of the Indian monsoon, Llew wanted to buy one of the large, poncho-like raincoats he has been seeing all the motor-cyclists wearing here. We had not succeeded in buying one yesterday, but we thought we’d keep some time for buying it today. I also wanted to buy some candied dry ginger which I use in my carrot cake with dried ginger. Finally, we needed to buy soft candy for my brother Russel and, on our way back, we stopped at the Win Mart and picked up something we thought would work for him—mochi (or sweet mung bean cakes filled with cream). We also entered one of the specialty shops that sell tea, coffee, candy, mung bean cake, etc. and picked up a packet of assorted candies for him in mango, coconut and pandan flavors. Looking for the dried candied ginger, I was delighted to find a salesgirl who spoke really good English (because she went to school in Singapore, she said) and using her services, we were directed to a general store that would possibly carry the raincoat Llew wanted to buy.

, this place was another fifteen minutes away and by this time, we had been on our feet and walking for about three hours. I was truly exhausted! We asked her to call us a cab, which she did and, pretty soon, we were at the spot. And Lo and Behold! They did carry the raincoat Llew wanted in a variety of colors. He chose one in Burgundy and we soon bought it for $10. Sadly, they did not have my candied ginger and although we tried one last stop before giving up (they had a version of ginger in honey), eventually we did not find it.

Meanwhile, in the process of using our map and trying to find our hotel, we chanced to pass by a beautiful Catholic Church—The Church of Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs. It was set in a lovely, spacious property filled with large, impressive bonsai trees and many statues of Christian saints. We took a few pictures outside and then entered the church to pay a visit. The altar was plain but filled with the most appealing flower arrangements. This was an unexpected bonus as it was the only church we were able to visit throughout our twelve days in the Southeast.

From this point, it was a ten-minute walk back to our hotel and we reached our room and sank down with the utmost fatigue on our bed. The Receptionist told us that check out time was 12 noon but she permitted us to keep the room till 1.00 pm. We found space for our last-minute buys (indeed our bags were crammed and bulging by this time!), used the rest room for the last time in our room and made our way to the lobby. We sat down there for about an hour until our private taxi driver arrived to pick us up and drive us to the airport.

Drive to Noi Bai International Airport and Return to India: Our drive from the hotel to the airport took about an hour. We were glad to arrive earlier than planned as we had the matter of our baggage payment to take care of—we went straight to the airline office at the airport and made our payment. As soon as the traffic assistants arrived at the counter, we joined a very long line. Fortunately, we did not need to stay in it very long as they opened a counter especially for the flight to Bombay and before long, we had our boarding passes.

Yes, we still needed a few more items to buy mainly for friends. I also bought a keychain for Chriselle in place of the usual Xmas ornaments I buy her from every country we visit. She will easily be able to use it as an ornament. Some more packets of ginger candy went into our bags and allowed us to finish up the last of our Vietnamese money (dong) before we went through Security and Immigration. Next, we went into the Duty Free section to pick up our allowance of duty-free booze—not a very vast choice available, and later, we did wish we had picked it up from Bombay airport’s duty-free shops instead.

As we were aware that our budget airline did not serve meals onboard and because we were pretty hungry by this point, we looked for a place in which we could eat. We found sustenance in large bowls of pho with wagyu beef. They were just awesome and completely fit the bill. That done, it was close to boarding time and we made our way to our gate ready to board the flight.

The flight was uneventful and fairly comfortable as the aircraft was barely a quarter full. We were seated behind an exceedingly noisy family—so we simply moved seats after take-off—to a three-seater in the center. This allowed both of us to get some sleep. Llew listened to music through my ear-buds and I blogged through much of the flight. We ordered a beer which we split and with the last few of our almonds that we had carried to snack on, we had ourselves a good meal on board.

The flight length was four and a half hours long and it passed off really well. Once we landed, we cleared Immigration pretty quickly, found our bags quickly and got a pre-paid cab to take us back home. We discovered that in the two weeks of our absence, the monsoon had arrived in Bombay. The air felt damp but cool and we actually had rain as we headed on the road home.

I could not believe how excited I was to come back home to India and how welcoming Bombay felt. And we entered our flat, I was struck again by how much like home this place now feels to us, how easily and effortlessly we have slipped into our Bombay lifestyles and how much we love the privilege of being able to live in India again.

Conclusion:

Cambodia and Vietnam had been a real revelation to me. Being that I am so Eurocentric in my sensibility and aesthetics, I really did not think that I could ‘connect’ with the countries of Asia as well as I did. Time flew in the beautifully orchestrated, custom-designed trip that was well planned and executed by KimKim whom I will surely use for all our travel needs from now on.

People always ask me what the highlight of each trip is. And of course, I can never choose a single item. So here are a few aspects of our travels that will always stay with me (not necessarily in any order of importance).

1. Walking amidst the ancient stones of Angkor Wat, especially Banteay Srei.

2. Getting inside the Chu Chi Tunnels to experience Viet Cong-style guerilla warfare.

3. Incredible sweet-sour-salty-emami flavors of Southeast Asian food, especially Fish Amok (Cambodia), Bun Cha, Pho Bo, Non Thit Bo Kho (Raw Papaya Salad with Beef) and Nem Nuong Que Hoa (Summer Spring Rolls), all in Vietnam.

4. Walking on Dong Khai’s evocative historical length in Saigon and remembering the Vietnam War

5. The incredibly startling beauty of Ha Long Bay and Lan Ha Bay

6. The unspeakable horrors of the Vietnam War as seen in the War Remnants Museum

7. Seeing the mighty Mekong River from the air.

8. Touring the Killing Fields of Cambodia at Cheoung Ek

. Taking a tuktuk ride on our own in Phnom Penh

. Taking in the treasures of the Cambodia National Museum in Phnom Penh

My appetite for Vietnam has been whetted and, having heard so much about other parts of the country (Danang, Saba, Hoi An, Hue), I don’t believe this will be my last visit there.

Lastly, I will say that I am annoyed that the interface on the Blogger Dashboard has been changed as I hate the fact that my individual paragraphs can no longer be formatted, my sub-headings do not appear separately and the total appearance of the blog post is awful. I will be spending some time trying to learn how to deal with the new interface.

Thanks for following me on this armchair-journey. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed discovering these places.

Until next time…may the road rise up to greet you!

So Long Ha Long and Hello Again Hanoi

Sun, Jun 25, 2023 So Long Ha Long and Hello Again Hanoi

As I expected, waking up in our bed on our cruise ship facing the immense picture window that offered us the most serene sight imaginable, was worth taking this entire long trip to Ha Long Bay. In the soft light of dawn, with Llew sleeping softly besides me, the rest of the world still seemed deep in slumber as I crept out of bed and grabbed my camera to take a few pictures. The air was rain-scented and soft (reminded me so much of similar dawns in Hawai’i), fragrant with a salt tang (no wonder Jo Malone has a perfume called Sea Salt and Wood Sage), the earth was quiet as if holding at bay the sounds of another new day. I was thoroughly enchanted. So enchanted was I that I slipped out of our room, walked a few steps to the door that led straight to the back deck and standing on the prow took some selfies of me, a la Titanic. I breathed in the purity of the air while surrounded by limestone karsts—conical rocks—that stood like silent sentinels to protect me. It was an inexplicably peaceful feeling of knowing in the back of my head that God’s in His Heaven, All’s Right with the World.

But then it was time for Llew to awake too and for us to get ready for a very early breakfast—yes, at 6.15am, we were all assembled in the restaurant to have breakfast. Strong coffee and juice were provided as were Danish rolls, chocolate muffins, toast with preserves and fruit—an excellent Continental breakfast. We helped ourselves quite liberally as we had another boating excursion ahead of us.

Boating Excursion to Dark and Light Cave in Lan Ha Bay:

One of the things you notice about the limestone karsts at Ha Long Bay is that they have natural caves in their base. Visiting these caves is, of course, only possible by small rowing boat or kayak and almost every overnight cruise operator includes a visit to at least one cave as part of the program. Our operator, La Pandora Cruises, went the extra mile, literally. Instead of taking us to a cave in Ha Long Bay itself, it took us to another bay—Lan Ha Bay—which is on the outer rim of Ha Long Bay and is a part of the Cat Ba National Park.

So, of course, each of us jumped from our cruise ship to the small boat attached at the back and sailed at dawn, in the quiet light of the morning, to Lan Ha Bay. There, we found ourselves surrounded by the same limestone karsts as the sky brightened. It was still damp and drizzly—which made Kevin provide each of us with one of those flimsy, plastic, disposable raincoats—which only I seemed to actually wear (I hated getting wet as raindrops spatter my eye-glasses and make it hard for me to see).

From our small boat, we were directed into a pontoon that served as another boating pier. We were shepherded into small rowing boats—six people in one boat—and off we went deep into the heart of Lan Ha Bay. We were heading to Dark and Light Cave which we saw ahead of us. Our boatman was a sweet young lad who directed us to switch sides in order to keep the boat in balance. He provided us with the bamboo conical Vietnamese hats as the drizzle got more persistent. But soon we came to the mouth of the cave that rose in a wide arch ahead of us. It was clear to see that the middle of the arch was pitch-dark while light streamed into the cave at the other end. Several boats were in the sheltered bay at this time and many of the boaters were singing songs as the closed walls of the cave-tunnel provided fine echoing acoustics.

Slowly, very gently, the only sounds being the swishing of the oars, we were rowed through the cave. Up above us, we could see the naturally varied colors of the granite rock and the slight vegetation growing out of them—wondrously. Some of the rocks hung down like stalactites and made for a really beautiful scene. Once we passed through the tunnel, we were on the other side of the bay where light streamed down upon us as a good hour had passed since we had first set out on our dawn excursion. Other than describing the set-up as ethereal, I simply cannot find a word to describe what I was feeling as I took in the scene.

