Friday, August 8, 2003

Trip to Vietnam: Saigon, Elephants, Hoi An, Hanoi

We left Taipei on the first and have been  in Vietnam since then. Vietnam is very poor,  very noisy and quite dirty, but it also has a lot of  natural beauty and is certainly interesting. On the whole, B and I haven't liked it that much.  Part of the reason is that B has been sick for the last five or six days with vague symptoms of neckaches, a feeling  of pressure in the head, low grade fever, weakness, etc. We  were worried he might have encephalitis or some other horrible  brain disease, even though he couldn't have caught Japanese encephalitis because the  incubation period is too long. So we flew to the capital of Vietnam,  Hanoi,  to go to a Western  doctor  to make sure he was all  right.  We went to the most expensive and modern of Vietnam's private clinics. Luckily the doctor said that he probably just has a virus and should  be fine in a few days.  I am fine though and am carefully wearing mosquito repellent, sleeping under mosquito  nets and avoiding all  water and  fruits and vegetables unless  cooked or peeled. I haven't been sick at all.

Regarding what we've done so far, the first day we arrived  in Ho Chi  Minh City (or Saigon, its former name).  It is Vietnam's  largest city, its economic center and extremely ugly. It also is crime-ridden and felt unsafe, like muggers lurked behind every corner.  Traffic is bad and the Vietnamese are the worst drivers I have ever seen, worse even than the Russians.  They have no concept of traffic rules at all; they pass on the left, the right, the shoulder, don't signal, etc. In  one taxi, the driver sped up when he came to any red light and went right through without looking--but he did  honk to  let people know he was coming! People honk a lot more here, like  every 30 seconds or so, because they don't use turn signals or their brakes.

So we left HCMC and went to the central highlands because I wanted to ride elephants. We did  this,  which was  extremely fun. It was just us and our  guide,  riding through the forest. One of the elephants was naughty and wouldn't go the right way, so she had to be bribed with whole mangoes. The elephants are very large and clever.

Next we stayed in the little town of Kon Tum,  which has a large "minority" population. The Vietnamese make up 85% of the population, and the rest are various tribes who live in the hills in small villages, are mostly animist and engage in subsistence agriculture and some hunting/gathering. The Hmong, of which there are a lot in California, are one of the larger groups, but  total there are 54 different groups, all of which have different (often unrelated) languages, dress, customs, and so on. Nowadays, the minorities are very poor. We visited a village, which looked like it had been transported from the Middle Ages. The roads were dirt, the houses were rough wood boards, tin and palm fronds with dirt floors, pigs, chickens and dogs wandered at will, and the people were dirty, undernourished (stunted) and barely clothed (in dirty rags and without shoes).  But they were very friendly.

Vietnam is much poorer than any country I've been to before. It's very sad. There are no fat people here (except  the  tourists) but most of the population looks like they don't get enough to eat. They are very slight, as in they didn't reach their full height due to nutritional deficiencies. Unfortunately, this also means that you can't go anywhere without being constantly harassed to buy a wide variety of junk,  such as manicures, postcards, jewelry,  hats (the conical kind seen in movies, which are worn by at  least half the female population), scissors, t-shirts, books, fruit, shoes, etc., by both street peddlers with baskets and touts for storekeepers. So it's impossible to relax unless you're inside somewhere, like  a taxi  or hotel.  It also means many, many people  want to rip you off.  Actually, this  hasn't been a problem in the very poorest areas like  Kon Tum, but in the cities it's awful. We've been swindled so many times I've lost count. There was also an attempted pickpocketing which we foiled. The most terrible thing is that all these complicated swindles are for like fifty cents or a couple dollars. This makes me  feel very mistrustful. Really in Vietnam you can't travel independently: it's too hard and too dangerous. So instead you have to go everywhere in taxis, stay in tourist hotels and go on tours with guides everywhere.

Upon leaving Kon Tum we thought (foolishly) we would take the bus to Danang (third-largest city) with all the Vietnamese. This turned out to be the bus ride from Hell,  taking over 12 hours to go what in the US would take 2 or maybe 3. This is largely because the roads here are utterly wretched (even when they're paved), but also because the bus went very slowly and stopped at every road crossing, hamlet and store. The seats were tiny and cramped (3 people per 2 seats), and an old woman (actually she was probably about 35 but had had a really hard life) sat next to me the whole time who kept sleeping with her head on my shoulder  or  throwing garbage and spitting all over the floor. She also had several chickens with her, bound with rubber bands, who kept escaping and running down the aisles.  Now we only take tourist transportation.

After this we went to the tourist area of Hoi An, which is a very nice  little town (like the Carmel of Vietnam)  on  the ocean, with a beautiful beach. The specialty there is that you can get clothes made just for you, in any fabric, style, etc. They measure you and will sew whatever you want, for a small sum. I didn't get any clothes made though. If you want to shop,  Vietnam is a good  place to go. Everything is so cheap (like a dollar). You can buy silk, hand-made anything (marble  statues, pots, embroidery, baskets, paintings), plastic stuff, leather shoes and furniture. Then Peter got ill and so we flew to Hanoi to consult a trustworthy doctor, because in general Vietnam  has no good medicine to speak of.

Now that he is OK, we're going to Halong Bay, a beautiful region of mountains, oceans, and  caves for a few days. You may have tried to call me on my cell phone.  Unfortunately, Vietnam  uses a different power voltage system than Taiwan, so when I plugged in my cell charger, I broke it. The phone now ran out of battery life and won't work until I go back to Taiwan and buy a new charger.

PS They eat dogs here as a special (and expensive) delicacy.

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