I know that it has been a while since my last group email...
Good thing that Michael has been keeping you all up to date...
sorry, but one is a bit long...
I think that my last group email was when we were in Singapore, having just escaped Indonesia with the little sanity that we had left...
After Singapore, we headed to Malaysia (orangutans, proboscis monkeys and leaches), Brunei, (a very muslim country-shrouded women, no alcohol, and quite a boring place in regards to tourist attractions), Thailand (lovely beaches and fun in the sun, Michael's old fraternity brother from Chico state- "Bolton" Bill, and my old Delta Sigma Pi Brother-Brian Tejavanija), Cambodia (Angkor Wat, amazingly lovely and friendly people-especially after all the hell they had been through with the Pol Pot regime, and Ing Sari-his second-hand man, still alive and living free after being "pardoned" by the king, then to Phnom Phen for a visit with Wolfgang and then on to Vietnam...
Vietnam...
When Michael and I started on our Round-The-World journey, Vietnam was always at the top of my list...
I would not miss out on this country!!! I remember very little of the Vietnam war-except from the 'blurbs' on the tv as a young girl, and the books that I have read while growing up. I have always been fascinated with this country for two major reasons-One, my youngest brother was born in Can Tho, just south of Saigon (now called Ho Chi Minh City), and two-an old childhood friend, John McArdle, who was also born in my brothers birth village.
I wondered how we would be treated in Vietnam...
Being American...
Would we be welcomed?? or shunned??? We were pleasantly surprised to when we landed in Saigon to be welcomed by very open, friendly, helpful, and honest people (very different than our experience with the people in the north-by north I mean from Hue up to Hanoi) This was our 26th country in 20 months-and it was the most welcoming reception out of any of the previous countries!
"The War"
The people from the North (those who fought for communism), call it "The American War" The people from the south (who fought with the Americans), call it "The [Vietnamese] Civil War"
25 Years later, and...
Capitalism???
Capitalism is thriving in the south, though it is still a 'communist' country...
However, as you head north, capitalism is catching on but in an obnoxious, rude, aggressive, dishonest way...
Example-in the south, there are many women who walk the 'backpacker-ghettos' trying to sell books...
If you say no, they tend to ask you where you are from, have a pleasant conversation with you and then leave you alone and go on their way...
In the north, in a similar situation, she will hound you and beg you to buy a book and get down-right nasty when you don't buy anything!!! Too many other examples to mention...
If you want to know more, send me an email...:)
Lasting Impressions
- The French Baguettes and Laughing Cow Cheese
(we can get this cheese at home) - Women and Children wearing their 2 piece pajamas during the day and night, as everyday wear
- Noisy Vietnamese hotel guests (just like us-but we are quiet). They leave their doors open with the television at full volume and yell down the hall to their friends (we had the cheap room, with no TV, and had to keep asking them to please close their doors, and stop yelling!!!)
- Freezing cold Coconut milk-the best I've ever had!!!
- Children still being inflicted with polio-very hard to comprehend!!!
- Women wearing full-length ballroom gloves
(up to the elbows), a hat, and a mask or handkerchief over their nose and mouth, while on a scooter or taking a walk...
They looked like "guerillas" ready to hijack someone...
They wear this "get-up" as "protective" covering, because the 'ideal' woman is one with lily-white skin, those with a tan are considered undesirables... - The poor people live right one the waterfront (rivers etc), the rich people live about 50-100 feet back from the water...
very different than in America, where prime property is located on the waterfront...
They must get really confused watching American tv!!!
SCOOTERS...
How many people can you fit on a scooter, and what odd things can one transport on one??? You would not believe the things we saw, but here is a brief glimmer :)
- We saw families on scooters...
A family of four-father, mother, baby, toddler...
We saw another with a father and 4 sons...
Just incredible!!! No one wears helmets...
Life expectancy??? - Scooters are everywhere, everywhere, everywhere!!! Impossible to count them all in a one block area...
I wish I had stock in Honda, Yamaha and Vespa!!! - Scooters as a delivery service
- We saw one carrying a 3/4 size refrigerator on the back
- A guy carrying pane glass windows, another with pottery-imagine having an accident??? Major bummer with the loss of products to be sold!!!
- Pigs in crates, chickens being held upside-down in the drivers hand, dogs...
heck you name it, and it does not matter if it is alive, dead, or even if it is a kitchen appliance they will throw it on the back of a scooter!!!
S. Vietnamese Tour Guides
We had two guides that fought with the Americans during the war. Both had trained in America for 6 months, and they were very open about their experiences during and after the war...
They were both officers in the army and had to be "re-educated" (put in education camps) after the war...