We were rowed around the other side of the bay before we made our way back to the pier and into our boat. While going through the tunnel this time round, I asked my boat companions to sing—to hear the echo of our voices as we passed through it. I began singing ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ and my companions joined in and I followed it with ‘Michael Row The Boat Ashore’. I had a bunch of game companions (especially the Malaysian family) plus Thomas and Brenda who were part of our fun. Thomas then entered into a long discussion with me about Bollywood songs because, as it happens, he is a Lata Mangeshkar-Asha Bhonse fan! Who’d have guessed it? A man from the Czech Republic, partnered with a gal from Mexico, now living in Singapore and vacationing in Vietnam was a Bollywood music fan! It reminded me so much of the time I was on the train from Tashkent to Samarkhand in Uzbekistan sharing the wagon with a bunch of big, burly, elderly Uzbeks drinking schnapps and eating pierogi who, seeing that I was an Indian, burst out into Bol Radha Bol Sangam song from the Raj Kapoor film Sangam followed by Mera Jhoota Hai Japani from Raj Kapoor’s Awara! It was one of the most amazing experiencing of my life and I felt like it was deja-vu all over again when Thomas began to hum the tune of a Lata Mangeshwar song and then the Malaysian lady said she knew a Hindi song called Jago Re! My goodness! You can just imagine what an out-of-world experience this was for me.

Return to the Cruise Ship for Brunch:

A little later, leaving the delights of Lan Ha Bay behind us, we were steered back to our cruise ship at Ha Long Bay. Kevin directed us to finish our packing and leave our bags outside our doors to be picked up by the crew. I took Llew to the prow of the ship so that we could take the mandatory Titanic pictures together—just for fun, of course—before we returned to our cabin. There was time for showers and a quick change before we were all to meet again for dinner in the restaurant. Kevin called it Brunch, but it turned out to be a full lunch indeed.

Brunch was a wonderfully warming bowl of tomato soup with toast croutons, a starter of grilled shrimp with an accompanying coleslaw, a brilliantly done bit of beef steak served with broccoli and roast potato and a delicious pepper sauce, braised chicken with vegetables served with a rice cake and gravy and dessert of fresh fruit (dragon fruit and pineapple). During lunch, we joined the Australian ladies at their table and Eman pointed out a mountain goat to me on one of the islands—it was tiny, and its white back was all I could see. They called it brunch because it was just 11.00 am, but it was a full five-course lunch indeed and it was scrumptious. It totally filled us up for the long journey back to Hanoi that we would undertake as the rain came down.

Journey Back to Hanoi:

So we said our goodbyes and thank-yous to the ship’s crew leaving our tips for them of course, as they had been exceptional in the service they had provided. We boarded our smaller boat and were steered through the Bay in the rain that kept streaming down the window panes and required us to shut them as we were well sprayed by it.

We did arrive at the harbor and returned to the chaos of the general world after being cloistered from its worries, care and anxieties for a good two days. About fifteen minutes later, our coach arrived and Lelw and I were fortunate enough again to get the two seats right at the front that offered us a great view of the road ahead of us. We made one rest room stop at a rest area where we picked up chocolate popsicles studded with roasted almonds—delicious.

Once in Hanoi, a good two hours later, we were the last ones to be dropped off at our hotel. Most of the others had alighted before us as they reached their own hotels. Llew and I checked again into the Flower Garden Hotel and made ourselves comfortable. Throughout the time we had been at Ha Long Bay, we had been in touch with Dat, our travel assistant, to book a Walking Street Food Tour of Hanoi that my friend Delilah had recommended. As it turned out, Dat came through for us quite splendidly and, by the time, we checked into the Flower Garden Hotel, our tour for the evening was confirmed. We would be meeting our tour guide at 6.00 pm in the lobby of our hotel. This left us with about an hour to relax and even take a short nap.

The Absolute Delights of a Walking Street Food Tour in Hanoi:

When we went down to the hotel lobby at 6.00 pm, we found our guy Kenny waiting for us. He turned out to be an absolutely lovely fellow, who (thank heavens) had perfect English and was effortlessly communicative. We had paid $21 each for the tour and it included a taxi ride which took us to the heart of Old Hanoi from where we would go from one place to another tasting a variety of Vietnamese foods.

During the course of our time with Kenny, we discovered that he was 21 years old, learned English as a child from his mother who used to be an airline stewardess, that both his parents today run a Vietnamese restaurant in which he also works, that he has a girlfriend whom he would be meeting for dinner at the end of the evening and that he has been doing these tours for the past couple of years. Well, he was just splendid and we had a fantastic evening in his company.

Kenny started us off by taking us for Bun Cha (Rice Noodles with Grilled Pork in Pork stock) served with Salad Greens and Herbs. We told him that we’d eaten Bun Cha at the “Obama Place” where it was superb but he assured us that this version, in a place actually called Buncha, was far better. And indeed, Kenny was right. The Buncha here was to-die-for. When we discovered that we had four or five more places to go and foods to try out, Llew decided to go easy, but I was greedy enough to finish my whole bowl—it was that good. We also told Kenny to take us walking to the rest of the places so that we could get some exercise before we tucked into the next course. Unlike Hueng Lien’s (aka The Obama Place), this place is a modern restaurant with a lovely upper storey where you sit at long wooden communal tables. The décor is very elegant and very homely at the same time, and we enjoyed just being there.

En route to the next place, when we were actually passing through a street market, I asked Kenny if he could find me dried shitake mushrooms that I could take home with me to India. He did not know what they were. I used Google Translate to help him find the Vietnamese word for them and he knew immediately what they were. He then led me to a grocery place where he spoke in Vietnamese to the saleswoman and got me a whole lot of shitake mushrooms. I will use them in soups, stews, spring rolls, etc. just as I did in the US where I would buy them in plastic bags. Just next door to this shop was another that sold Fermented Ready-to-Eat Fish & Seafood for the local population. There was whole fish rubbed with spices that would be taken home and fried and a number of tiny shrimp made into pickle-like concoctions which Kenny told us are ready to eat.

Our next stop was at a place called Nom Thit Bo Kho where we sat on small plastic stools, in traditional style, to enjoy another one of Vietnam’s contributions to global gastronomy --Steamed Beef & Beef Jerky Salad w/Raw Papaya and Roasted Peanuts, another absolute winner. Llew, who does not eat papaya, was doubtful he would like the dish. But I assured him the salad was made of raw papaya and he would not even realize he was eating papaya. I turned out to be correct. Llew loved the dish. The roasted peanuts on the top, two kinds of beef (steamed and jerky) and the delightful dressing combined to make for a marvelous dish. Kenny explained that the dressing is very simple to make if one has the right ingredients: sugar (sweet), lime juice (sour), soya sauce (salt), chilli flakes (hot/spicy), fish sauce (emami) are combined according to one’s taste and poured over thinly slivered vegetables all over Southeast Asia to make these amazing salads. Because there is no added oil, they are also light and healthy. We sat down on the stool inside and merrily tucked into the salad bowl before us.

By this time, we were near the periphery of the lake—so we requested Kenny to walk with us around a bit so that we could digest each course before moving onto the next. He obliged and, in a short time, we were at the next port of call: Nem Nuong Nha Trang Que Hoa for Vietnamese Summer Rolls—you fix your own with the provision in a large tray of Rice Paper Wrappers, whole lettuce leaves, grilled pork, sticky rice, raw mango, cucumber, fresh herbs… eaten with a satay-style peanut dipping sauce. They were just amazing. You have the added joy of making them on your own and experiencing the variation of texture in your mouth. The sauce was simply superb and again, we could not quite get enough of it. We could have eaten two rolls each (at least), but we stopped at one each as we were certainly beginning to feel really full and Kenny kept reminding us that we still had Pho to go through. As we know that Pho involves another big bowl of noodles in broth, we were hesitant to eat any more. And good job we didn’t!

The next stop on our agenda was a place called Pho Ga (Chicken Pho) with rice noodles, chicken broth, lime juice, herbs. We had to dodge really bad traffic to get to the little place which was tiny and contained the little plastic stool on small tables once again. Kenny explained that this Pho would be different from the vast bowls we had been consuming, This Pho would be dry, he said, but would contain the same flavor. When our big bowl arrived, we found that it looked like a large bowl of flat, thick, cooked rice noodles thickly sprinkled with fried onions, bean sprouts and coriander springs. The broth was provided in a smaller bowl on the side. If you found your noodles too dry, you were free to use the broth to moisten them—which was entirely what I did. They were amazingly good, but the thought of going through another whole bowl of noodles was just too much for us. We ate a quite hearty portion of it and decided to call a halt.

Kenny then took us to the next place: literally a street-side shack (not even a restaurant or a shop) where a woman provided what Kenny called dried Dracontomelon Juice. This came in large plastic glasses with lots of ice. It was super refreshing. Neither one of us had heard of this juice before and we were glad to learn and taste something so out-of-the-ordinary on this trip. It’s a small, light green stone fruit (like an apricot) but is called a melon (a real misnomer, methinks) and is native to Southeast Asia.

Finally, for our last stop, which Kenny called “Dessert”, he took us to Café Giang to taste Egg Coffee. Now this was an item that I found advertised in so many of the coffee shops all over Vietnam. I had not known, before I arrived in the country, that Vietnam is the world’s second greatest consumer of coffee after Brazil! Who knew? It turned out that coffee plants are grown on the hills of the north on huge coffee estates. The Vietnamese have varied ways of serving coffee—the best known are with condensed milk and with coconut milk (they call it Coconut Coffee). What has really soared to fame, however, is Egg Coffee, thanks to Mr Giang, who in the 1940s, ran a modest coffee joint in Hanoi. One fine day, he ran short of milk and simply substituted an egg yolk inside (leaving out the white). He beat the yolk till creamy and made it the base of a strong coffee—and thus was born the famous Egg Coffee. It is a sweet, creamy, very unique concoction that is absolutely delicious. When the coffee proved to be such a hit, Mr, Giang created Egg Chocolate—hot chocolate made with the same creamy beaten egg yolk--and we enjoyed both of them very much.

