January 31   Ho Chi Minh City + Tet preparations

Saigon is a bustling place as usual. Crossing all the traffic clogged streets seems like ordinary stuff, now that I've had several months practice with this skill.
Everyone is getting ready for Tet and most businesses will close all this week. Many businesses have already closed for the holiday. There is no train service and other services are severely curtailed.

Red, yellow and gold Tet decorations are everywhere. Each shop has them on the street-side windows along with signs that show which dates they will be closed.

 
 

Le Loi street, has fancy lighting at night. This is the street with  the weekly Saturday night motorbike parade. It seemed to me that there were more motorbikes this past Saturday, than when Jiro and I were here before. Not just couples, old and young, but also families out to show the special decorations to their children.

The five star hotel area is all decked out.

Ham Ngi St. has an annual Tet floral display. It reminded me of the Rose Parade floats, only there are no floats and the flowers are in one gallon containers.

I took a taxi on a long ride ($2.00 USD, 40,000 VND) to the biggest bookstore in Saigon, It is one of the Fahasa stores, run by the government and is new and four stories high. I was looking for some small format cookbooks which had been recommended. When I got there, the guard said that the store was closed, as it was a holiday. On Saturday, when everything else was open! I wasn't the only surprised person as there were about ten other people who pulled up on their motorbikes and wanted to go in.

All turned out fine as I found another smaller, independent bookstore with the cookbooks. And there was a nearby marketplace where Westerners are not a presence and I was pretty much ignored. It was nice to be able to look and shop without the continual, "madame, madame," and the tugging on the arm. I had written the word "pepper" in Vietnamese on a piece of paper and that was helpful, as people directed me to the stall that sold it. I doubt I would have found it on my own, as it was in the bulk candy section. Also nearby the closed bookstore was this very pink cathedral.

About halfway through my trip I got tired of wearing t-shirts and bought a bunch of made in Vietnam blouses to wear instead. These worked out great, and every clothing vendor in the marketplaces I went after that made sure that I knew they had more of the same in different colors to buy.

In Vietnam, 2011 is the Year of the Cat. In Japan and China it is the Year of the Rabbit. I'm not sure how that all works.

Many people are buying a lucky tree. They are transported everywhere on the back of motorbikes.

It's polite to give special gifts to family members. It might be floral, it might be special food, but it's for sale all over the city.

The car culture is happening here. This car was an item of interest in front of the huge Sunwah Business Center. People were sitting at the outdoor tables having coffee and taking photos of this unusual car.
The colorful flowering trees might have plastic flowers on them, but they look great until you get really close up.

One evening, as I was walking back to my hotel after dinner and seeing the sights, I saw the rickshaw drivers pedaling like crazy and lining up their rickshaws. I wondered what was happening, as there were so many of them. Turns out, a fairly large tour group was going to be pedaled around Saigon to see the Tet lights and decorations. The drivers were pretty excited about having all these paying customers.

Around the corner from my hotel was a five star hotel with taxi's lined up ready to go. There is a taxi captain there, who coordinates the drivers and passengers. I was waiting for a taxi there and saw a few MaiLinh logo caps in a bicycle basket. Since I've almost exclusively used this brand name of taxi in each city I visited, because they always use the meter, I asked the captain if I could buy a hat. He said they are only for his committee. But then he changed his mind and gave me a hat. We all had a good laugh about it. I think because he'd seen me several times in front of his hotel getting a taxi, and I am always wearing a hat, it gave me the edge in this situation.

I wanted to go to dinner at a little French place on my last night there, but they didn't begin serving until later than I wanted to eat, since early to bed is a good idea if you have to get up at 2:30 a.m. I usually have three restaurants written down, so if plan A doesn't work, move on to plan B or C. So instead of French, I went by taxi to a place away from the downtown area that serves local beef, Canadian beef and ostrich. I had the local beef with fried egg, the house speciality. Pretty good for $4 USD, 80,000 VND. I seem to somehow end up in places where I am the only Caucasian. Once the locals give me the once over, I'm accepted as a regular diner who might need help with the menu or how to eat what I order. It's very fun.

The trip home takes about 24 hours with flight time and layovers. The airport in Ho Chi Minh City is well organized with good signage. If you need to wish somebody well, this is the place to go.

Hong Kong airport is fabulous, since ten years ago it was a watery part of the bay. Perhaps you've read about or seen a program showing how they filled in the water with land, between two small islands. The architecture of the terminal is state of the art and everything is very well signed. USD are accepted, although change given is in Hong Kong dollars. A guard just walked by in full military uniform carrying an automatic military-type weapon slung over his shoulder at ready. Hmmm. Everything's cool here, just a few ordinary citizens working on their laptops sir. I didn't get a photo, I was so surprised to see him.

