“Going to
Vietnam” was something I never wanted to do because of the connotation that
held for those of my generation. When we
booked the world cruise and saw it included Vietnam, “going to Vietnam” was an
exciting prospect and our day in Nha Trang did not disappoint! Back in the 1960s and 1970s, no one could
have imagined that some day we might be visiting Vietnam on a cruise ship. Vietnam has always been, to us, on the other
side of the world, a fact made even more significant in that in Vietnam and with
Chicago now on DST, we are exactly twelve hours ahead here. I laughed that as a kid, I remember people
saying that if we dug down we would come out in China, on the other side of the
world. Barb added that when she was
about 5 or 6 years old, she had actually gone out in back of the house and
began to dig her way to China. I hadn’t
remembered that and commented that had I known, I probably back then would have
encouraged her to keep trying!
My friend
and former colleague from Hamburg, Bill McCormick, had visited Vietnam last
fall so I had asked him for his impressions.
He really liked his visit to Vietnam and Cambodia so I did anticipate I
would enjoy my visit here. And I was
right. I certainly did enjoy the day.
Nha Trang is
located in the northern part of the former South Vietnam, not too far from Da
Nang, a place that held special significance for the troops who fought there
“back then.”
The sail in
was quite pretty as the sun came up a little earlier today and we could see a
series of small islands as we approached the mainland of Vietnam. When we docked, our side of the ship finally
had a nice view of the islands including some cable cars that crossed to one of
the islands (our tour guide explained that it went to a luxury hotel on the
island).
Today Barb
and I were taking a shore excursion, Nha Trang Highlights, a gift for
booking the cruise through AAA. We had
originally paid for this exact excursion through Holland America but cancelled
our paid tour through them and did it with others who had booked the cruise
with their local AAAs. AAA has onboard
escorts, Jack and Gloria Meerman, who are traveling on the cruise and through
whom we often deal if any onboard issues arise.
Al, having booked through his travel agent who is a part of another
group, has done one free excursion already with his group. In Nha Trang it was our turn and while we ran
into Al in a couple of locations since he was doing the same excursion, we
weren’t able to arrange to be in the same bus.
Our tour was
greeted by a friendly guide, Thao, who quickly became known in our group for his smile.
(He was in several of our pictures, most unposed, and in every single
one he had an infectious smile. In
addition, he volunteered to take Barb’s and my pictures several times so that
we have almost as many pictures together as we have for the entire trip so
far.) It was hard to judge his age as he
looked youthful and maybe no more than his early 20s but we imagine he might be
quite a bit older than his appearance suggests.
Thao only
once mentioned “the war” on his own but answered the questions if anyone asked.
I asked one question and he answered it and then he moved on. The only time he brought up the subject was
when we passed a large war monument. We
weren’t sure if it is a subject that isn’t discussed or if it wasn’t mentioned
because most taking the tour were Americans.
I asked Al if his guide commented on the war and he said it wasn’t a
subject of discussion on his bus either.
Our first stop was at the Long Son Pagoda. As we drove up, vendors hawking their wares
descended on the bus, holding up their products and wanting us to buy. Those who have done much international travel
are aware of what I am talking about, but those whose travel is limited to the
US or northern Europe won’t be familiar.
They were selling everything from brightly lacquered jewelry boxes with
Oriental designs, to fans, post cards, pictures, and even polo shirts. As we
got off the bus, we had to say a polite “no, thank you” and try to keep up with
our group. The Long Son Pagoda is the
largest of about ten Buddhist pagodas in Nha Trang. About 30% of Vietnamese are Buddhist, 10% are
Roman Catholics, 1% Hindu, and of the rest, including Thao, practice ancestor
worship. Atop the hill above the pagoda
was a large white statue of Buddha sitting in the lotus position. We could opt to climb to the top and see it
up close as well as capture an excellent view of the city, but Thao suggested
that it was quite a hike and he didn’t recommend it – there were no
complaints. We had to remove our shoes
to go inside the pagoda where we saw a number of monks at worship in an ornate
religious setting. Thao told us that this monastery had only ten active monks
that kept it going. There was a monument
near the entrance which honored the monk that funded it. Although I don’t read Vietnamese(!), I
noticed the monk was born in 1897 and he died in 1963. 1963 was at the height of the Buddhist
protest against the pro-French, Catholic rule of Ngo Dinh Diem. A number of monks committed suicide through
self immolation in front of pagodas as an expression of protest against Diem’s
rule. Diem was assassinated on November
1, 1963, just three weeks before the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The war escalated under Lyndon Johnson and
greater involvement of the United States began under LBJ.
