September 3, 2009

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, the southern part of Viet Nam on August 30th. I am traveling with 12 students from my university from all different backgrounds. We have students majoring in biology, mechanical engineering, international relations, and political science. My seminar is on American in Viet Nam: After Three Decades. After being here for five days I have had so many thoughts and reactions to the places I have visited and the people I have seen. I cannot help but continually compare my experience in South Africa to my experience here.

Ironically, it is rainy season here, like it was in South Africa, except it is actually really really warm outside. The heat here is the kind of weather that makes you feel like taking a shower every hour. One of the dress requirements of the trip is that we cannot wear shorts or spaghetti straps because the dress culture in Viet Nam is more conservative. Besides the weather the food has also been really great. Most of the dishes are composed of seafood, noodles, rice, and many exotic fruits. My favorite has been the catfish, spring rolls, and fried rice. I love all the fruits. We have not had any sushi. The breakfast is very Americanized so most of the time I feel like I am in America for this meal. I have my scrambled eggs, yoghurt, fruit, and coffee. All of our meal are family style because we our traveling on a tourist package so we do not have much freedom when it comes to choosing different types of dishes.

Vietnam is not so tourist friendly. Most people speak very little English or no English at all. Luckily we have to people in our group that are Vietnamese. Our group package also have been providing accommodations in hotels and restaurants that our very westernized and what our tourist guide refers to as “tourist sites.” I do not know whether to be frustrated that we are only getting a tourist prospective or whether to be thankful. Part of me likes to be pampered of course but it is like being a sheltered kid in some ways. Although, my professors continually warns that we have to be careful here. While Vietnam is by no mean dangerous, we are not to consume the water or eat fruits without thick skins, and stay away from street foods.
Our tour guides name is Cong; he is a character. He really gets on my nerves on so many levels. However, I feel that I should be more understanding towards his attitudes because he represents a generation whose thought are identified by old traditions and a lifetime of struggle caused by the Vietnam War or as they call it, the American War. He is about 60 years old, and I feel once you hit a certain age, it is difficult to change the attitudes and opinions of a person because at some point their thoughts and opinions are so ingrained. There is also a sense of seniority that they often feel entitled to.

I have been tired for most of the time I have been here. It is difficult to enjoy, the tours we have been going on because I am so jetlagged. We have very long days. We start as early at 8am and we are going until about 5 or 6pm. My group spends most of our time together. There is not much independence on this trip. I got a message for an hour that only costs $7. The services here are so cheap. Nails cost would cost me $1-2.

As I write this blog I am in Hoi An, Vietnam right now. This is considered central Viet Nam. It was an hour plane ride from Ho Chi Minh City. Flew into Danang, Vietnam and then drove to Hoi An. We are staying in a beautiful resort called Hoi An Trails. This town is very small and intimate and very relaxing. It is also shopping city. It is the town where you can get anything made: jackets, shoes, dresses, you name it, they have it. It has been raining a lot here though. The water is sometimes one to two feet deep. One night we went out to dinner and trekked for the water to look for a restaurant. We had very bad luck. However, we did eventually stumble into a hole in the wall that we decided to settle on because the rain was just unbearable. I could feel the chunks of dirt and trash run across my feel as we walk through the water. That was my queue to sit down and eat at the first place we found. It ended up not being too bad. We had good conversation and when I look back on it, it was sort of like an adventure getting to the restaurant.