Mr. Giang’s Café, the one we visited, is the original cafe from where the first Egg Coffees were made. Tourists kept trooping in with large walking tour groups and we were absolutely delighted when one of them brought our friends Natalie, Cate and Eman with it. We had tried all evening to connect with them as it was we who had told them about the food tour and had invited them to join ours. It turned out that even though they joined a tour by the same company, they were assigned another large group while Llew and I were on a separate tour, completely private, with just Kenny and us.

Well, by this time, we were well and truly full. Our friends’ group was heading off for dessert—they were going for Vietnamese ice-cream, which I would have dearly loved to taste. But Kenny told us that the Juice stop was on our tour and not on their’s. Hence, they had ice-cream and we did not. Apart from this disappointment, it was an incredible experience! The food was absolutely scrumps! The entire walking tour was in the atmospheric warren of narrow streets in the Old Quarter of Hanoi (a bit like Bombay’s Bhendi Bazaar but much cleaner!) The many tourists we saw taking the food tour made us feel really thrilled that we had taken it. It is a unique and absolutely delish gastronomic experience and a Hanoi Must-Do!

All that was left was for us to call a taxi (Kenny did it) that would take us back to our hotel where we reached in ten minutes, to take our showers and go off to sleep.

It had been another incredible day and we were so pleased with the many cultural experiences we had enjoyed in this busy city that never seems to sleep.

Until tomorrow…

Off on our Two-Day Cruise to Ha Long Bay in Northern Vietnam

Sat, Jun 24, 2023

Off on our Two-Day Cruise to Ha Long Bay:

As in the case of a lot of the places we are exploring, my reading was cursory before departure—hence, all these places are a revelation to me. In the case of Ha Long Bay, apart from it being a bay studded with large island limestone rocks, there was really not much more I knew. Accordingly, I was excited to discover something new and interesting.

After another royal breakfast in the Harmony Hotel (another bowl of pho bo, fresh fruit and Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk), Llew and I made our way down to the lobby to await our pick-up which arrived just a few minutes later. Our guide was named Hung, but he asked us to call him Kevin. He was a very jolly, smiley kind of fellow and his English was not too bad. This was a great relief to me as I had been constantly battling with incomprehension when it came to the guides.

Off to Ha Long Bay:

The journey from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay is a long one. Also, by the time we arrived in Northern Vietnam, the monsoon had certainly made its appearance. We had been really fortunate with the weather for ten whole days while in Cambodia and Southern Vietnam. It was, I suppose, inevitable that we would encounter rainy weather in the north. It was drizzling throughout our long journey to Ha Long Bay and for most of our time there. But I need not have worried. When we were not traveling and staying dry in various forms of transportation (bus, boat), we were in our cabin on our cruise ship. Watching the rain outside the window in one of the most beautiful parts of the world I have ever seen only added to the romance of the experience.

Our bus stopped at many hotels (we were the first to be picked up at 7.45) to pick up passengers throughout the large city of Hanoi. This gave us the chance to actually explore the city by bus—a sprawling, untidy, crazy city--in many ways reminiscent of downtown Bombay. I enjoyed shooting pictures of local people going about their day—vendors with the traditional two-basket, scale-like contraption that is carried on their sturdy shoulders as they take goods to market—deeply evocative of old China. Shops were opening for a another brisky day of business selling everything from mountains of herbs and spices to religious Buddhist talismans to tourist kitsch. We had also noticed that most of the motor-bikers wore a roomy, poncho-like raincoats while they were astride their bikes—this kept them bone dry despite the constant rain. Llew decided that he would like one of those raincoats for the Bombay monsoon and we requested Kevin to let us know where we could find one. There were a lot of stores that sold very thin, flimsy, plastic raincoats that were meant to be disposable—and indeed we were handed out a few of those during our long stay at Ha Long Bay. But since Llew wanted something much more sturdy, it was a bit of a production trying to find one—about it, more later.

Visit to a Pearl Farm:

Once we began our journey out of Hanoi, we crossed a bridge over the Red River and were deep in the heart of rural Vietnam. We passed mile after mile of paddy fields with water buffalo working hard in them, men and women wearing the traditional conical hat directing their efforts. There were also plenty of banana trees everywhere. Kevin made a comfort stop to allow us to use the restroom. I was simply amazed by the spiffiness of the highway system in Vietnam. We could have been anywhere in the USA. In fact, just imagine yourself driving anywhere in the US—there are entrances, exits, clearly-marked green location and directional signs and the most amazing rest areas, complete with restrooms, souvenir shops and eateries. Taking this trip was a wonderful way for us to witness the modernity of this country and the manner in which it has taken its place amidst its wealthier siblings in Southeast Asia.

There was one more rest stop but this was more of a commercial nature—we were taken to a Pearl Farm where cultured pearls are manufactured, the process is explained to visitors and the showroom is then open for buyers. It was fascinating to see how a tiny grain of sand is inserted artificially into the mollusk—the pearl oyster which produces the nacre or shiny coating to cushion the irritation it experiences when the grain is inserted. Depending on the type of oyster—there are three: Tahitian, Southsea, Akoya—the color and size of pearl varies. Tahitian oysters produce black pearls. I thought it was an interesting education in pearl farming and pearl jewelry manufacture today. While in the good old days, all pearl fishing involved deep sea diving, today all pearls are cultured, i.e. Made to order (naturally, by the oyster within its shell, but with a lot of help from man). Sadly, I found most of the pearl jewelry to be highly marked up and when I asked for single pearl studs of 8 mm, they simply did not carry them.

I did not find the pearls I wanted but I did find a really beautiful and very luxurious silk scarf. It was actually draped over a mannequin and I fell in love with it at first sight. I asked the salesgirl if she could sell it to me, she instantly took it off the mannequin and told me its price. I expected it to be no less than $200 (because I know a quality silk scarf with a hand-rolled edge when I see one), but when she did the conversion, to my immense surprise, it was only $23! Of course, buying it was then a no-brainer for me and I asked her for a gift box and went looking for Llew to pay for it. He had disappeared to use the rest room, but I did find him, payment was made and I did go away with a really spectacularly-designed scarf, entirely in the Hermes style and of the same heft and quality.

Arrival at the Harbor:

Most tourists book a cruise tour of Ha Long and we had done so too. You can take a day cruise, staying on the boat all day, arriving in the morning and leaving at dusk, or you could do what we had signed up to do--spend a whole day and a night on the cruise ship, then awake to have breakfast, do a few more island excursions before venturing back.

Eventually, after driving for over two hours, we arrived at the Tuan Chau Pier which is the jumping off point for most visitors to Ha Long Bay. The place was like a huge ferry terminal and since it was raining, it was hugely chaotic. Dozens of buses arrive in a steady row to offload passengers headed to the Bay or to pick up those who are headed back. The port is filled with all sorts of hotels and amusement park areas as it appears that local Vietnamese families come here to spend a few days at a time and make this ferry port town their base.

When we did get into our boat that would take us to our cruise ship but the scenery outside our window was marred by the rain streaming down the panes. That said, it was super cool and very comfortable to be out in the rain (each of us had been given a disposable raincoat), although we stayed sheltered in the waiting area until our boat arrived. Then, all we had to do was hop into it as our baggage was taken care of by Kevin and his helper crew.

First Views of Ha Long Bay:

Despite the rain, we were able to recognize the ‘karsts’ or limestone rocks as they emerged from the water the closer we sailed to them. When you are near enough, you realize that they are gigantic rocks, some larger, some smaller, that tower above you. They did not have beaches, although I spied just one or two islands with narrow strips of beach. The rocks seem to arise straight out of the water—like green ice-bergs—with vegetation draped over them.

The rain added to the mystery of our first glances of the area. Skies were iron-grey and clouds ominous and mist hung mystically over the peaks of the karsts. It was like a study in black and white with many shades of grey. Overall, the impression I received was of being in an idyllic, ethereal, other-worldly place and I enjoyed it enormously.

Arrival at our Cruise Ship:

As is the convention everywhere in the world, the crew of our cruise ship were waiting to greet us when we disembarked from the small boat to climb into the ship. We were signed up with La Pandora Cruises but we soon realized that there are a bunch of companies that do similar cruises, some fancier and more expensive than others. Once on board the ship, we were given our room keys. We entered Room 305 to find it attached to the dining area or restaurant of the ship. It is a three-storey ship with a large sun deck on the top that could also double as a party hall. After we surveyed our room, examined the attached bathroom and helped ourselves to the fresh bunch of litchies that had been left for us, we freshened up and went out to the restaurant for lunch.

Lunch on Our Cruise Ship:

And what a lunch it was! A terrific five-course individually-plated meal was served to each of us (we were a group of about 15 folks) who had all, by this time, made friends with each other. There was a lovely host who kept the fun going by cracking jokes, doing magic tricks (yes, he was a magician too!), encouraging us to let our hair down, etc. All the while, the food kept coming to the table, served by really nice young chaps who were polite and very efficient.

Here was what we were served: A Chicken Coriander Soup (reminded me very much of the type you find in Ming’s Chinese Restaurant in Edison, New Jersey), Batter-Fried Squid and Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with a tangy dipping sauce; Fresh Fried Fish with a Passion Fruit Sauce, served with a rice cake, steamed broccoli and carrots (because Llew does not eat fish, he was served Sweet and Sour Chicken instead); dessert of a Passion Fruit Pudding and slice of fresh watermelon. I had ordered a margarita from the bar and Llew had a glass of Cabernet with our meal. Needless to say, every course was delicious and I was very satisfied when I got up from the table and was told we could go to our rooms and nap for an hour before the next part of our program began.