After
visiting the Long Son Pagoda, we made our way to the Po Nagar Cham Towers, a
series of towers built between the 7th and 12th
centuries. While constructed as a Hindu
shrine, it is now a focus for Buddhists who routinely come to pray. As one climbs the stairs (not a difficult
climb), good views of the Xom Bong Bridge are seen along with lots of red and
blue fishing boats in Nha Trang Harbor.
Once again, as in Long Son Pagoda, we removed our shoes as we entered
the shrine. The aroma of burning incense
was very evident as a part of the religious ritual. At both the Long Son Pagoda and the Cham Towers,
we appreciated the blue sky and sunshine, the first time on tour we had that
luxury since our first day in Sydney. It
made for much better photos. Hooray!!!!
This was
followed by a stop at an embroidery shop in Nha Trang were demonstrations of
the delicate weaving were given. Not
being an expert on embroidery, I can’t speak in much detail here but the
finished products were exquisite. They
were on sale in some cases for millions of dong. (The dong is the currency unit in Vietnam and
there are about 20,000 to the US dollar.)
As we finished browsing through these works of art, a cup of Vietnamese
tea was offered along with an unusual snack of a slice of roasted sweet potato
as well as a taste of ginger.
Our final
stop was at a beachfront hotel where we could purchase a glass of coconut milk
if we wished, or stroll the beach and watch the waves roll in. Of course the vendors were out in full force
and by now we were getting the knack of bargaining the price down. Barbara Haenni, our Travel Guide, had told us
that probably the best bargains of the entire cruise would be likely to be
found in Vietnam along with some of the most aggressive vendors. Barb had heard that the lacquered boxes were
selling at a reasonable price so she bought several of them. I purchased three identical baseball caps
which varied only in color and said “Saigon, Vietnam” on them for $5
total. I kept one, Barb bought the other
from me at cost (I was being so generous), and I will find someone to give the
other cap. Jack Meerman got on the bus with four (FOUR) Ralph Lauren polo
shirts which he had purchased for a total of $10. He jokingly offered to sell them for $5
each. A vendor offered to sell four to
me for $20. When I said I wasn’t
interested, he offered 3 for $10. I told
him I knew someone who bought 4 for $10. The man professed surprise at such a
deal but quickly agreed. I then said I
had no need for four of them and offered to buy two for $5. The deal was struck and I now have two $2.50
polo shirts. I have no idea how long
they will last, but at that price, I couldn’t go too wrong. We ran into Al there and showed him my
purchase and he came back with two of the same polos which be bought for
$5. I wore mine to dinner, hoping that
Al wouldn’t wear his too; as much as I like Al, we really weren’t interested in
looking like twins!
Back at the
pier, we browsed the booths with items for sale there and found a few more
purchases. Actually we didn’t find the
vendors as aggressive as we might have expected. They were all friendly and we wish we could
have bought something from all of them.
We did see a number of people with various physical deformities, most
notably a man probably in his 60s or 70s who had no hands. He was just wandering the crowd at one of our
stops. At dinner, I asked Al if he had
seen the man and he said he wanted to give the appreciative man $5. What a great gesture! We are guessing he might have lost his hands
during the Vietnam War.
As we set
sail from Nha Trang, we anticipated our visit to Saigon but heard the warning
that the traffic in what is now called Ho Chi Minh City would be
oppressive. I was glad for the
opportunity to visit Vietnam and have a much greater appreciation for the
country and its people. The war has been
over for nearly 40 years and it was nice to find Americans welcomed to Vietnam
as tourists. I found Vietnam a much more
welcoming country than our visit six years ago to St. Petersburg, Russia, where
I felt I was being watched constantly. In Nha Trang anyway, we did feel like we were
wanted and most people greeted us with smiles.
CT
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