Today the ship berthed at Phu My in Vietnam. I went on a 9-hour tour to the Mekong River delta, a very long and tiring yet very worthwhile experience. It included a drive through Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), a visit to the ‘Laughing Buddha' temple, a short cruise around part of the bustling Mekong river on a fairly small wooden boat, a walk along the river bank, a visit to a Vietnamese home along the river bank, a little food sampling in two different small eateries, watching a count sweet being made from coconuts, a trip in a small, canoe-like boat along a narrow canal lined with mud and mangroves, and a very late lunch at a big open air restaurant.
The first thing that struck me was the incredible number of motor scooters everywhere, some riders carrying all kinds of objects on board or else up to 3 passengers. Unfortunately our tour guide’s command of English was very poor, but I think he said there are millions of motor scooters in Vietnam. I would believe that, as the other vehicles were mainly buses and trucks. Between them all driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, and the traffic going in all directions, our bus ride was a little ‘hairy’, to say the least. And yet, apart from pretty frequent tooting of horns, everyone seemed very tolerant of one another.
The next thing that struck me as we left the port was the countless small, narrow shops and street stalls along the roadway, complete with bright coloured billboards, such a contrast to our idyllic peaceful life looking out to sea. Many were in a dreadful state of repair, cobbled together from rusty bits of metal as well as thatching, bits of timber, and whatever other materials could be scavenged. There also was a lot of litter around. But despite all that, it was clear that the people were doing all they could to make a living, often with very limited resources. We saw this repeated again and again in the other places we visited.
I had been looking forward to seeing rice paddies and very soon we were driving through areas where rice and other crops were growing, the soft greens a welcome relief from the gaudy market places. They reminded me of Australian rural areas, however, in that some looked immaculate, beautifully laid out and care for, while others looked run down. But in one aspect they were very different. Quite often you would see ornate graves lying in the fields, rising quite high above their green carpet. This practice is supposed to be stopped, but arises from the traditional beliefs of the people, many of whom are Buddhists or worship their ancestors.
Saigon was a very interesting place, although we only drove through part of it and did not see much of the spectacular buildings that some of my travelling companions who went on other tours told me about. It is full of high-rise apartments. I also saw many very narrow buildings that were about the width of one room but several storeys high. Some structures looked very unstable, their safety clearly undermined by concrete ‘’cancer, rotting timbers and corroded metals. The deterioration of the materials would be at least partly due to the humidity - and was also seen in Sabah. Between them and the incredible entanglements of electrical cables in some places, however, I wonder about building regulations to protect people’s safety, and how much training and inspection is undertaken.
P.S. Last night I waited for 90 minutes but even then my photos would not download. So I have completed this posting in the wee hours of this morning and am posting the rest in the next entry. The first photo was taken soon after we entered Saigon. The other two were taken at the temple mentioned above. The 'Laughing Buddha' is huge!
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