And indeed, that was exactly what both Llew and I did. Although we were unendingly charmed by the view from the picture-window in our cabin which looked directly out at the rising karsts in the water as well as all other passing sea craft, our eyes were closing and off we went for a nap. When we awoke, we were ready for the next art of our excursion—the active bit!

Kayaking and Swimming in Ha Long Bay:

The next part of our program involved a bit more energetic activity. As all the cruise ships have a smaller boat attached to the back of them, you merely move to the back of the ship and board this little boat. It’s an ingenious way of ensuring that you have conveyance instantly available if you ever have to leave the ship.

A good ten-minute sail later—a sail that is recurringly fascinating as you see all manner of boats pass by as well as karsts (rocks) rising out of the water in varying colors—we reached a very sheltered bay in which the waters were extraordinarily calm. This was where we could have the pleasure of kayaking, two in a kayak.

Now I have never kayaked and I have always been a bit scared of water—this has to do with the fact that I cannot really swim (although I did take lessons a long time ago). To be in a small craft, so close to the water, with the constant possibility that it could tip at any time and you could drown, I do not really enjoy water sports. Of course, we were all made to wear life jackets and I had one on too. But, when it came time to go kayaking, I actually chickened out and preferred to sit and watch.

This was where our new friends from Australia, Eman, Cate and Natalie, came into the picture. When they saw that I was going to sit it out, they told me that one of them would take me in the kayak. Cate, a real sweetheart, put herself forward to row with me. She had gone originally with Natalie, but after they’d been on the water for about 20 minutes, they came back, Natalie got off and I took her place with my heart in my mouth. Still, I decided to brave my fears and get into the kayak so as not to miss out on a great experience.

Well, I had the time of my life. Cate was simply wonderful at steering the kayak around and, within minutes, I felt fully confident in her hands. We were on the water for at least another twenty minutes. Fortunately, the drizzle stayed at bay but the fine mist hung upon the water and rose around the rocks. It was indescribably beautiful.

Kayaking done, the group returned to the little boat and when we were all in place, we were motored off to another venue—another sheltered bay where the waters were very still and not too deep. Of course, most of the group had worn their swimsuits under their cover-ups, but Llew and I were dreaming when Kevin had instructed us to put on our swim gear. So, again, we decided to sit it out. Llew, of course, is a strong swimmer and could easily have gone into the water, but he felt embarrassed at not having his trunks. It was I who urged him to go in his underwear! Who cares, anyway???And of course, Cate and Natalie were not having me sit on the side lines. They absolutely insisted I use the ladder on the side of the boat to go inside (with my float, of course) and they would take me all around the boat. And naturally, because I did not want to miss this experience either, off I went with them, after I peeled off my shorts! And boy, was it fun! The water was silken against my skin and the absolute perfect temperate to feel heavenly. My new friends were such fun and yet very sensitive to my fears. They guided me along and very soon, I found myself paddling along quite happily with them. I cannot say I actually swum, but it was fun to be in the water and not to miss out on the activities that they were so enjoying. Llew too had a lovely dip and found it deeply refreshing. We have both decided to definitely join our swim club in Bombay next year.

A Cookery Class and Dinner on the Cruise Ship:

Back on the boat after a good two hours, we were all ready for showers in order to wash off the salt water from our bodies and looked forward to getting dressed for dinner. Most people had carried along a semi-formal sort of outfit for the evening’s dinner and they all dressed and made their appearance in time for drinks. I proudly wore the new dressed I’d bought from Uniqlo and the fabulous new scarf I had picked up yesterday en route. It looked as classy as I had expected. Drinks were not covered by our fees, but we were offered a free cocktail with every two cocktails ordered. Llew and I ended up going through one Singapore Sling, one Pina Colada and one Mai Tai.

Meanwhile, Kevin was getting the ‘stage’ ready for his cookery demonstration. He built several ‘stations’ with a whole lot of ingredients kept ready on the side. He also had rice paper wrappers and showed us how to dampen them just a little, enough to make them pliable. Next he demonstrated the way we fill them with a filling that included glass noodles, finely sliced vegetables and minced pork. After he had made a couple himself, teaching us how to roll them, he let us have a go. And several of us ended up making rolls that he then took over to the deep fryer to fry in hot oil. These were sliced and served up with our dinner as appetizers.

After the cooking demo, we were free to kick back and enjoy our drinks and nibbles (fresh fruit, rice crackers) when the Australian ladies invited Llew and me to join them at their table. We did just that and ended up having a really fun dinner with them. Dinner was a buffet affair with a large number of items placed alongside our tables and we were free to go up and help ourselves. There was pumpkin soup and a variety of other starters: were wonderful oysters stuffed with banana flower and onions, more grilled jumbo shrimp, salads galore and when one had done with eating those delicacies, there were any number of meats and noodles to really fill you up. We had fresh sliced pineapple for dessert.

Dancing on the Deck Followed:

When our meal was done and every single one of us had eaten our fill, Kevin had many suggestions by which we could while away the time: watch a movie, go fishing on the lower deck (he provided rods and bait) or go up on the sun deck for some karaoke and dancing. No marks for guessing what Llew and I did! Of course, we went upstairs with most of the young people on our boat including the vivacious Brenda, an economist in Singapore and her boyfriend Thomas who was the life of the party. Well, they got the karaoke going, a British foursome joined in the fun headed by Gavin and Deborah, our Ozzie friends were in their element and the party really got rocking as we all took to the floor and danced. We had such a fun time!

But, by the end of a very long day, there was only so much left of our energy and about 11.00 pm, Llew and I called it a day. We had a poke around the fishing deck to see if those fishing had caught anything, but they had absolutely no bites.

It was time for us to go back to our room and actually draw the curtains for bed. We’d wake up in the morning to the incredible sight of unspoiled Ha Long Bay, a World Heritage site, looking right back at us.

Until tomorrow…

Good Bye Saigon and Hello Hanoi—Our Travels in Vietnam Continue

Fri, Jun 2023 Good Bye Saigon and Hello Hanoi—Our Travels in Vietnam Continue

Knowing we had another lovely long day ahead of us, Llew and I decided to set our alarms, wake up early, go to breakfast with enough time to linger over the delicious Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and then go down to the lobby to check out of the hotel for the next leg of our travels.

Breakfast was another delicious bowl of Pho Bo (Beef Pho) for me as I simply cannot get enough of this amazing concoction. Followed with the said coffee and fresh fruit, it makes for a most satisfying meal. Llew followed suit and together we had ourselves a splendid breakfast while seated at the corner picture window that offered 180 degree views of the city of Saigon. We’d really enjoyed Saigon and had fully connected with its colonial history and its post-colonial spirit of resilience and achievement. Truly, it is a modern, affluent, organized Asian city, and in many ways, reminded us of places like Singapore, Shanghai and Seoul. I was actually just a tiny bit sorry to say Sayonara to Saigon, but I was also excited about the rest of the adventures in store for us.

Flight to Hanoi:

Our pick-up guide and driver arrived on schedule and, in no time at all, we were driving to the airport, really grateful to have the convenience of these arrangements that made our travel stress-free. Once at the airport, we checked in a bag each and walked with our carry-ons into the airport for our Vietjet Air flight—only an hour long. It flew by, of course, and very shortly, we were touching down in the capital of Northern Vietnam, Hanoi. There, we were met by our guide, a sweet young chap who told us his name was Thom but told us to call him Bobby. He saw us into our private cab and off we speeded to our next hotel, the Flower Garden Hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. There, we were greeted warmly by Reception staff, served a lovely welcome drink and provided keys to our room.

Thom told us to get settled and to relax a bit in our room and he would be back about an hour later to begin our tour of the city of Hanoi with us.

Touring the City of Hanoi:

Right off the bat, in fact, as we were driving from the airport to our hotel, it was very obvious to us that Hanoi and Saigon are two very different cities. While Saigon is mainly spiffy and obviously high-tech, Hanoi is old, traditional, run-down. On our tour of the city which occurred throughout the afternoon, we received a very good sense of its old-world flavor. In fact, since our hotel was located right in the Old Quarter, we fully absorbed the flavor and local color—both of which are available in abundance.

The Extensive Ho Chi Minh Complex:

The biggest attraction in Hanoi is the Ho Chi Minh Complex, a vast spread of beautifully landscaped gardens in which the most important monuments and buildings of the city are located. A short drive from our hotel dropped us off in the parking lot from where we footed it with Thom, going past the modern Parliament House on our left. We were unable to enter it as it is closed to visitors. We gathered, soon enough, that most of the buildings are closed and visitors are only allowed to enter a couple of them. This has largely to do with the fact that it is not the tourist season—apparently when there are visitors in great numbers, they are allowed inside.

Inside the complex, the most striking building and the most regal one, is the strangely painted mustard colonial President’s Palace building which used to be the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Hanoi during the French colonial regime. I loved the striking bones of its architecture, built very much in the French chateau-style. After Independence, it became the official residence in Hanoi of the presidents of the country; but HCM who adopted the principles of austere living, started the trend of retaining the building only for foreign visitors or emissaries. The building sits in a really serene spot—there is nothing grand about it, but it is regal and extremely appealing.

Literally next door to the European aesthetic of this building is another one, a far more modest one. This was the sedate building that HCM chose for his Residence. It consists of a simple bedroom, a living room and a dining room. Few visitors entered these premises because HCM did not marry, staying single all his life and, therefore, did not entertain. The only indulgence he permitted himself are the wonderfully impressive cars that were presented to him by the Soviet Union as he was a great champion of Communism. They sit in individual garages today, gleaming with the weight of history behind them. Many a visiting dignitary was ferried around the city in one of these cars.

