Southeast Asia - Vietnam - Sixth Week

Southeast Asia - Vietnam - Sixth Week

We published our blog and went for a walk- first through the area of food stalls and sidewalk hawkers with any food stuffs imaginable, then to the nite market on the boulevard which is primarily clothing, and finally at the park and permanent stalls where we bought supplies and small baskets. We are lamenting re: America and 45*.

Day 41 2.11 Sunday the Upper Mekong

Up at 5:45 to stretch and then to swim. We were picked up at 8 and went directly to a 30 foot boat with an engine and long shaft prop. Our first adventure included going to the floating market in the middle of the lower  Mekong. All the seasonal delights were on bulk display for retailers to buy - watermelon; yellow and green, carrots, coconuts, turnips, cabbage, onion, tomatoes, mangoes, and many things we don’t know the name for or have never seen before. All the big boats are live aboard. After 4 passes we went to a Farm  stead (actually a house and front yard) where plants are started. The farmer orders a given number of a given variety of veggies and the people sprout those plants for a price. The seeds are placed in banana leaf 1.5 inch round handmade leaf vessels filled with black ash from the rice husks that have been burned to make Caramel, pop corn, kitchen cooking, etc. These tiny pots are placed on a wooden frame of about 500 vessels. In 10 days the farmer  arrives to collect his tiny plants he will plant in his fields, merely placing handfuls of the tiny plant vessels right on top of each other- the next day they will be in the ground. After reloading we went up the tributaries of the river, but because the tide was running out we eventually went aground and had to turn around, heading back where we started instead of making a complete circle of the island. The men worked in thigh  deep mud to turn the mired vessel. We unloaded about noon and started the 3.5 hr drive back to our hotel. The roads going out of HCMC were over crowded (some times 4 lanes on the 2 lane road) with people going to their providences to be with family for the holiday week. We had our favorite pizza (4 cheeses) for the fourth time and came back to rest and write. Flowers are a big part of the Tet Lunar New Year. Two problems with the Mekong water...trash (particularly plastic) which stalled our engine twice and heavy water hyacinth - no wonder the Pacific Ocean has the huge island of plastic somewhere in the middle area.

Day 42 2.12 Monday flying to Nah Trang 

Up at 6 for exercise and breakfast. Leaving the Sanouva Hotel at 2 for the airport. We walked 8 blocks to an underground mall and bought a new security bag for $5 (asked 8 for a “The North Face” none-the-less) as my waist pack was coming apart. I walked fairly well the whole time as the SI pain and most hip pain have subsided. We checked out at noon and waited til 1 for our ride. Sat at the airport for 2+ hours relaxing. We waited til the line ended and were the last to load for our 45 minute flight (the 240 miles would take 11 hours to drive). Arrived and found our guide and taxi for 45 min ride to the city. Dark and tired. We may get a chance to go to the farm of our guide’s parents. We ate dinner (of Caesar salad, omelette, and chicken pot) next to the Starlet Hotel where we are staying. Seated next to us were 10 Russians from Kostroma, 200 miles NE of Moscow. We shared info thru a google translator. One man had a trucking Co., another was an auto parts  dealer, the truckers wife was in logistics, the other wife was a masseuse, and one lady was a lawyer and knew about forensic psychology. The next group was from Italy, Elba Island, but consistent with Italians we couldn’t get them to talk with us. It appears many Chinese are here. This is a huge tourist center for the cold part of Asia and eastern Europe. After dinner we walked the street and had blueberry cheesecake. In the lobby of our hotel we met a young Russian couple from Siberia, actually Baikal Lake. We think he was 27 and in the military or construction and she was 24. Exhausted, we headed for bed. Difficulty with our ac all nite-too hot to the point of waking to get comfortable. While we feel this was somewhat a wasted day it is probably good to have down time. Interestingly, I am having trouble remembering the events of the last three days. Last eve I wrote a Facebook note and pictures of the two monks who helped us the most and to whom we feel attached. 

Day 43 2.13 Tuesday Nha Trang day

Five inches of snow at home before the weekend. From the looks of breakfast this vacation area is a Russian villa and most tourists have mild to severe  sunburns. The people we have met and tried to talk with  have all been Russian. 2012 was when tourism started here and now gets 2 million visitors per year (with increase of 350000 more this year from Russia and China). On our way.. very clean and coffered shrubs in the city and traffic is not bad. Our own guide and 60’ boat just for the two of us. We visited the Aquarium, then walked (no cars or roads) a kilometer thru the fishing village of 1500 inhabitants (there were  many fighting chickens caged outside homes)(day off for the fishermen), took a hand ferry to a fish farm and our boat, observed the round dingys used in the harbor, and went to the swimming beach saturated by tourist. I swam and the water was great. On this island and the next one we visited  (Mot and Coral islands) there was tremendous tour business cuz of a huge theme park and hotels and great clean infrastructure. There is a tram to Coral Island that crosses the east ocean for over a kilometer. After the swim we took a 1/2 hr ride for a Seafood lunch. Here one does not order... one just gets everything- shrimp, fishx2, eggplant, oysters, beef stir fry, fish soup, calamari, spring rolls, watermelon, etc. thereafter we bargained for an extension of our tour ($35) for a city tour and to go to the hinterland of small villages, rice fields, bamboo harvesting (furniture, building & chopsticks), mango, corn, and fruit orchards. We stopped at a field where a man and wife were fertilizing the  tall rice not yet headed out (3 crops of rice per year). They showed us some plants and told about their farming of very small plots assigned by the govt after 1990 when they de-communilized farms. We then arrived at our hotel and made plans for our 4:30 morning run to the airport tomorrow. There were bonsai plants small like we’re use to and larger plants in the houses and yards. To bed at 8 ....

