Ho Chi Ming City (25 - 27 Aug)
I went to HCM city with cs. It was a totally enriching experience for me. Life in HCM is so much simple, its like back in the 70s, whereby all the people were living in very bare minimum conditions. Their common vehicles are the bikes.. all the young and old, both boys and girls knows how to ride a bike. Some rode with kids and babies, some carried baskets of stocks/comodities.
The kids are born entreprunals from the young age of like 5 yrs old. They went around selling their own products on the streets. The familes are crowding around the stalls, selling food. This is what one call, home business.
Cars in vietnam are cheap. That is the reason why, even if the car bumped onto car, there won’t be any conflict/quarrel. Petrol and rubber are the natural resources in vietman. There isn’t any prices hikes to speak of too.. Petrolima is the one and only petrol station.
There are a few businees, which are completely out: Facial, coffee chains and schools. We went to war museum to check out the olden history of war between vietnamese and americans. The pictures are really gross and upsetting. 2 million were killed and 3 million were injured, which was a very heavy price to pay. There is this instance when I was very afraid, that is the peek into the cellular of the supposedly male prisoner. I eventually looked into it but i saw nothing. The thunder and lighting added on to the eerieness of the war museum.
The next day, i went to the cuchi tunnels, aka, the guerilla tunnels, used by the vietnamese soldiers to ambush the americans. We went through the tunnels, and it was dark and abit exciting. The tour guide was a 10 yr war vetern, who has been through this war. He seems not over the past yet. I really slipped by telling him that the other two tourists are americans. He behaved in a more authorative and domineering manner, while decipting the history, after knowing the history. It is important to be mindful of cultural sensitivity. The vietmanese have spent 10 years to clear all the mines. Heaven knows if the bomb will be rediscovered anytime on unknown mines.
The weather has been very unpredictable, but we have managed to survive it. There are alot of good people in hcm.. very helpful (with directions), guileless and treats people with kindness.
Its such a beautiful memory, that I had of vietnam.
Ciaos…
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