It was a lovely walk around the periphery of a great artificial lake that brought us over to the other side where we saw yet another two-storey building that HCM used as his office. On the top floor, is his bedroom and office and on the lower level is a large table surrounded by chairs. In this space, he conducted his party meetings, had high-level discussions with other heads of state, etc.

Leaving the building behind us, we walked along a vast grove of pomelo trees—each drooping with the weight of huge, ripe citrus fruit. This walk took us towards the most important building in the complex—HCM’s Mausoleum. You cannot miss this stunning building when you are driving by it. It is shaped like a Greek temple and reminds you vaguely of the Parthenon, except that it is made of grey granite rather than white marble. In point of fact, there is nothing Grecian about it—it is, in fact, modelled on the mausoleum and final resting place of Lenin, HCM’s fervent hero, in Moscow. Once again, we were informed that we could not enter the building although tourists are allowed in the high season.

A few short steps then took us forward to one of the most famous structures in Hanoi, the ancient One-Pillar Pagoda which is over a thousand years old. It is still a holy place of Buddhist worship and attracts many visitors as its design is so unusual. Indeed, it rises out of a small enclosed pond on a single broad pillar—the pagoda-pattern on the top is the only indication of its sacred purpose. It could easily pass for a very large dove cote. At the top of a short flight of stairs is the main altar with a statue of the Buddha and the entire structure is strung with prayer flags.

Viewing the Vast Precincts of the Temple of Literature:

The next stop of our tourist agenda was a visit to the equally famous Temple of Literature. This massive complex reminded us very much of the many Buddhist temples we had seen in Kyoto and Tokyo in Japan as well as in China. They are deceptively small from the outside. It is only when you enter inside that you realize there is ‘room’ after ‘room’, each of which is set in lovely mature gardens with well established and very impressively tall trees.

Thom explained that the Temple of Literature is dedicated to Confucius, the Chinse scholar whose interpretation of traditional Buddhism spawned a whole new denomination of the religion—Confucianism-- which is a highly popular form of spirituality even today. The temple is especially popular with students who visit it to pray for success in their exams or to find good employment.

As you enter through the main gate, you will see Chinese motifs on the two side walls—one features a dragon, another a white tiger (both associated with China). Inside, there are a few remarkable gates, doorways and structures that speak of the fervent architectural activity that was carried out in Vietnam over a thousand years ago when Chinese influence was established in the country. Of particular interest is a pagoda that features on the 100,000 Dong note.

When we entered the last structure, we found it milling with faithful devotees, especially young ones. They were carrying offerings with them and bending down in prayer. Confucius was depicted, in a towering statue, on the main altar and is flanked by contemporary Chinese scholars of Buddhism who adopted his interpretations of the religion and took it far and wide across the Eastern world. The air was filled with incense and was highly atmospheric.

The ‘Obama Combo’ for Lunch:

By this point, Llew and I were both rather hungry. It was about 5.00 pm and our last meal had been breakfast—a large breakfast but it had been a tiring day and we needed refueling. We told Thom to suggest a place where we could have a late lunch-early dinner and, without batting an eyelid, he suggested Hueng Lien’s, a very nondescript noodle house that sold the best Bun Cha in town.

So, a word about Bun Cha: Bun Cha is Vietnamese for Noodles with Pork (Bun is Noodles, Cha is Pork). It is eaten throughout the day and you cannot mistake the vast number of restaurants and small eateries all over town that advertise this dish. Now, as it happened, President Obama had made a trip to Vietnam and, being a fan of the late TV chef and food writer, Anthony Bourdain, he had requested the foodie to take him on a walking tour of Hanoi’s special joints. For Bun Cha, Bourdain had recommended Hueng Lien’s. And presto, before you could say Ho Chi Minh, this place soared in fame and fortune. In fact, Bourdain did a special episode of his cookery show called Parts Unknown featuring Obama in Hanoi.

Today, troops of tourists file into the tiny place that is extremely no-frills. You sit, Vietnamese-style, on low, backless, plastic stools (not the most comfortable seats, to be sure) and tuck into the ‘Obama Special’. This consists of a large bowl of grilled pork, cut into thin slices and served in a broth that has been simmering forever. A bowl of white soft rice noodles is offered on the side. There is also a large plate of salad greens. As if this were inadequate, there is a very large, super-filled fried spring roll. And to drink? You are served a can of cold beer. You dunk the noodles and the greens into the bowl of broth and enjoy!

How was it? Awesome. The broth is so flavorful and the noodles so filling and the herbs offering such a fresh burst of taste and spice (there is plenty of Thai basil) that you simply cannot stop eating. Llew and I thought our first introduction to Bun Cha was splendid and we simply could not stop thanking Thom for introducing us to such a delightful place. I believe our entire meal cost $7.

Our sightseeing frenzy was over for the day and Thom dropped us off at the Hoan Kiem Lake which is a popular place for locals to gather. In the center of the lake is the Turtle Temple—also ancient, as we could easily discern. The lights came on around the lake and cast lovely colorful reflections in the water. We said goodbye to Thom and decided to take a walk along one of the small fruit markets nearby so that we could buy and taste the local fruit. We ended up buying longans, mangosteen and rambutan—we had plenty of litchies in Bombay (so we did not buy those). We also walked through a long coveryed market by the lakeside which offered all manner of local eats and novelties including the strong-smelling durian fruit.

Long Walk Back to Our Hotel:

It was finally time for us to call it a day. We had walked a lot and were ready to return to our hotel. Thom had told us it would take us 15-20 minutes, but it turned out to be more like 45-by which time I was thoroughly pooped. We walked for the most part (after we left the periphery of the lake) along a single long street that was filled with street kiosks and stalls as part of a street market. On the weekends, these vendors stay up until 11.00 pm. Being that it was a week day, they were beginning to close shop at about 7.30. These street markets are local markets that attract non-tourists. We took in the abundance of local color and finally reached our hotel.

All that was left was for us to have our showers and get ready for bed after watching TV which confirmed that the crew of the Titan had all died in a likely implosion that took place soon after they began their descent into the ocean. It was such a sobering and sad way to end our day!

Until tomorrow…

A Trip to the Mekong River Delta

Thu, Jun 22, 2023 A Trip to the Mekong River Delta to Learn about Environmental Sustainability Mekong Delta, Vietnam

This day was all about environmental sustainability and our coming to grips with life in rural Vietnam.

A Vietnamese Breakfast Begins Our Day: We began our day, as usual, with a hearty breakfast in the restaurant at Harmony Hotel. I decided to try some Vietnamese coffee today—it came with its own interesting and very unique filter system. It is traditional to serve it with condensed milk which makes it ultra-creamy and sweet. Since I love pho so much, I had it for breakfast—which is when many Vietnamese have it. Of course, we also have fruit for breakfast when we are traveling and tropical offerings such as dragon fruit, pineapple and guava were available. The restaurant on the 12th floor offered picture windows with lovely views of the city and we made sure we sat ourselves at the corner for dual aspect views over Saigon.

Off On A Lengthy Field-Trip into Rural Vietnam: Breakfast done, we went down to the lobby to await our pick-up for a long trip away from Saigon. Pretty soon, our guide who called himself Peter arrived. I have to say that he was polite and kind but I could not understand a word he said. Llew fares better with foreign accents, but even he could barely understand as Peter’s accent was just so heavy. We expected to find our Filipino friends of the previous day on the bus, but it appears that they were assigned another group and another guide.

We made our way out and were quite taken by the large number of commuters on motor-bikes, all helmeted and moving in orderly fashion along special bike lanes. They did appear like an army riding towards war—so determined did they seem. Along the way, we passed by mile after mile of flooded paddy-fields in which many farmers were busy, water-buffalo were either working in the fields or wallowing in the many ponds that dotted the passing villages. Almost all villagers wear the typical conical bamboo hats and I shot many photos of them.

It was not long before we arrived at our destination—a trip of approximately two hours—when we were asked to transfer to a boat upon which we had our first taste of the breadth and width of the mighty Mekong river. The boat ride also gave us the opportunity to move to the prow of the boat to take pictures as we coursed through the river.

Just a little later, we were moved into a smaller boat that seated the whole lot of us, i.e. the entire bus load of about ten passengers, for our ride down a lengthy but very narrow canal that brought us to our first stop.

Walking Through Fruit Plantations: The outing began with a long walk through a fruit plantation on the first island we visited—called Unicorn Island. We passed by a number of fruit orchards and saw banana, pomelo, coconut and pineapple groves before we were invited to be seated in a rustic shack. Plates of fresh fruit were brought to us “for our breakfast”, as Peter put it. While we were eating, a musical duo played two traditional Vietnamese instruments and a group of four women, dressed in traditional costume, began singing solos and group songs including (if you can believe it) “When You’re Happy and You Know It…”. Truly, the music was nothing to write home about and was done in about ten minutes.

The next bit of our excursion then began. We received barely any commentary from our guide who told us absolutely nothing about the manner in which farming and agriculture, the main profession of the island, is carried out. We stepped into a small row boat and were rowed through a canal that was very picturesque indeed and absolutely quiet.

I was introduced to water-coconut, a plant I had never seen in any part of the world before. This fruit is so-called because it resembles a coconut and grows on a palm, but the stems emerge from out of the water. These trees grow very low but the fruit—a large round object, divided into several little sections—droops often in the water. It provides food, water and milk (as in coconut milk) to the people of the region.

The boat ride was delightful mainly because it was so quiet and serene, although I was surprised by the noticeable lack of any kind of wildlife. Only at one stage did we see a family of ducks.

Lunching at the Mekong Delta: Sooner rather than later, we arrived at another dock from where we had a short walk to the place where we’d be lunching. En route, we passed by a crocodile farm and were informed that Vietnamese eat crocs and breed them as part of their sustainability efforts.

