Good Morning Vietnam

Yesterday afternoon we flew into Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). We did not expect to be dazzled, but we have had our socks knocked off by this lively, exciting city. About 10 million people live here, and the majority are young and lively. There are 6 million motor bikes, so that coming here you are plunged into swarming rivers of them, like schools of fish flowing through all the streets. It seems chaotic at first, but as you watch you become aware that it has rules, people follow them, and it is quite orderly. Everyone wears helmets and face masks to avoid breathing the exhaust fumes. Young women ride dressed in tight skirts and very high-heeled shoes. Whole families ( up to 5 allowed) ride in human sandwiches, with babies squeezed in front of, between, and behind their parents. People are carrying all sorts of stuff: long ladders, lengths of pipe or lumber, huge pieces of furniture like armoires and refrigerators, stacks of cartons filled with cooking oil, huge bags of chicken feet, pineapples, mountains of t-shirts, whole coffee shops, including counter, supplies, tables and chairs. We are told that an occasional live water buffalo (tied up) is carried on a motor bike, but we haven't seen that.








The city is approaching a huge holiday, New Years (Feb. 1) so everything is decorated to the hilt, with colored lights, street sculptures, etc..it looks a bit like a very wealthy Las Vegas. All the big, fancy stores are here, and the streets are packed with fashionably dressed people wending their way amidst the motorbikes. Out hotel is right in downtown, easy walk to anything. Our room looks out at a huge city park (23rd September) named after the date of the beginning of the Tet Offensive, when the peoples hero, Ho Chi Minh, started the push to capture back South Vietnam. The hero is everywhere, smiling down genially at everyone. The park is full of people exercising all day and into the night, badminton, skateboarding, playing soccer, tai chi, dancing, playing handball, and so much more!


The vibe here is joyful, electric, youthful, prosperous, fun. It feels a little like Paris or San Francisco. So far, we love it!


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Location:Đường Lê Lai,Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam

On a Happier Note

Here is a photo of a photo taken yesterday at the Grand Stupa of Vientiane. It shows all of our group, plus our two guides, La and Lada, on the left. We are all having such - no make that SUCH - a great time together. It would be hard to imagine how it could get better than this on the compatibility and fun scale! The BEST!!!


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Location:Phay Nam,Vientiane,Laos

The Never-Ending Vietnam War

It had to happen sooner or later. Traveling in Southeast Asia, we Americans sooner or later are faced with the ravages of what is called here "the American War." Today we had a sobering visit to a remarkable organization, part of the Laos Ministry of Health. It was the Center for Medical Rehabilitation (www.copelao.org) dedicated to war relief related to the endless destruction from cluster bombing that continues every day in the lives of the Laotian (and Vietnamese) people (probably the Cambodians too, we just don't know about that yet.) This organization works on several levels.

First they are working to clear the land mines and unexploded cluster bombs left in their country: an estimated 1/3 of the arable land here is unusable because the carpet bombing was so intense that it is literally unsafe to walk on the land to this day. Teams of dedicated workers are going slowly over the land with metal detectors and exploding the unexploded ordinance, but they can clear about 40 square acres a year, and there are millions to clear. Every week there are new casualties of the war, often children who pick up a bomb thinking its a toy, or men plowing a field who hit one with their plow, or someone bathing in a river. Nowhere is safe.

Laos was not involved in the war, but because the Viet Cong sometimes detoured through Laos to get between North and South, the US felt free to drop bombs on this innocent country for 12 years. More bombs were dropped here in Laos than on both sides of the entire conflict of World War II. The figure 580,000 separate bombing raids was given for this country. We were told that the US gave permission for bombers to dump excess bombs on Laos before returning to the base, after bombing raids into Vietnam that ended up with remaining weapons. The idea was that it was too dangerous for the planes to land when weaponized, so they just dumped everything on Laos. As a result, many people in the countryside here are living at marginal survival levels today, unable to farm, unable to move about, and many times supporting numerous community members who have been maimed by explosions.

To this day, 134 world nations have signed an agreement to destroy their cluster-style weaponry, but the US, to our shame, is not on the list. For me, one of the most memorable parts of the day was to gaze at a black and white world map which showed in red all the nations afflicted by land mines and unexploded ordinance. Besides Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, there were Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia, and a wide red belt around the entirety of Central Africa. There was emotional neutrality on this map. No information was given about who bears responsibility for spreading this Red Carpet of misery around our planet, but standing in our shoes, I felt such grief.

