Ho Chi Minh City

This is our last day. Some folks are leaving right after check out. I hurry down to breakfast and try to see as many people as possible before they leave. Kevin and Emmanuel said goodbye yesterday, as they are off to either Burma or Cambodia, I think.

After checkout I stow my stuff in Sandra's room, which she so graciously offered as a place to keep my stuff safe until I depart the hotel late tonight. Then it's down stairs to meet my friend Lam. Dr. Nguyen Thi Quynh Lam, former principal of the International School in Ho Chi Minh City is picking me up at the hotel and taking me to lunch. Little do I know what a spectacular lunch this is to be. Prior to her retirement, Lam used to bring students from Vietnam to Utica College for an immersion English language program. Her niece graduated from UC.

When she arrives I give Lam a hug and introduce her to a few of the people on the trip, Joey, Lisa and Maggee. The we get into the backseat of her car and she introduces me to her driver. I had found a small bag of snacks in my hotel room that I really liked. Peanuts coated with coconut. I had brought the bag with me and asked Lam where I could find these as I wanted to take some home for the family. She said, "no worries, my driver will get you some". And off we go through the crazy Saigon (much shorter to type - and our tour guide said most people still refer to the city by this name, except when conducting official business) traffic to The Reverie, www.thereveriesaigon.com, the only Six Star hotel in Vietnam. Opulent is insufficient a word to describe this place. It makes Trump Tower look like a "shithole", to borrow an expression from the Twit-In-Chief!

The restaurant in this place if beyond gorgeous, and the buffet is phenomenal, but Lam suggests we also order something ala carte as well.

These are just a few of the buffet items. I want to try everything!!
YUM!!

All of the food in Vietnam was delicious but this was truly elegant as well.

Dining Room

We got someone to take a picture of Lam and I. Those are real, red roses in that ball arrangement.
After lunch, Lam asked what my plans were for the rest of the day. I indicated an interest in seeing the "War Remnants Museum". She had her driver take me back to the hotel so I could "freshen up" and then return an hour later to take me to the museum. When he returned he had two bags. One with four cans of the special peanuts and the other with boxes of cookies Lam thought I would like. I had forgotten the lesson from living in Taiwan many years ago, that you have to be careful of what you express interest in to an Asian friend.

At the museum Lam's driver parked the car, purchased the museum entry ticket and gave that to me. Then he waited as I spent about an hour and a half inside the museum.  Outside the museum building was an array of US weapons from the Vietnam War. I was surprised at what great shape they were in and the variety. Some of the war planes were not what I would have expected. There was an F-5 and an AT-37, two aircraft I had never considered to have played a big role in the war. Perhaps I'm mistaken. I'll have to research that. Several tanks, mobile artillery pieces and flame throwers were on display.

Inside the building, the first floor was essentially dedicated to illustrating support from many of the world's nations for North Vietnam against the US. Of course these expressions of support were obviously from "grass roots" organizations and not from those countries' governments, except for other communist countries.

The second floor consisted of mainly photographic exhibits showing the effect of the war on the civilian population, particularly the effects of exposure to agent orange and other chemicals used in the war. There was also a sizable collection of photos produced by various war correspondents, which appeared less biased in nature.

After I finished at the museum the driver took me back to the hotel where I worked some more on this blog. Eventually Sandra and a couple of others returned to the hotel from a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Viet Cong lived hidden right under some US forces. We tried to entice some of the others to go to dinner with us, but the last supper in Vietnam ended up being just Sandra and I, at a nearby restaurant. Again, the food was outstanding.

Last Supper

After dinner I packed up my gear and departed by taxi for the airport, Tan Son Nhut. Boy that name brought back some memories. I was a bit surprised that the terminal was not more modern looking, fancier, given the intense building going on in Ho Chi Minh City. I arrived at the airport early so once I found out where EVA Airways check in desks were, I had to stand in line for quite a while since no counter agents were anywhere around. 

Finally, around 11 PM, about 3 hours prior to departure, they started showing up. There were several counters, maybe 4 or 5. When all the positions were "manned" they all stood up gave a little bow to the waiting crowd and sat down to start the ticketing procedure.  My guy had a sort of Kim Jong-un haircut, which was a bit disconcerting. But then it gave me the idea for how we could avert hostilities with North Korea. Dueling hair dressers! We get the hair dressers of both Kim and "the Donald" into a blow out contest. But how do we determine the winner? Man, at this point I really needed some sleep! I'm jolted awake though when my Kim look-alike informs me that on the second leg of my journey, the long 14 hour one, all the aisle seats are gone! As it turned out, my bladder behaved itself and that 14 hour leg from Taipei to JFK wasn't too bad. 

I zip through customs at JFK - gotta love that Global Entry- only to be one of the last to retrieve my luggage. I'm trying to call or text Jeff who is picking me up to no avail. The phone keeps searching for Verizon. Once out of the baggage claim area  I jump on the airport's free wifi and text Jeff, who is waiting in the cell phone lot and then picks me up in short order. Damn iPhone is still searching. I bad mouth Verizon, only to find out later it is not their fault, it's the Damn iPhone, but that is another story.