When we arrived at the site where lunch would be served, we were surprised to see that it is perhaps the most popular eating venue in the area. Every tour bus brings its hordes to this spot which has developed into something of a recreation area for the two hours that visitors pass through.

We were told to climb up to the first floor of the restaurant for lunch. A table was laid out for our group with the most magnificent banquet you can imagine. We were informed that the star of the table was river fish that had been caught that very morning and brought to the kitchen. But, in addition to the whole roasted fish in the center, there was a huge variety of dishes such as a chicken soup with vegetables, chicken nuggets, fish on a bed of spring onions, large grilled prawns, a salad made with raw papaya and roasted peanuts, a huge ball of sticky rice. These dishes were placed, family-style ,on our table and we were asked to help ourselves. We were also supplied with rice paper wrappers and told to feel free to make our own fish spring rolls by using the roasted fish in front of us. This was fun to do. And for those who did not wish to try out their culinary expertise, there were several rolls already made for us. Orders for drinks were taken—Llew and I had a lemonade—and, at the very end, we were brought a large platter of fresh fruit. We ate much more than we usually do, but everything was delicious.

After lunch, we had a few choices: we could pick up bicycles and go for a ride to a nearby village. We could lie in a hammock under a tree and dream awhile. We could get a coffee while chatting with our fellow-passengers. But as it was just really hot and humid on this particular afternoon, all we wanted to do was sit in one place and fan ourselves. The more energetic members of our group got on bikes and went off with Peter, leaving us to our own devices for a half hour.

Leaving the Delta for the My Tho Marina: When they returned from the bike ride, our group set off again. We got on to small rowboats and continued down the canal until it reached the river where a larger boat was waiting for us. We got into it and had a second experience of the force and width of the Mekong. Peter served each of us a tender coconut and, given the heat of the afternoon, we were really grateful for its cooling water. About ten minutes later, we arrived at the My Tho Harbor from where we were able to board our bus that took us back to the city again.

A Wonderful Visit to the Vinh Trang Pagoda: However, we had one more stop before we could kick back and take naps—a visit the Vinh Trang Pagoda, a really significant Buddhist temple noted for the humongous size of its Buddha statues that are featured in Standing, Sitting and Reclining position. Monks still live within the precincts of this building which has a really beautiful entrance. It is a tall gateway that is covered in ceramic and porcelain chips that feature figures from ancient China. The Pagoda itself is a beautiful yellow structure with red painted highlights. The altars inside were simply packed with gift hampers—offerings from the faithful. That it is old is very evident in the age of the decoration inside—painted, sculpted, etc. But truly, more impressive than the interior are the hulking huge statues outside, including one of the Maitreya Buddha—and we made sure we took a picture with each one of them.

Another one and half hour later, we were approaching the outskirts of Saigon. Peter dropped us off close to our hotel but, as it was only 6 pm, we decided to spend the evening doing some shopping. Both Llew and I have realized that we basically live in cotton shorts in Bombay and neither one of us have enough. We definitely needed to buy some more. Uniqlo, a store with which we are familiar in New York, has a huge branch in Saigon and we decided to walk to it since it carries exactly the kind of clothes we need for year-round wear in Bombay. We reached there in about twenty minutes and spent the next hour buying several pairs of shorts for ourselves. I also picked up two dresses that happened to be on sale. Armed with all our purchases after what had been a very productive day of time well spent, we left the store and decided to set in search of something to eat.

A Make-Shift Dinner in our Hotel: But, frankly, after our long hot day on the water and our shopping spree, we simply had no energy left to eat. Instead, we merely crossed the street and found some sandwiches in a mini-mart. Armed with those and with prawn-flavored crackers and ice-cream, we went up to our room, had a couple of cold beers and the nuts and snacks we carry with us, ate our sandwiches and our ice-cream and followed, with growing horror and despair, the fate of the five adventurers who had spent a quarter of a million pounds each to go 12,500 feet to the bottom of the ocean in a flimsy submersible called the Titan to see the wreck of the Titanic! I think it was clear to both Llew and me that since they had lost both navigation and communication, it was almost certain that they had met a catastrophic end.

Feeling really sad about the possible outcome of the international search operation, we had our showers, ate our ice-cream and went to bed.

The trip to the Mekong Delta, while being informational, was definitely the least fascinating part of our trip so far. I am pretty sure that the weather had a lot to do with it. Had it been more pleasant, we’d probably have enjoyed it a lot more. Had we a better guide, more knowledgeable and more fluent in English, we’d probably have had a better time. But I guess if there is one excursion I would probably leave out, it would be this and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I now live in India where mango and banana trees are not a novelty for me anymore and lush, year-round, tropical greenery is something I can easily take for granted.

Until tomorrow…

Marvelous Introduction to Saigon and Trip to the Notorious Chu Chi Tunnels

Wed, Jun 21, 2023 Marvelous Introduction to Saigon and Trip to the Notorious Chu Chi Tunnels

Today, we had a full and exciting day, absolutely packed with sightseeing interest and historical detail. It was important, therefore, that we fuel ourselves well for the vast amount of walking and exploration that lay ahead for us. We loved our hotel and its immense breakfast buffet that offered Asian, Continental and typically Vietnamese fare. I decided to play it safe today and have a Western breakfast. I ordered a Ham, cheese and mushroom omelette and helped myself to sausage and bacon before requesting a Vietnamese coffee made with condensed milk. With fruit to follow, it made a really hearty breakfast for which I was very grateful as the day progressed.

A Conducted Tour of Saigon City:

On schedule, we were waiting in the lobby of our hotel for our pick-up. We had signed up for a conducted tour of the city in the morning followed by lunch and a trip, 2 hours away to the area called Buen Duoc to enter the infamous Chu Chi Tunnels (about which more later). As pick-up was at 7.45 am, we had set our alarms for 6.30 am to leave us enough time for breakfast before joining the tour

Our tour guide arrived just a few minutes late—her name was Thuyen and she turned out to be the most coherent of the guides we’ve had so far. Not only was her English fluent but her pronunciation was perfect and her accent not too strong. This was highly fortunate as there was a great earl of information she imparted as the day went by. Far from switching off mentally (as I had done in the past few days because it is too much of an effort to concentrate on what the guides are saying), I found myself hanging on to her every word. We had a few people in the large van already (including Lynda and Jeremy from Lyon, France, with whom I could practice my French and with whom we became friends by the end of the trip) when we entered and we stopped at one more hotel to pick up a foursome of Filipinos who were extremely friendly. We all became friends by the end of the day as the experiences we had drew us together in amazing ways. Once our van was full, Thuyen introduced herself and our route and took us first to what she termed “Little France” or La Petite France. This was the square we had ended our individual walking tour in last night—the one with Notre Dame Cathedral in one corner of it and the Central Post Office in the other.

The Post Office building dates from 1865 and was built soon after the French took over Vietnam, named Cochin-Chine (don’t ask) and later Indo-Chine, and colonized it. It is a beautiful building in typically French architectural style, characterized by arches and sculptural detail outside and filled inside with large-scale period maps on the wall that depict the region especially the course of the Mekong River as well as France’s territorial holdings in Southeast Asia. There is also a huge portrait of Ho Chi Minh in the center as he looks down benevolently on all visitors. The building is still a working post office and this is efficiently run, clean, organized and professional. We picked up magnets of Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City from here but realized quickly that the place is known everywhere as Saigon. Hence, we picked up a magnet of Saigon too. With our souvenirs in the bag, we were able to return to our guide who put us back into the bus—but not before pointing out some details about the Cathedral in front of us. It is, of course, a landmark of the city and one of the few Catholic places of worship. Had we time, we could have gone inside, but it was enough to notice that it is modeled quite similarly on Notre Dame in Paris.

Visiting the Exceedingly Difficult-to-Handle War Remnants Museum:

Back in the bus, we headed first for the War Remnants Museum—easily one of the most difficult museums in the world to visit. Llew and I have visited Holocaust Museums around the world but this one was decidedly different because, unlike all the other ones we’ve seen (in Berlin, Washington DC, Jerusalem, Poland), this one portrayed Americans as the Bad Guys. It documented (through photographs, newspaper clippings, quotes from a number of contemporary politicians) the origins of the Vietnam War (which is known as the American War in Vietnam). It explains why America got drawn into the war. So here’s a bit of background:

, after liberation from the French, Vietnam (which had included modern-day bits of Cambodia and Thailand) was divided into North and South Vietnams with an actual DMZ (Demilitarized Zone or No Man’sLand) existing between. them. In fact, in the early 1950s, Vietnam was actually two separate countries: North Vietnam with his capital in Hanoi and South Vietnam with its capital in Saigon. HCM’s Communist sympathies worried the US in its race for superpower supremacy against Russia during the Cold War. When it appeared as if Northern Vietnam would come under Communist sway, the then US President Lyndon Johnson gave the order for American troops to enter South Vietnam to keep the Northern communist activists (organized under the banner of the Viet Cong) at bay. US troops arrived in Vietnam in 1963 and made their headquarters in Saigon. From there, the US masterminded bombing missions over North Vietnam which was being defended by the vast number of locals (militiamen) who joined a communist militia called the Viet Cong based in Hanoi (but with spreading tentacles all over the rural north).

did the US realize that the militia known as the Viet Cong in the North would put up a brave fight. The war continued unabated for 17 years (whereas the US thought they would be victorious in 17 days). When the US realized that they were fighting against guerillas whose tactics were foreign to them, the atrocities on their part began. As the US was unclear which Vietnamese were part of the militia, supportive of or helping the Viet Cong, they turned their military efforts upon civilians in ways that are truly unspeakable.