Anyway, this organization, COPE, not only works to clear bombs, but they work with victims of explosions too, providing prosthetic devices, wheelchairs, and other means of support, to help those people who have so little. The exhibit itself was intensely moving and sobering, while never blaming or making a big deal about the US role. And yet we could not but feel horrified to know that this was our country who had meddled in their country and ruined life for generations to come, ruined whole landscapes and villages and rivers and forests, all of which are riddled with unexploded bombs. We were in tears walking through there and seeing the exhibits. We wanted to do something, help somehow, come home and inform people about what is happening here and what we never hear about, the daily fact of living in fear of the Vietnam War that never ends for the people of Southeast Asia, the challenge of surviving the peace..


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Location:Vientiane,Laos

Hello Vientiane

Our hotel here, the Saibaidee Lao, is quite comfortable and right in the middle of town, just a couple of blocks from the Mekong River. There is a beautiful park down there, with a par course for exercise, and lots of walking paths along the river with no traffic. The temperature today was perfection, a lot like Santa Cruz. The atmosphere of the city has a big whiff of French Colonial flavor. You feel it in the delicious crunchy bread, the French Colonial architecture everywhere, the Victory Arch reminiscent of the Arc de Triumph, the French bistros, and the very fancy Western cars (Jaguars, Bentleys, etc).

The Grand Stupa here is the biggest in Laos, built in the 1500s and then destroyed repeatedly by the French, the Chinese, and the "Siamese" (Thais). Thailand is just on the other side of the Mekong from here. The Lao people see it all day long, and there is even a Friendship Bridge across between the two countries. This morning we went on a little city tour, starting with the Grand Stupa, which include the National Museum of Laos. The exterior is stupendous, and garden lovely. The museum was unremarkable, but had a few dozen Buddha statues, including an Emerald one, that for whatever reason wasn't there.





In back of this palace is a giant reclining Buddha, all golden, with huge feet decorated in red seals. He is in the Nirvana position (we are learning all about Buddhism here) and very magnificent.





Next stop was the Victory Arch, where we climbed 165 stairs to the top - and on almost every level there was - yes you guessed it - SHOPPING! Tons of souvenir stands, and everything imaginable for sale. We made it all the way up, and the view all around the city was worth it.


Finally we went to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, also known as the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas. This was one of the few in Laos that was not destroyed by the US bombing during the Vietnam War, and it was so pristine and breathtakingly lovely - probably our favorite so far of all we've seen here.





I'll write about the afternoon in a new post. It had us all in tears.


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Location:Vientiane, Laos

Luang Prabang to Vientiane, Laos

On this day we wandered around one last time in the wonderful city of Luang Prabang, memorizing the sights and smells, and trying to capture it all. We saw monks strolling the streets, little altars, and interesting people everywhere hanging out in the charming cafés and shops.





We visited the Royal Palace Museum, done in Beaux Arts style with a huge throne room, gifts from visiting royals and a magnificent interior with walls all painted red and decorated in glass mosaic murals top to bottom.


We enjoyed a last lunch in that city, then headed up to the airport for a 35 minute flight over the razor-edged mountains between here and Vientiane. The journey by car takes 10 hours.

After unpacking at the hotel we took a walking tour around the city, including a stroll by the River, where Daniella jumped into the middle of a badminton game with two young men, and took a few energetic swipes at the birdie, much to the amusement of the surrounding crowds! Before dinner, we headed on over for our "Real Deal, Vientiane Style" (written up in a separate post!).


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Location:Samsenthai,Vientiane,Laos

The Real Deal - Vientiane style

A few days ago, you may recall our first so-called Real Deal, a culinary treat that may be giving some of you nightmares to this day! Last night, after we arrived in Vientiane, our guide promised us another "real Laos" experience, and she did not fail to astonish us! OMG. We were braced for one "something awful" but instead we got an array of surprises, one after another. First up was Fried Buffalo Skin, served on a bundle of bamboo bracelets. It was crispy and salty, like pork rind, but thin and red instead of white.