Anyway, it was a great trip, with a great group of folks who I will miss and it rejuvenated me, so thanks AFAR, and thanks to all my new friends for making it such a wonderful experience!!

Mekong and Ho Chi Minh City

05:00 and it's out the door, camera gear, luggage and all. Stowing our luggage on the bus we walk a short distance to the waiting boats that will take us to Phong Dien and the Cai Rang floating market. With three or four of us in each boat, I luck out and end up in the bow, so I won't have to shoot around other occupants. The lack of light at this early hours challenges the capabilities of the the Nikon D850. But she rises to the occasion and I get some interesting shots with only limited artificial lighting in the scenes.

I especially like the mood of these pictures and the way the colors are more saturated.






I've seen floating markets before, like the one in Bangkok, which seem like they are really set up for the tourists. Our first stop is off the main river at a place where we can disembark and photograph the goings on from the river bank or from higher up on the second floor of an open building. Most of the boats in this area are small one person craft, typically with a woman vendor selling various fruits and vegetables and an occasional Coolie Hat. The hat not only serves as protection for the head but also a convenient way to pass currency from buyer to seller.

From here we take a small channel, almost like a canal, away from the whole floating market scene. This gave us the opportunity to also see life along one of the quieter waterways. Upon entering the channel we came across a large house boat bathed in the ascending sunlight.

All along we would see small boats tied up at makeshift landings, presumably to provide transportation for someone living on land nearby.



In some cases the houses were on stilts right in the water.

The houses were pretty open, offering insights into the daily lives of the people, such as doing simple chores like washing clothes.

Every so often we would pass another boat coming in the opposite direction. It was usually filled with tourists, not much commerce going on. Interesting bridges would pop up out of the jungle overgrowth.

Near the end of the canal we came upon this dangerously overladen boat. No OSHA here!




Proper etiquette among photographers is to avoid "photo bombing" each other, but on occasion it is fun to get that "I was looking back to see, if you were looking back to see...." pic. That was for all the Buck Owens, Susan Raye fans out there!

Public tour boat

Then moving out into the main branch of the Mekong, we encountered the larger boats, which apparently are "wholesalers" as they are carrying much larger stocks of goods. All the activity makes for a "target rich environment" for us fotogs. There are also larger tourist boats traversing the river, so we are not the only ones trying to get pictures.

Woman's work is never done!

Retailer buying from wholesaler

Boat load of melons

Then we stop, while in the floating market for breakfast. A noodle soup with pork and veggies. Not what I typically think of for breakfast but it's now about 9:00 AM and we are hungry. It turns out to be delicious.

Then our boats dock at a land side market with all sorts of products for sale. Vegetables of all kinds and even exotic fish (for an aquarium, not for eating) are on display.

Boarding the bus again we head toward Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), with a short stop at a Buddhist temple.

Happy Buddha

Beautiful Lotus flower

Inside the temple

Finally we arrive in Saigon. The scale of the construction projects going on is amazing! I can't believe the number of high rise building and construction cranes all over.

Ho Chi Minh City skyline

Can Tho and Mekong

Glory be, we are allowed to sleep in this morning. Breakfast at 7:30 - I am sure going to miss these breakfasts!

We check out of our hotel in Hoi An at 9. Then bus it to the airport for the 11:55 scheduled flight to Can Tho. On the way I get a small glimpse of some of the old revetments and quonset huts that once housed US aircraft on Danang Airbase.

It's got a whole different look at Danang now!

After checking in and clearing security I head over to our assigned gate and hook up with Dan and Darlene, a husband and wife on a four month tour of south east asia. Their next destination is Myanmar and they have been wanting to see some of the photos from my trip there last year. So just as we sit down and get about three slides into my Myanmar slide show, there is an announcement that our gate has changed - all the way to the other end of the terminal - AND they are boarding the plane right now!

I quickly pack up my stuff and run over to the other gate. The one hour flight to Can Tho on Vietnam Airways is uneventful. One hour from Hanoi to Danang, one hour from Danang to Can
Tho. Just like in the old days, when we would put in 14 -16 hours days but all of the flights in my C-130 were an hour or less. Lots of takeoffs and landings every day. Heaven for a pilot, because takeoffs and landings are what it is all about, no one enjoys sitting at altitude on autopilot. Plant one on the numbers, max reverse and jump on the binders - make that first turn off onto the taxiway! Damn, I miss that!!

En route to our accommodations we stop for a once again, phenomenal lunch. It's all delish but the mango shrimp is my favorite.

Loading up the bus again, we head over to our "Rustic Homestay".  Rustic it is! My room is air conditioned, but the mosquito netting over the bed makes me wonder if the AC will keep the little critters down. Then I notice that the doors have louvers to the outside that are not screened. OK, that answers that question. The door to the bathroom takes me outside where I find a small walled in courtyard. The sink and commode are under cover of a roof, but the shower is in a corner of the courtyard where there is no roof. Well, I guess if it's raining you can get a shower within a shower.

Most of the rest of the group goes out on a bicycle adventure but I opt to stay put and chill. There are some interesting things to photograph right here.

Pineapple growing outside my room

I went to sleep right after dinner as we had to be checked out and ready to go at 5 AM the next morning.