Vietnam

March 13 and 14, 2009
Vietnam

Queen Victoria visited yet another exciting country in Southeast Asia when she made calls to Vietnam on March 13 and 14. While I was not nearly as thrilled about visiting Vietnam, I took the opportunity to explore what I could during the ship’s calls to the ports of Nha Trang and Phu My.Nha Trang, Vietnam
March 13, 2009
Unfortunately, when the ship was at anchor for the day in Nha Trang, I was held up on board with rehearsals for all but two hours of the ship’s time in port, but I still had just enough time to grab a tender ashore and walk around the port for a little while. I did not have any idea of what to expect, and as it turned out, there was not too much to do besides walk around and get harassed to buy postcards, t-shirts, and the traditional Vietnamese wide cone-shaped hats that I had only seen in photographs in the past. Every so often, a man would ride up to me on his scooter offering to show me around. The most culturally shocking thing I saw was the overabundance of seahorses, both dead and alive, in every store window. Some were in tanks swimming around, and others comprised a large portion of the contents of jars filed with a conglomeration of various edible members of the marine animal kingdom. They were EVERYWHERE! I bought a few small crafts before returning to the ship. I did not have much time to explore, but I am still glad I had the chance to walk around and take in Vietnamese culture for the first time.Phu My, VietnamMarch 14, 2009
Queen Victoria’s call to Phu My, Vietnam took the ship to yet another container terminal located in the middle of nowhere. Civilization was nowhere to be found, but the major city of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) was about a 90 minute drive from the port.

Since the only way to make it into Saigon was by doing a tour, I chose to do a guided excursion that would take me around some of the city highlights as well as an extensive drive through the busy streets of Saigon. The journey from the port to the city was quite interesting in itself as I was able to see different components of Vietnamese civilization like small shopping areas with local storefronts and even people working in rice fields while wearing their traditional conical hats.I knew when the coach had reached Saigon once I looked out the window at a traffic light and saw hundreds of motorbikes waiting for the light to turn green. The number of bikes packed into such a small traffic lane was astounding. They filled every open space on the road and traveled like a gigantic swarm of bees or locusts. It was like nothing I had ever seen (that expression has become a bit passé in all of these blog entries).

Our firs t stop on the tour was the National History Museum on tour, where we were greeted by the same souvenir vendors that accosted us at our restroom stop halfway from Phu My to Saigon. They seemed to follow us wherever we went. After getting past the horde of vendors, we made our way through to a unique theatre where we were treated to a traditional Vietnamese water puppetry show. I had never even heard of water puppetry, but I somehow knew it would be something exciting. It turned out that there were some people standing behind a screen guiding these “puppets” through the water from long wooden sticks. The dragon puppets even spat water through their mouths, and other puppets were dressed as women and danced in synchronization with each other. It was a spectacular demonstration. We spent some more time in the museum looking at historical artifacts and items relative to Vietnamese history before moving on.Our coach then made a couple of quick photo stops at some of the different significant buildings in Saigon. First off, we stopped at the Reunification Palace, where on April 30, 1975, a tank crashed through the gates, thus signifying the end of the Vietnam War. Once again, more people were there to greet us with small items for purchase, and after fending them off, I got back on the coach as we headed for the Notre Dame Cathedral and the old Post Office. The Cathedral was a miniature copy of that to be found in France, but was still quite large nonetheless. It was situated directly across from the old post office, and these two buildings were quite interesting to see. Nonetheless, I have no idea what a French cathedral replica was doing sitting in the heart of Saigon.

From our photo stop at the cathedral and post office, our coach made its way to a nearby restaurant where we were treated to an excellent buffet-style luncheon. The cuisine was both eastern and western in origin, and I tried to get a little bit of everything. I had some pho (traditional Vietnamese soup), and quite a few dumplings along with different western items like chicken and pasta. During the meal, a musical group was playing traditional Vietnamese music, and this only added to the pleasure of eating such a great meal. When I went for dessert, I was treated to a bit of an unpleasant surprise: salted fruit. I placed various pieces of fruit on my plate, and as I began to eat one, I thought my taste buds had gone mad, but I later learned that in this part of the world, it is believed that one should balance their palate, which means sweet foods have salts added. Thankfully, this is not the case everywhere else.After lunch, we had one more stop on our tour before leaving Saigon: the Thien Hau Temple. This Buddhist temple was a place of worship for the Sea Goddess who is the protector of sailors. It was yet another Buddhist temple I had the pleasure of visiting, but was set up a bit differently than the others I had seen. Since it was located between two other buildings, it was a bit more cramped than those I had seen in other places, but it was filled with different types of incense and memorials given by families remembering dead relatives. The incense was uniquely shaped in a conical coil and was hung in bulk from the ceiling, so the entire temple was graced with an amazing aroma. Since the temple was for the worship of the sea goddess, there were some turtles located next to the altar with some sort of marking on their backs. It was probably the first and last time I would ever see turtles in a place of worship (what a shame). Thankfully, this was the one place I visited in Saigon (aside from the restaurant) where nobody was trying to sell me anything.

After a brief stop at a Vietnamese lacquer factory/showroom, our coach made its way back to Phu My, thus ending a spectacular day in Saigon. My trip to Vietnam was more than just educational, and I enjoyed seeing what I saw. It is like another planet over there in comparison to the USA and I loved taking in their culture. Side note: regardless of where you are, there will always be McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC!