01/04/14 - 01/08/14

After Maxine left, I had one more day in Phnom Penh before I headed to Vietnam. I didn't do much that day, just ran a few errands, but I did manage to run into a bunch of riot police. Apparently, there was some kind of protest in the middle of the city that had something to do with the garment industry. Maxine and I had witnessed some sort of event, a week or so before, when we were in Phnom Penh the first time, but we didn't know what was going on. I don't think there was any violence, and I think the riot police were just there as a show of force and to keep things from getting out of control, but seeing all these cops in full riot gear in armored transports was a little intimidating. I noticed the direction they were going and went the opposite direction, not wanting to get involved, especially since I was heading to Vietnam the next day.

I decided to enter Vietnam by taking a boat down the river to the Mekong River Delta. The tour, unfortunately, was not all that interesting though. I got up very early in the morning to catch the boat and then rode for a couple of hours, before we had to stop at the border. The boat ride wasn't that exciting and I nodded off a couple of times. After the border check, we rode the boat for another hour or so before stopping at a little place in Vietnam called Chau Doc. Here I checked into a floating hotel and had the rest of the day to myself. Unfortunately, I had arrived around noon and there wasn't much to do in this little town! However, I was in Vietnam now, so I did walk around a little, looked into a big church that had a service going on and finally, found an ATM. At the ATM, I pulled out over four million Dong and I realized that in Vietnam, I was a millionaire!! :) Of course, four million Dong only equates to about $200, so I guess that's not saying much.

The next day, I would be taking a boat tour of the Mekong Delta, stopping to see a fish farm, a small floating village and a Cham village. The Cham are an ethnic minority living in Vietnam. They are Muslims, so they had a beautiful old mosque in the village. The houses were also built on stilts because the Mekong River floods every year. The locals didn't seem to really care that we were around touring the village, which tells me that many tours go through there, so they were used to the tourists. After the village, we then stopped at a mountaintop Buddhist temple. The temple was actually pretty interesting, with some rooms carved into caves in the mountainside and some nice views of the Vietnamese countryside. Finally, they would then take us on the final leg of the trip and drop us off in Ho Chi Minh City, otherwise known as Saigon.

Ho Chi Minh City

I only spend two nights in Saigon, but I made the most of it. The bus arrived in the evening on the first night, so I was only able to walk around a little bit. I did find a street full of bars and little restaurants though. The street was Bui Vien street. It was a street known for its drunken backpackers and general debauchery. There were backpackers and other Western travelers everywhere. And the bars were a little different than I am used to. For one thing, they were pretty much just on the street. In front of all the bars, were hundred a little plastic stools for people to sit on, all facing the street. You walk down the street and from both sides of the streets, hundreds of people drinking very cheap beer are looking out at you. It's a little disconcerting. Anyway, I found some food and some awful tasting, but very cheap beer (25 cents) and then went back to my hostel.

The next morning, at breakfast, I met Isti. She was a pretty Indonesian girl that was on holiday. I was planning on going to the War Remnants Museum that day and she mentioned wanting to go too, so I invited her along with me. We would end up spending the whole day together. So we went off to the museum, which was mostly about the Vietnam War or as they call it, the American War. It was a very interesting museum, however, in my opinion, it was very biased. It painted Americans as barbaric thugs that killed anything and everyone. I am sure there was some truth to the propaganda, but the "facts" provided was so obviously cherry-picked, that it was a little disheartening. The museum did not discuss the Vietnamese tactics nor the life or death psychology of the pressures of war. It's understandable that there would be some bias, but it seemed pretty heavy handed to me. The museum also had a section about agent-orange and the effects of it on the population of Vietnam. Agent-Orange caused a lot of deformities and mutations in Vietnamese children of exposed parents. It is very sad. However, the problem I have with the museum is that it seems to equate all birth defects to agent orange exposure, including some birth defects such as cystic fibrosis, which is somewhat common all over the world. In the end, this is an interesting museum and it does give some good information about the Vietnam War and, if you can get past the propaganda, is worth a visit.

The rest of the day, Isti and I just walked around the city. We didn't really have a destination in mind, we just kept walking and talking. I rather enjoyed walking around with her and learned a lot about her. She was a feisty, outgoing girl, that also had a bit of a quirky side to her. Indonesia is a very Muslim country and so she grew up as a Muslim. However, just a few years ago, she had decided to become an Atheists and literally removed her veil. She told me about how this affected her family life and her friendships and everything else in her life. She was an intriguing girl.

Later, that night Isti was supposed to meet a friend of a friend for dinner. She invited me along and that evening, we met Khanh. Khanh is a very sweet Vietnamese girl that lives in Saigon. Isti and her had never met, but they had a mutual friend, who introduced them since Isti was in Saigon. Khanh knew the area, so she brought us to a nice Vietnamese restaurant and ordered some very good Vietnamese food for us. Afterwards, we went and got some cheap beer at the street-side bars on Bui Vien Street. We talked and drank and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was a fantastic evening and it was very nice to meet Khanh, who I would eventually meet up with again in Hanoi! Afterwards, Isti and I walked Khanh to her scooter and then I walked Isti back to our hostel. Unfortunately, the next morning, she would be flying back to Jakarta.

Isti got up very early in the morning and so I got up to say good bye. After she left, I went back to bed for a few more hours. Then the rest of the day I just walked around the city. Maybe, I was a little sad to meet two wonderful girls and then have them both be gone so quickly, or I was just a little tired from traveling for so long, but I just didn't really want to do a whole lot that day. So, I just wandered around trying to find something to do, but eventually gave up and went back to my hostel to relax.

There wasn't a whole lot do in Saigon, but I still enjoyed it. Meeting Isti and Khanh were the main reason for that. There is plenty of history here, though, and I am sure that anyone interested in the Vietnam War, would really like this city. For me, however, though I love history, my main interests have always been more ancient history as opposed to modern history, so the Vietnam War doesn't pique my interest as much as some. However, Saigon is still a worthwhile place to go, if only for a few days.