This has been a very wonderful way to spend two and a half months. It's certainly opened my eyes to the beauty of Vietnam, both in it's geography and it's people. I have many great experiences that I'll always remember!

January 25     Can Tho and Phong Dien floating markets.

The mini-van ride here from Rach Gia was a bit harrowing. The road is two lanes wide, with four lanes of traffic. On one side of the white line, if there is a center line marked, there are all the 4 wheeled vehicles, everything from semi-trucks and every other size of truck, to a very few passenger cars going in one direction. Beside this line of traffic, to the right is a steady, unrelenting stream of motorbikes. On the opposite side of the highway there is the same configuration. Keep in mind the road is two lanes wide.

The mini-van driver spent the entire time passing other vehicles and all the motorbikes. The oncoming drivers are trying to do the same thing on their side. This went on for several hours and then, CRASH! the sound of glass shattering, right next to me. I was sitting directly behind the driver and thought that all the windows on that side of the van had broken. But no, it was only the driver's mirror which was completely shattered when he and another opposing driver clipped each other. We spent a half hour by the side of the road as both drivers sorted out the details. Minor, but scary.
Not being ready to repeat the experience, I scoured the internet to see what my other transportation options were for the return to HCMC. I was determined to take a coach, a Greyhound sized bus, since the odds seem better that anything crashing into that size vehicle would get the short end of the stick and the bus would be o.k. Leave it to Lonely Planet to only suggest mini-vans! I found a company and booked a return seat. 80,000 VND or $4.00 USD for a 5 hour trip. Transportation is a big bargain in this country.
Note the local, natural bling. The boat lady wove this grasshopper, necklace and bouquet of flowers while she was driving the boat. A true multi-tasker at heart.
The main reason I wanted to come to Can Tho is to see the floating market, which is one of the largest in the delta region. It's also near another big floating market, Phong Dien. I arranged to take a boat with a guide spent a half day on the water, going to and from the markets, exploring side canals and generally having a great time. Beats the min-van any day.

After my guide collected me at the hotel, we walked a few blocks to the riverfront and boarded the boat. It looked small and I wondered if I'd made a mistake, even though I specifically had chosen the smaller boat. As it turned out, it was perfect, just the right size for getting right in the middle of the floating market and going down the side canals.

Sunrise on the Can Tho River.

It looks peaceful and serene, but the river is a noisy place, with boat motors the loudest sound.

Big barges transport a variety of goods and are the largest boats on this part of the river. There is a deep water container port nearby, but those ships are not in this branch of the river.

My guide Chi spoke English, but I could understand only about 1/2 of what she said.

Along the river are many interesting sights, all part of the river culture of the delta area. Every river here is in some way a tributary of the Mekong River. What we Californians would classify as a large river, is usually just a small (by delta standards) Mekong offshoot.

Rice is exported and shipped in bags or in bulk in huge barges.

Many bridges cross these rivers to facilitate the overall transportation pattern in this region.

In the canals, single plank bridges are only for pedestrians.

A little bit more substantial bridge will carry motorbikes.

The first market was Can Tho floating market. It is a fruit and vegetable market, although there are some other items also.

Most of the boat vendors are women, at least on the smaller boats.

The photos show what it is like, but what you don't get are the smells, the heat, the humidity, the noise of the boat motors, and the chattering of the people which make up the whole experience. This is the second market we visited, Phong Dien.

 If you're unsure what item a particular boat is selling, just look on the pole, where there is a sample of the item. Pineapple, root veggies, whatever. This looks like pumpkin.

The variety of fruits in this region are amazing. You'd think they were all farmed in some kind of organized pattern, but when we got to the canals and walked around, most of the vegetation growing along roadside and paths is edible in some way and finds itself to the marketplace. The fruit is on backyard trees. There are at least five different kinds of bananas.

Coconut trees are abundant.

Also water coconut. The black fruit is edible and the leaves are used for weaving.

Rice is everywhere. Can Tho University has a rice research department and experiments with different varieties and fertilizers. This hot, humid climate produces three rice crops each year.

A new thing is a two crop field, rice and cucumbers. Crop rotation?

When we arrived back at Can Tho, this is the place where I jumped off the boat and proceeded up to the street. The boat lady struggled with rowing through the water hyacinth clumps. Not your spiffy docking area.

The riverfront in Can Tho is a happening place, alive with vendors, tourists and Tet preparations. There is a nice promenade and the Can Tho river is bustling with commerce. Small ferries cross the river with motorbikes and pedestrians or boat ladies will row or motor you across in a small boat. This is a nice dinner spot on a pier over the river. What's for dinner? Fish!

At night a small performance stage was set up and amateur performers sang, danced and performed skits, a warm-up for Tet. 

The river culture is ages old in this part of the world. The river-craft have not changed much over time and are still serviceable for the jobs at hand on the river and probably will be in the future.