Day 44 2.14 Wednesday On to Da Nang and Hoian

What a miserable nite-stuffy nose causing poorest rate of cpap ever and  constantly dreaming about how to sequence the action for a half hour before departure. Up at 4 for a 4:30 AM departure for the 45 minute ride to the airport. We discovered the rules of the road here. On a 2 lane going your way drive in the middle blocking both lanes which keeps one from dodging motos on the right. Then when coming to a vehicle ahead, flash your lites and honk which usually results in them moving into the left lane, so you pass like hell on the right. If a car is not in the middle, chances are they are driving in the left lane so you have to overtake them on the right. We landed at 7:30 and had a 1/2 hr ride to Hoi An,  several miles south of Da Nang and about the middle of the country. It is much cooler here. Since our room was not ready we went to the breakfast area for coffee-the best we’ve had in the last 6 weeks- of the resort PHU THINH. On our noon walk I finally found the Vietnamese flag I’ve been after for our office. Since they gave us a flag we decided to have hamburgers at the Vina Ngon restaurant. Back to the resort for a nap and afternoon swim.

Day 45 2.15 Thursday touring in Hoi an 

Swim at 6, breakfast at 7, and Facetime with Nook. This is New Year’s Eve  day. We went by boat to a fishing village and had a chance to tie nylon fishing line into a fishing net in the home of the instructor. We met the extended family and  toured their house. We then boarded the fisherman’s boat and went out in the river for net casting instructions - 1st he casted twice perfectly and 2nd me with 2 terrible casts. Neither of us caught anything, but I think they do most of their fishing at night. From the fisherman’s boat we got back on ours and went to a ride in round dingys made of woven and tarred bamboo (basket boats). There is a special stroke to make headway since there is no center board or bow. Our lady paddler made origami rings, fish and necklace by cutting and weaving palm leaves for us as we went thru the coconut palm swamp-like areas. We then got bikes and rode thru rice and veggie fields til we got to our lunch place. We had several courses which Marnie will have to describe. As we passed thru old town after lunch we stopped to see incense being made, an embroidery  stitching factory, and high quality embroidered pictures we wished not to afford. It was difficult riding bikes while cars, motos and buses were maneuvering without any perceivable rules of the  road. I blocked several motos on streets and in walk areas where we were walking our bikes, like through the covered market for  food. Finally, we arrived at our hotel, filled out feedback forms, and told our guide goodby early so he could get on the road to ride 80 kms to his countryside family for the new year celebration. We swam to cool and clean, read and went to dinner across the street. The cost of 3 drinks, a hamburger/fries, and stir fry was 167.000 dong (about $8.00) Early to bed with some new hope for the world as Zuma resigned and we watched the first South African parliament meeting with the new president where each party laid out the expectations for the new president.

Day 46 2.16 Friday resting on the Lunar New Year

This is Lunar New Year and no one works, so since the guides don’t work we  have the day off at the wonderful resort of Phu Thanh in Hoi An. Marnie was up by 6 to do her daily exercises and I joined her after daily exercise at 6:30 to swim. We took a leisurely morning breakfast. Marnie had left her outer jacket in the Seoul airport when we had to run for the plane, and she replaced it last nite with a red “The North Face” for $22. As we have observed life in Vietnam it is an uncomfortable country. There is little or no intermediate space around houses for family life. The sidewalks are encumbered with cars and motos so one cannot walk down the sidewalk for any distance before having to step into the street and have a horn blare at you from a car or moto. The streets, gutters and fronts of houses are not clean and they show no community pride or organization. There is no pedestrian privilege when walking or crossing the street...motos rule in much the way big suvs “took” privilege in Cambodia, parking across  sidewalks, riding on sidewalks and in narrow market alleys, turning anytime without regard for oncoming traffic or walkers, etc. I hate walking the neighborhood. After a long morning nap we walked several blocks around our hotel area and then went for coffee and cold drinks while reading our books. In some ways it is nice to have a break but in other ways it seems like somewhat a waste of time and we should be more proactive about seeing the special features of our surrounds. We then read and I swam for the second time today to recondition my shoulder and breathing while I have the opportunity. Now dinner and they are sold out of what I’ve thot about all day-no hamburgers or pizza.

Day 47 2.17 Saturday 

Up at 6 for exercises and swim while Marnie walked a mile and many sets of  stairs. Long relaxing breakfast talking to an inventor and financial investor in US and Vietnam who lives in Philadelphia (graduated from Temple in electrical engineering and holds 10 patents for building materials, etc) and Saigon. His family were boat persons at the end of the Vietnam war and they all became US citizens. At 10:30 we discovered that the hotel would haul us to old towne so we caught a cab and began our 3 hour walk around the markets and shrines. First, red Buddhist bracelets, then ceramic animals, and finally negotiation for an oil painting on silk of a fishing village and water. She started at 240 and I offered 150. We started to leave and decided to offer 200, but before I could offer she said 187+ 2% for credit card sale...we said YES. It was off the frame and in a pvc tube in short order and we were on our way. The short side is a meter so we are going to have to hand carry it for 4 more weeks. We caught a taxi back and are preparing for tomorrow’s departure north to Hue.