One of them was in a camp for 19 months, they other for 2 1/2 years-and, still to this day, they love America!!! However, the sad part is: their children are not allowed to go to school-if, and when they can afford it, they hire in private tutors for their children.
Can Tho
One of the weird things that we did in Can Tho (my brothers birth-village) was drink Snake wine (I only had one shot)...
It is said to be a 'cure' for just about any ailment if taken 3 times a day...
It can be found in most local restaurants, and bars...
What is it??? It usually sits on a shelf in a very large jar, with about 3-6 dead snakes in it and some very strong alcohol-it tastes just nasty!!! Like a very strong tequila or whiskey (not that I would know what tequila or whiskey tastes like :)
The second weird thing....
After dinner and the lovely snake wine ("when in Rome") we headed to the night market for a traditional Vietnamese massage...
You lay down on a mat, and have eucalyptus oil rubbed on your back...
Then the masseuse rubs a small glass on your back that has been heated up by a flame and the glass is put on your back-the heat creates a vacuum and the glass sticks on your back...
The end result is a very relaxed backside, with lots of odd looking marks on your back-similar to ringworm or large hickeys!!!...
Sisters of Providence Orphanage
The best part of our visit to Can Tho (no, not the snake-wine or our nasty looking backsides) was trying to get the address of the Sisters of Providence Orphanage, where Kevin and John came from...
While we were still in Thailand (Bangkok), before heading to Vietnam, I had the address of the lady, who was responsible for getting most of the orphans out of Vietnam before it fell-she was now living in/near Bangkok. The address that I had for her was quite cryptic...
We asked Bill, Michael's friend, who works at the US embassy for help...
There are millions of people living in Bangkok!!! Out of all the places, where do you think she lives??? two floors down in the same apartment as Bill!!! We met, and she gave us the address for the orphanage in Can Tho! Yeah! Mission accomplished!!! Or so we thought!!!
...Back to Vietnam...
The next morning, (after the snake-wine), we ditched our organized tour for about 5 hours in search of the orphanage (we would later rejoin them)...
We hopped on a Kings-Cart, which is a traditional Can Tho means of transportation...
It's basically a motorcycle pulling a chair on 2 wheels. We headed to Tam Du (the street name)...
But, the driver took us to Tam Vu-WRONG STREET!!! (or so we thought)...
Our driver spoke no English and no French...
So we stopped by a school and we tried out my ancient French and got nowhere, and decided to head back to the hotel for help...
The manager of the Hotel...
We explained our situation to the hotel manager, and he told us that Tam Du and Tam Vu mean the same thing...
He decided to help us in our 'quest' and he hopped on the Kings-cart with us and and we were off again to the same neighborhood!!!
We now were looking for street #79/7...
Which turned out to be a lumber mill, not an orphanage! UGGGG! Wrong information, AGAIN!!! We stopped several times, and the hotel manager asked many of the locals about the orphanage...
No one had ever heard of an orphanage on the street-EVER!!!
The Church up the street...
We decided to try out my "Irish-Luck" and ask the Catholic Church down the street...Being that Kevin and John came from the "Sisters of Providence" Orphanage, maybe they would know something...
We walked around to the back of the church-and into what looked like a school yard...
There, we were greeted by an angel...
Sister Danielle!!!
Sister Danielle
Sister Danielle asked how she could help us...
She spoke Vietnamese, French, and English...
and when necessary, our hotel manager helped us both...
Me with my rusty French and her and her rusty English!
We told her we were searching for and Orphanage that was run by the Sisters of Providence...
She told us that the Government took over the orphanage in the mid-80's...
But that she was now the managing director and had been with the orphanage since 1972...
BINGO!!! My brother Kevin was born in 1974-there is a very great possibility that she had taken care of him before he was moved to Saigon, before coming to America!!!
She gave us the grand tour of the orphanage, which had about 15 infants, 15 toddlers and about 10 children the ages of 8-18...
almost all with physical (polio) or mental challenges...
It was a very emotional experience...
She showed us where the children were housed during the war before being sent to Saigon...
A most amazing, and emotional day, one that I will never, ever forget!!!
Vietnam...
A must see!!! My recommendation, if you are going there...
is to start in the North (because you will have a bit of culture shock and get it over with) and head south, where the people are lovely and friendly!!!
Where are we now, and where to next???
We are now back in Thailand, and are on our way to Laos for a couple days before heading off to Nepal on Oct 6th...
After that to India...
I'll do my best to be more regular and shorter in the next email!!!
Would love to hear from you!
Luv,
SG
My son lived at the Providence Can Tho orphanage during your trip. We adopted him in 2007 and have no baby pictures of him. Do you have any pictures of the Can Tho orphanage children from your trip that my son might be in?
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