Adventures of Beth and Dan: “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it is lethal”!! -Paulo Coelho

Vietnam

Because of the typhoon taking a direct hit to Nha Trang our ship made a detour and we will not go there :(. I’m sad because I was prepared to be there and we had a delightful tour set up there but we are rerouting today and will make the next port hopefully which is Phu My Vietnam. We are now about midway on our 80 days. It has been going quickly.

They say in Phu My which is the port city that we dock at, there is absolutely nothing so best to have a tour there which we do.

Vietnamese see a rabbit on the moon. Why is there a rabbit on the moon? According to the legend there was a god who wanted to test the sincerity of Buddha. He had many lives and in one life was a rabbit. A holy man met three animals a fox, a rabbit and another animal that I missed... the rabbit let the holy man who was hungry eat him because he said all he ate was grass and a holy man couldn’t live on grass! But the holy man stopped him from killing himself for his food because he was so unselfish and giving and full of self sacrifice, generosity, and compassion. So the Buddha put a rabbit on the moon to remind the world of this goodness. You see it in the full moon

Another story: the water spirit of the south abducted the mountain spirit from the north. She conceived 100 children. They couldn’t really live together so the fairy princess from the south moved to the north and the dragon or water spirit moved to the south and here is why we have different people in the different regions. When Vietnamese talk they say” we the people from the same womb” rather than ladies and gentlemen.

One of the most popular stories is Tien Dong and the Beach Boy. All Vietnamese families share and know this oral story. Tien Dong’s father brought her many men to show her to marry but she didn’t like any of them. A father and son were so poor that they only had one loin cloth to share and wear. One day the Father went to town and wore it but the son had nothing to wear so he went in the water to avoid being naked. Tien went to the beach to swim and she found him naked! She said it is fate for us to marry because we saw each other naked. The left the kingdom and married away from her fathers kingdom because he didn’t approve. Her father sent his army to capture them but they were not there! They had gone up to. Heaven

94 million people live in Vietnam. It is the 13th most populated country. There are at least 50 ethnic groups living here . The country is 1000 miles long and 30 miles at its narrowest spot. GPD was $4,000 per person in 2013. It is a very long narrow country. South Vietnam where we are is tropical and north Vietnam is colder and drier. South Vietnam has rich agricultural land. For a thousand years it was part of China. Most of the South Asia countries were more influenced by India than China.

South Vietnam has retained many of the Vietnamese: higher status of women, rice based cuisine, belief in ghosts and spirits, acceptance of hierarchy; it is squeezed between two giants China and South Asia. Confucian culture is also evident and prevalent too. 81% of the population have no religion. It is a communist country but religion is growing: Buddhism and Catholicism. Religion is still monitored but somewhat tolerated. Communist officials can be seen going to temples to worship. Ho Chi Minh has become something of a saint with shrines to him across the country. Burning incense shows respect like at funerals. He has become something of a good luck charm. Confucianism is also a religion in Vietnam. You can mix these too and do many religions for different things.

Real religion is more about ancestor worship like paying homage to your parents, grandparents, etc.; the belief is that your ancestors never leave you but are still present and interacting in certain ways. They want to be sure you are doing right or they could also hurt you!

Cap Dai ( cows eye) a unique religion that 3 million people observe but only in southern Vietnam. The messenger of this religion when it began told a bureaucrat that because we are so united now we need to bring everything into one religion. They have an ornate temple. They have a great big all seeing eye above the gate. They have a pope and a similar catholic structure but believe in reincarnation with male and female priest. Mostly the observers are vegetarian. Male priest are celibate. They worship ALL the gods and saints but also some famous people like Victor Hugo and Joan of Arc!!!

The Vietnamese language is about 50% of words that come from China. It is more like Cambodia. It is a tonal language with six tones. They write with Latin letters they have developed. In the early days they used Chinese characters. In 1945 when Ho Chi Minh declared independence they changed their official language. Pho really sounds like fu.

Mountain tribes are very different from city people with different languages and culture. Still issues with these regions exist today.

In 1986 they decided to renovate Vietnam and in the future they would move to socialism or communism. Now is the time to develop with foreign industry and commerce they believed and not push the communism as hard. Saigon which is now Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam. The city is packed with a river of motorbikes that constantly flow and never ends. Villagers flock to the cities. The young population is booming and traditional relationships eroding. Demands for greater freedoms especially from young people occurs on a daily basis. South Vietnam is colorful and bright and vibrant but the cities are still dirty, a mix of old and new and full of the smells of wonderful cooked foods and / or urine and sewage. They say they have eradicated poverty and introduced health and education reforms but when you travel to the city and even within the city the poverty still exists and I’m not sure that they have people getting medical attention or an education fully. 50% of the population is under 30! They expect more and are embracing materialism. In 1986 they ran cars on coal!! Now there are tourist resorts and sky scrapers! They have completely reinvented themselves. Vietnam modernized in 20 years but they still have a long way to go in my opinion! They are extremely flexible and pragmatic.