Our second dish gave us all the creeps, fried frog skin. Ugh. It too was crunchy and salty, and again, we tasted it. Still ugh!


Next up was a glistening plate full of mixed fried bugs: crickets, silk worms, grasshoppers, water bugs. Everything was crispy and salty, thank goodness, and we had some beer to wash it down.









We finally had a big plate of just fried grasshoppers - large and small. Now there were people who tasted none of these things and were totally grossed out by the thought of it. Then there were those of us who tasted everything and were occasionally pleasantly surprised. Crickets, for example, are quite delicious. Grasshoppers not too bad. Fried buffalo skin pretty OK too. Nix on the frog skin and special nix on the grubs! But what a fun start to our evening, after which we went out for a fantastic Lao dinner. Food here is really good, and these little digressions do not represent the reality of what we eat every day.








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Location:Vientiane, Laos

A Day in the Life, Part III

A highlight of this village visit was a visit to the local school, one that is supported by the Grand Circle Foundation (affiliated with OAT, our tour company). Here a group of adorable kindergarteners paired up with us and took us, hand-in-hand, into their classroom. They did some math for us, sang songs, and then we took a turn entertaining them. This part was sensational, thanks in large part to the presence of several teachers in our group, and then the comic genius of our dar friend, nurse/clown Patty Wooten, who wowed everyone by donning a clown hat and nose and performing a few magic tricks. Soon she had all of us Wild Oats in clown noses too, and all the kids had red nose stickers on. Here are the results! We all brought some gifts for this classroom (art supplies, books, etc), and we also gave Pizza My Heart T-shirts to our lunch hosts!







Speaking of Patty Wooten, she is also posting a superb blog about our travels. You can see it here: www.pattywoo.wordpress.com



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Location:Tin Keow Village, Laos

A Day in the Life ... Part 1

This day began with an early morning jaunt in the tuk tuks to the morning market, a 2 block long daily farmer's market that happens in all the villages in Laos. Each of us was given a paper with an item we had to find (written phoenitically in the Lao language, as well as some money to pay for it. We set off our our search (all successful!) and these were some of the things we saw. Later, we went to a small village where the people used these ingredients to cook us a delicious lunch.


































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A Day in the Life, Part II

We spent the day in the village, enjoying all the sights and sounds and smells of ordinary life. This village sits on the banks of the Mekong River. We visited a weaving group, a blacksmith, saw a plant that produces bubbles (just like blowing bubbles) when you break a stem, oohed and aahed at puppies, babies, and the serene feeling of community here. One group of villagers are Hmong, or mountain people. They have very specific handicraft styles, and costumes too.












We went into the home of one of the young village leaders where we had a long question and answer session, and they performed a special song and dance for us. Then we visited a school, which I will write about in a separate post. At lunch time, the ingredients we had bought at the morning market were put together into a scrumptious lunch for everyone!












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A Day in the Life, Part IV

After we left the little village, we drove through gorgeous countryside, with hilly winding roads, past rice paddies, teak forests, huge organic gardens, and finally to a place where there was a famous waterfall. By then I was feeling so exhausted (fighting a cold) that I stayed on the bus and slept, but the others went off to view the waterfall and to swim in the beautiful swimming hole below it. There was also an area there where they could view Asian Black Bears. I was sorry to miss it, but really happy to get a couple of hours of deep sleep.





When we left this waterfall, we came upon a local wedding. Separate post, in the interest of internet ease!

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Location:Luang Prabang, Laos

Giving Alms to the Monks

Yesterday morning we got up well before daylight to participate in giving food to the Buddhist monks. There are 600 in this town and they make this walk every morning to beg for food for the day. Here in this heavily Buddhist country, it is considered that a person adds merit to their human value by helping others. And it was surprising how moving it was to participate in this ceremony. First we each got a small woven basket of sticky rice. We held it to our foreheads and made a blessing. And soon the long, winding line of monks began coming past us. Some were as young as 7 years old. Nearly every boy in Laos spends time as a monk, in order to be considered a full person, but many do not continue beyond a few weeks or months or years. To become a fully fledged monk, they must be at least 18 and have completed many years in service.

As they passed, we put a small morsel of rice into each of their bowls, until our supply ran out. We could see that in addition to the rice, others had put in candy, cookies, and fruit.
















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Location:Luang Prabang, Laos