This Museum documents the barbarity of the Americans—seen, of course, from the perspective of the Vietnamese. The torture, the killings of civilians in cold blood, the methods of interrogation used to extract information from men, women and their treatment of children makes this visit harrowing and unforgettable. Towards the end of the war, the Americans began chemical warfare as they used Agent Orange (the chemical dioxine) which they sprayed all over the fields, villages, etc. in a sort of ‘scorches earth’ policy. The poisonous chemical killed all vegetation and wrought terrible effects upon those who survived—even into the next generation.

As it turned out, American press photographers and reporters were actually present in Vietnam throughout the war. They kept sending back the most horrific photographs of the atrocities meted upon the Vietnamese. So many of these photographers died in the war but their telling photographs are a lasting legacy of the impact of American imperialism in Southeast Asia.

Eventually, as the Museum showed, it was public opinion in America that turned against the war as three million Americans had died after being forcibly drafted into the army. Singers like Joan Baez and actors like Jane Fonda, who had traveled personally to Vietnam and saw, with their own eyes, the rampant destruction wrought by the war, used their talents to inform and educate Americans about the country’s military actions in Vietnam. As the years passed, when American soldiers themselves, as conscientious objectors, refused to enter the war, the time came for the US to withdraw. The war came to an end in 1979 and a whole generation of Americans, who were fortunate enough to return alive, suffered from PTSD and used alcohol and drugs to dull the pain, guilt and remorse of their cold-blooded killings in Vietnam.

It was not easy seeing the graphic images of ruined Vietnam and mutilated Vietnamese in this Museum. But as if to balance the equation, the museum also documented South Vietnamese brutality against their own Northern people by showing us the infamous ‘Tiger Cages’ win which they held their prisoners of war and the ruthless tactics they used to extract information, including (if you can even believe it—I could not!) the guillotine! Northern Vietnamese were beheaded by their own Southern brethren through the use of the guillotine, the very instrument that the French had used in the 18th century during their Revolution to oust their own monarchy!

The front courtyard of the Museum is filled with dynamite shells, bomb casings, etc. as well as tanks, war planes, helicopters and the like. When we returned to our meeting place after one hour, most of us were devastated and rendered speechless with their horrors of the experience

Viewing the Independence Palace from the Outside:

Thuyen then took us to Independence Palace but explained that yesterday and today it is closed to visitors as there is a private function going on there. This place was built after the liberation of Vietnam from the French (post-1954). Construction began during the tenure of HCM himself, but as he died in 1963, he did not have the privilege of occupying it. Instead, the first four Presidents of Vietnam after Independence did.

After the fourth one, it ceased to be used as their official residence and became a show piece, restricted to tourist interest alone. As we could not go inside, we merely took pictures of the exterior, but Thuyen informed me that a visit inside would show us the living quarters of the past Presidents and the formal rooms they used to receive and entertain diplomats and visiting heads of state. Clearly, Vietnam, in the first decade after Independence, was a proud republic.

A Visit to the Ho Chi Minh Museum:

We moved on from Independence Palace to the next port of call—this was added to our tour as a substitute venue as we could not enter the scheduled site. This was a visit to the Ho Chi Minh (HCM) Museum on the banks of the Saigon River. It is a lovely site as it overlooks the modern harbor and offers the visitor a cogent idea of the massive economic gains the country has made and the strides it has taken towards staking its place in the modern world. The Harbor here is surrounded by beautiful skyscrapers, each sporting a Futuristic modernist design—such as in Shanghai or Dubai.

The HCM Museum itself is a double-storied colonial structure in rose-pink that traces the interesting life of the man that the country considers the Father of the Nation. He was born to humble parentage and spent the earliest decades of his life doing odd jobs in Saigon under colonial rule. In his early 20s, he hopped aboard a steamer as a ship deck hand and found the world open for his perusal. Thus began his long tutelage and exposure to Leninism and Soviet Communism which filled him with determined zeal to get the colonists out of his country. He returned to Vietnam determined to lead a political movement that would oust the French and, as a man passionate about his cause, fired up his supporters and rushed ahead.

I found it particularly interesting that so many of the anti-colonials who led their countries to freedom from colonialism (Gandhi and Nehru in India, Jinnah in Pakistan, Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya, Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia, Toussaint de l’Ouverture in Haiti) had to leave their own countries behind, absorb the political teachings of those in countries other than their own, before returning to apply principles of Western liberalism to their own struggles for freedom). HCM’s efforts were highly successful, of course, and the French departed in 1954—although they did return briefly in the early 1960s but were ousted again. As Vietnam attempted to find its voice and identity in an independent world, HCM led the country by adopting, as so many contemporary leaders of the time did (Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, etc.) the principles of austerity. He wore sandals made of rubber tyre scrap that the peasants, slaving in the rice paddies, had done and with his staff and his sola topi, he became an international symbol of nationalism and a hero to his own people. Of course, his ideology was Communist (which was what sent shivers down the spine of the Americans). HCM’s natural gravitation towards the Russians left America uneasy in the decade of the Cold War and resulted in the US keeping a close eye on political developments in the Southeast Asian region.

All this history and more is depicted in the HCM Museum which contains loads of photographs (including those of him with Prime Minister Nehru of India and Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President) and on his conducting a Vietnamese symphony orchestra in their rendition of the national anthem. There is plenty of memorabilia (his hat, his typewriter, his sandals, eye glasses, etc,) for the historian of the region and I was glad I had the chance to become introduced to this shadowy figure (at least to me) for whom the city was renamed but whom I remembered well from contemporary reports in the Times of India when I was but a child.

With this last stop on our city tour, Thuyen took us to a restaurant where we were seated as she dropped off the two Indian participants who were not joining us on the Tunnels excursion. She had provided us with a menu at the start of our trip and we had chosen Shrimp and Pork with Rice and Rice Glass Noodles (Vermicelli) with Crab as our choices (Llew and I would share them). This came with a clear soup for starters and as we sat and ate at a large community table, we got to know the rest of the tour group. The hour long stop for lunch allowed us to use rest rooms and get a break before we launched on the next, deeply harrowing part of our tour.

A Tour of the Chu Chi Tunnels:

In order to under the significance of the Chu Chi Tunnels, about two hours outside the city of Saigon, you need to know a little it about the history of Vietnam in the decade after its Independence from French colonialism.

As in the case of so many military powers (we see it with Russia and Ukraine today, for instance), the US believed that its intervention in Vietnam (motivated by its determination to stop Communism from spreading in Asia during the Cold War) would last a few weeks—a couple of months at most. Their superior military prowess, arms and armaments led them to believe that they would vanquish their ‘enemy’ in no time at all. Little did they bargain for the determination and courage of the Viet Cong and its thousands of supporters who, realizing that they could not beat the Americans at their own game, devised all sorts of approaches and tactics that have come to be termed generally as ‘guerilla warfare” from the French ‘la Guerre”—war.

The Viet Cong were aware that a network of tunnels existed in North Vietnam and had been used as a base during the struggle for Independence from the French in the 1950s. They decided to employ the very same tunnels in their battle against the Americans. Hence, they immediately began expanding the network of tunnels in Northern Vietnam that were known generally as the Chu Chi Tunnels. Although tunnels formed the entry into this subterranean world, it developed into a full-scale underground township, complete with bunkers, kitchens, hospitals, etc. Think of the Taliban in Afghanistan who used the same network of tunnels in Tora Bora to vanquish the Americans not even 10 years ago. Being unfamiliar with the mountainous terrain and the fact that their satellites could not pick up images of the activity below-ground, the Americans were kept guessing as to the site and nature of the Taliban’s attacks. Ditto the Viet Cong’s attacks from 1963 until 1979. This tunnel-warfare resulted in the death of millions of Americans in a war that stretched on, seemingly unendingly, for years on end.

At the end, in 1979, 17 years after it had begun with 3 million casualties on the American side and 58,000 Vietnamese deaths, the terrible Vietnam War came to a close. Apart from celebrities like Joan Baez and Jane Fonda, two hundred university professors drafted an anti-war letter to Richard Nixon (whose Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was a supporter of prolonging the war) and were joined by American university students all over the country, starting with those at the University of California at Berkeley, who protested the war in marches attended by thousands of civilians and students in America. Press photographers and photo-journalists had also been sending graphic images of the destruction being caused to civilian populations in Northern Vietnam (not to mention that endless plane loads of dead and maimed Americans that returned to the US after suffering PTSD in a war they did to support and in which they had been drafted).

photograph, eventually, of what came to be called “Napalm Girl”, a little 9-year old naked girl, desperately burned by Agent Orange (dioxin), the chemical used by the Americans to subdue the Vietnamese, caused a public outcry in America as the nation’s brutality was mercilessly exposed. It was no longer possible to continue to draft young men into a never-ending war which was finally ended in 1979 with the evacuation of the last GIs from Saigon.

So why did the Viet Cong win the war and why did America suffer so much destruction to life and limb? It had to do with the Chu Chi Tunnels from where they operated under cover of darkness. The Viet Cong fought with low-tech weaponry such as sharpened sticks, batons, axes, hoes, etc. They created land mines that exploded when and in areas that the Americans least expected. When the Americans realized that they were underground, they sent out sniffer dogs to find the openings to the tunnels. The Viet Cong then booby-trapped the areas and placed pointed spikes in the ground—when the Americans stepped on the traps, they fell into deep pits, impaled on spikes that were coated with snake venom to cause death.