They do limit the internet and have a severe surveillance state. 1 in 6 are employed monitoring and working in surveillance. There is censorship. Don’t look for political sites on the internet. We had a guest speaker Kate Ross join us in Hong Kong. I got to know her through the Cruise Critic site because she asked to join my tour at Komodo Island. When we got onboard she left me a nice note on my door giving me her room number. I called her and we had dinner one night. She is a retired high school history teacher from New York and does presentations for Holland. She gave Dan some insight on becoming a presenter for flora and fauna. She will be with us till Sydney then she leaves and heads home. She gave a talk on Vietnam also. Here’s some of her talking points. The country is shaped like an S. The north and south are rice baskets. The north and south areas are densely populated. The central or pole area connects the two. Hanoi is the capital. It is an ancient city with influence from the French and Chinese a long with Vietnamese. The prison in Hanoi was originally built by the French in 1905. It was used to house American prisoners during the Vietnam war and was called the Hanoi Hilton. There is a mausoleum for Ho Chi Minh there and a museum. It is a center of Buddhism. It is the 13th most populated country in the world and encourages families to have no more than two children. People still wear masks here for pollution ad they cover up to avoid tan skin which is not accepted. Daily life is plagued with brown outs and black outs due to inefficient power lines and poles. We were up early on Sunday the 5th to go to our private tour. We met at 6:30 and soon after were off the ship and on a large comfortable bus. We had about an hour ride into the city of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). The trip there gave us a look at rice paddies, poor store fronts and homes along the road that resembled homes we have seen in the Caribbean in a lot of those third world countries. People looked down and out with many smoking. Our first stop was the War museum. This museum of course tells their side of the story but the photos were horrific. I really didn’t take any pictures of those except the Napalm Girl photo and her story.

After the museum we were individually loaded up for the Trishaw ride was the absolute best!!! Wild, crazy, interesting smells and sights. Our drivers pedal us through the streets of Saigon through all the traffic having cars, buses, bikes, and motorcycles come toward you at a fast pace! Somehow they all make room for each other and no one gets hurt but it was a hoot. Next we went to the Sea empress Chinese temple and then the Jade emperor pagoda

Two important rooms in the Sea Empress Chinese temple were heaven and hell room. In the heaven room you light candles and incense to pray for good luck and fortune. Parents bring their children and ask for them to be blessed. Because it was a Sunday it was packed with families and tourists. You could barely get in and around. It was full of heavy incense and smoke and some of our passengers couldn’t go in because of the smoke and their breathing issues. The hell room was where people lit candles and incense asking for forgiveness for their already committed sins and of course it too was packed!

The City is dirty and dilapidated. Millions of motorcycles are everywhere carrying everything! Sometimes whole families were on a bike. Mom, dad, and two babies. Markets are everywhere with flowers, baskets, clothing, spices, cooked foods, raw foods, household goods, cell phones, you name it! Our guide said be careful with a phone or camera because motorcyclists will speed by you and snatch them especially on the Trisha rides.

Men were seen relieving themselves on the streets everywhere on a tree or bush or pile of garbage which was all along the sidewalks and streets!! The bathrooms where we stopped were thankfully all western and relatively clean. This is not an area of huge skyscrapers for housing although coming from the port we could see them being built. Our guide said people must work to have money to pay for insurance. If they don’t have it the hospitals turn them away and tell them to go home and go to Heaven. Basically go home and die. Everyone smokes. As our Trishaw drivers were driving they lit up!! Many people wear masks and helmets here. Everything happens outside. People eat outside, visit on the streets, try to sell , prepare foods to cook or sell, many many flower stands are everywhere. We saw someone preparing prickly pear cactus leaves! Schools look rundown and are small. All of them are gated and wired with concertina wire. Our bus provides free wifi which is wonderful!! Our guide tells us that in Vietnam the Dragon is power the Unicorn is happiness the Pigeon Peace and the Turtle longevity. The Government employs handicapped people to work in a factory that makes crafts out of mother of pearl and this helps to supports them. We stopped there and got a tour of the factory; they make beautiful artwork, vases, cards, and other souvenirs; we spent some money there and were happy to be helping all these handicapped people some being handicapped still from the affects of agent orange.

We had lunch at Pho 2000 with a traditional Vietnamese lunch for $10 a piece. A Vietnamese Dong is 20,000 and is equal to $1 US dollar. Then on to more shopping at the Ben Thanh market where you bargain!! I bought Zoey two outfits and bargained for some earrings for my daughter !!

Next stop is a photo stop at the Reunification Hall.

After that we will go to the city center where the Rex Hotel is located along with the Opera House.

Then back to the port by 4. All aboard is 4:30 then sail away by 5:30.

Rice paddies seen along the hiway to Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh City)

Building is going on for more high rise housing

Typical homes and shabby store fronts

Check out these eclectic poles!! No way I would want to be a power company employee here!

War Remnants Museum from the Vietnamese perspective

At the museum

In the museum

This is the sign for bathrooms. WC stands for water closet a British throwback.

There are photos of their factory workers showing their industrialization and employment opportunities.

Their list of losses from the war

The famous photo of napalm girl...

Beautiful flowers outside the museum

This is what Dan does every chance he gets. He actually found three different lizards here in this little patch !

The Sea Empress temple where we find heaven and hell!

The big incense burning pot.

Those spirals hanging are actually wicks. After being lit they can burn for a week. People purchase them and then make a request to the Gods. The pots contain incense burning sticks that people purchase too and then make requests.

Another crazy power pole!

A bike carrying cargo

Motorcycles rule here

Jade Temple

Trishaw drivers

My ride!

Heaven

Hell

More of the temple and offerings

Vietnamese beer for me at lunch

Spring rolls were part of our lunch and some rice noodle soup

Some of the marke

Market buys

Fruits and vegetables

Reunification Hall

Part of their city government

A famous hotel there that many Americans choose to stay at. At one time it was apartments for Americans like ambassadors and staff. Now it is a hotel.