Whie based underground, the Viet Cong began to gather up all war-scrap the Americans left behind (war heads, bomb casings, etc.) and used them in creative ways to fashion their own low-tech weapons. Throughout the 17 years, as the war progressed, the Viet Cong continued to expand the underground network, eventually creating 200 kms of tunnels that stretched as far as Cambodia and the Mekong Delta. They stayed alive by growing cassava (tapioca) in the jungles above them, boiling and eating it and drinking cassava tea. We were given a little taste of both at the very end of the tour

Apart from gaining all this knowledge, he highlight of this tour for visitors is that they actually get to descend into the tunnels which have been retained as sites of tourist and historic interest. You can walk or crouch or crawl inside the tunnels (depending on how tall you are and how low the tunnel ceiling). It is pitch black inside and really really hot. Of course, there were air holes to provide fresh air but it was still so hot that, to me, it felt like a sauna and I was perspiring profusely when I emerged from the twenty meters through which I had crouched while underground. Actually crouching as I walked through the tunnels myself made me realize how courageous, determined and resourceful the Viet Cong were and why the Americans had no chance of winning the war. You emerge from this whole experience deeply enlightened about the principles of guerilla warfare and the reasons why the war went on for so long. It can be profoundly sobering to be an American visiting this Museum—because for the first time, I had the opportunity to see what the US did in the name of saving the world from the scourge of Communism.

Back On the Coach to Saigon ad Banh Mi for Dinner:

It was another two hour long coach ride back from Ben Duoc to Saigon and Llew and I were both tired and hungry when we arrived at our hotel. We decided to go out in search of dinner but were too tired to sit in a restaurant. Instead, we decided to pick up Banh Mi, the famous Vietnamese sandwiches made in a crusty baguette, and bring them back to the hotel to be enjoyed with cold beer.

We were very fortunate that someone on the street directed us to a perfect place not too far from our hotel for the best banh mi in the city. It is a placed called Bank Mi Huynh Hoa and it was just awesome. The baguettes are huge, they are overfilled with delicious pate and a variety of deli meats—pork, chicken, beef. Salad greens, onions, cucumbers and fresh herbs come in a separate plastic packet so that you can add them to the sandwich when you are ready to eat them. Gosh! They were simply excellent (although poor Llew bit right into a deceptively green chili that he thought was a scallion). He went through agony as he tried to bring relief to his burning mouth! I was super careful after that and thoroughly enjoyed my sandwich. Highly recommended if you are in Saigon!

that was left was for us to get showers done and wind down for the night after what had been a truly enlightening but really harrowing day.

Until tomorrow…

Goodbye Phnom Penh and Hello Saigon

Tue, Jun 20, 2023

Goodbye Phnom Penh and Hello Saigon

As always, our day began with breakfast in our hotel in Phnom Penh. I decided to go Asian today and got the salad with the lovely sesame dressing and the noodle soup to make myself a super hearty meal before we returned to our room to finish last-minute packing and get ready for our flight to Ho Ch Minh City (to which I shall now be referring as Saigon—as I discovered that the locals call it Saigon and nothing else).

Pissat, our guide was waiting for us in the lobby as we checked-out. These hotels do a weird thing—at the time of check-out, they send someone upstairs to go over your room and make sure you have not made off with any loot! They returned our passports only after being satisfied we were not making out like bandits! We then piled into our car and were off for the airport. The airport was less than a half hour away. We said our goodbyes to Phnom Penh and looked forward to the next lap of our travels.

Flight to Saigon:

As always again, I requested a window seat as I have always loved to look at our planet from 35,000 feet above mean sea level. I also keep my camera handy to shoot pictures of the flying landscape and I discovered, pretty soon, that we’d be following the course of the mighty Mekong river for the entire one hour flight. And what a river it is! Not only does it curve sexily all across the paddy plains below but it bifurcates into a vast network of tributaries. This explains why the area is so fertile and such a bountiful rice-producer. I had almost clear skies and could get several great pictures before I discovered that upon descent, we’d be flying right over downtown Saigon. How cool is that? Of course, it meant that I switched to video mode and shot really good footage of our landing that was super smooth under cloudless skies.

Actually, for the very first time in my flying experience, the aircraft took off a half hour ahead of schedule. I have NEVER known this to happen. The result was that we landed half an hour ahead of schedule and, to our great good luck, actually managed to clear immigration far ahead of schedule. This meant that the person who was meant to pick us up (a man called Vin) had not yet arrived by the time we emerged out of the Arrivals Lounge and began looking for a placard with my name on it. He said later that he was amazed how quickly we had cleared immigration formalities (we had obtained e-visas online while still in India), put us into his waiting car and we were off. It was a 45 minute ride from the airport to the hotel, he said, as landing time was 3.00 pm and there was heavy traffic everywhere. We were amazed at the army of helmeted Motor-bikers all over the city and we soon discovered that there is a population of 30 million people in all of Vietnam with 17 million motor-bikes in the city of Saigon alone! Go figure! True to Vin’s prediction, we were at our hotel, the Harmony Hotel and Spa, in the Dong Khoi area of Saigon about 40 minutes later. We checked in and were presented with a welcome drink—a lemongrass-ginger concoction with snacks and nibbles in the lobby-bar of our spiffy hotel and told that the mini-bar in our room was free! Again, never have I stayed in a hotel where the mini-bar is free! We found it stocked with water, flavored water and beers! Super luck!

No sooner did we stash our backpacks in our room and use the restroom than we were off. We had the evening at our leisure and decided to do a walking tour of the area around us. Using Lonely Planet’s notes and a map provided by the Receptionist, we set off. We had about two hours of day light and wanted to make the most of it.

Walking Self-Guided Tour of Saigon:

Our walking tour was our first introduction to a fascinating city. I have to say that my accounts of the city have been derived mainly from seeing the musical, Miss Saigon, many decades ago on Broadway and from the rather sketchy information I had about the US occupation of the city and their eventual dramatic exodus. So I was keen to learn much more and indeed this visit provided every bit of historic detail I’d craved.

The area of Dong Khoi is chaotic and busy. Traffic whizzed around us like crazy and bikes whipped by just millimeters away from us. Our first stop was a local bank as we needed to use the ATM to get local currency. With that mission accomplished, we set off for Ben Thanh Market. This iconic building features a clock tower and dates from the 1800s. It was constructed by the French soon after their colonization of Indo-Chine in 1863 and it continues to stand today, a bustling covered market, filled with all manner of merchandise from tourist kitsch to local fruit—think of Crawford Market with an Oriental ambience. We circumnavigated it, found our magnets and made our way out.

Our tour then took us to the Fine Arts Museum—another lovely colonial building built in decidedly French architectural style, However, since it was long after 5pm, it was closed and we merely had a chance to admire the building from the outside.

Moving on, we followed the streets to the unmissable skyscraper ahead of us—the Bitexco Financial Building, the newest, most distinctive building on the Saigon skyline. Depending on which angle you view it, it looks like a CD rack with a CD (its SkyDeck) ready to be inserted into its side. It took several blocks of walking before we actually reached it. We obtained information on how we could get to the 60th floor Observation (Sky Deck) and thought we’d do it on another evening, time and inclination permitting. Hence, we used the rest room on the first floor of the main concourse and then, to give our feet a rest, decided to get a drink in the bar on the ground floor. With Diet Cokes for both of us, we felt suitably refreshed and ready to continue our walking tour.

Dinner at Mama Pho:

By this time, we were quite hungry as we’d had nothing but snacks since our huge breakfasts this morning. It made sense to look for a substantial bowl of Pho (pronounced Fur)—a massive rice noodle soup with the addition of meat and fresh herbs and condiments—sour lime juice, fish sauce, chili sauce. As it turned out, there was a place called Mama Pho that had an opening offer for one week—bowls of Pho were half price! It was a no-brained to enter there and feast on steaming bowls of the national soup (65,000 VND which is approx $3). Yes, prices for the smallest item go into the millions here—so if you want to feel like a millionaire, all you do is convert your bank balance to dong and you’re in business!

The Pho was really really good. Beef bones are simmered for as long as 18 hours coax flavor out. The fresh herbs add enormous freshness and flavor and in a very cute place, which was suitably quiet and filled with really lovely Chinese lanterns on the ceiling, we enjoyed our first real meal in Vietnam. There’d be many more to enjoy in the days to come.

Our Walking Tour Continues:

Fortified with our meal, we were ready to continue our walking tour and we followed the map along one of the swankiest streets in Saigon and one packed with American-Vietnamese history: Dong Khoi Street. This took us past some of the fanciest five-star hotels including the Caravelle, from whose bar American journalists had reported for the US press from their bar stools! This hotel had a beautiful flower arrangement of orchids (my favorite flower) and pink chrysanthemums in its lobby and I had to take a picture there. Not far away stands the building from whose rooftop the last American GIs and diplomats were airlifted on their evacuation from Saigon in 1979.

The Caravelle is also directly opposite the Opera House and, to my enormous delight, I discovered that it is almost an exact replica of the Opera Garnier building in Paris, named for Charles Garnier who designed it in such a way that all four sides have a completely different aspect! This was not the case here, but the facade is decidedly Garnier! Again, we walked all around the building and then continued our course along the Dong Khoi boulevard passing up some of the classiest boutiques in the world such as Hermes, Baccarat, Christofle, etc. I really enjoy looking at the windows of these boutiques as their decor and dressing is always so creative.

At the end of the boulevard, where it ended in a rotary, we saw the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Saigon right in front of us—sadly, fully enshrouded by scaffolding as it has been under renovation for the past six years. We could go inside and Mass continues to be held in here, but, of course, being that it was almost 8.00 pm by this time, it was closed.

There was nothing much to be seen as darkness descended upon the city—so we continued using our maps to find our way back to our hotel. In doing so, we walked right by the vast property of the Independence Palace which we would see, in daylight, tomorrow.

About 20 minutes later, we were back at our hotel. We were truly dead beat but had received a perfect introduction on our own to Saigon and were highly impressed by what we saw. The city is modernist in its aesthetic and obviously prosperous. It reminded me very much of other affluent Asian cities through which we have traveled such as Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo.

With showers behind us and the TV on, informing us about the tragedy of the loss of the Titan submersible, we called it Lights Out and went to bed

Until tomorrow.