**slow and steady wins the race (written on 6/24)**
Moving on from discussion of the post-war period is the consideration of the major issues in Vietnam today. Though Vietnam seems to be loosening up with the government, there is the question of the need for education versus the need to maintain control and power of the government. The lack of investment of education in rural areas and in areas highly populated by ethnic minorities speaks to this. And though we are volunteering and working and living in a rural area (Quang Tri), it’s still doing much better than the provinces in the north (where most minorities live in the mountains) and deep south near the Mekong Delta. Even in cities like Saigon and Hanoi, ethnic Vietnamese, according to certain data, are doing better financially than minorities, who rarely have the chance to express their traditions and culture unless it’s for promotion of tourism in Vietnam- such as in Sapa, where industries run by ethnic Vietnamese show tourists the “rural” ways of life. And overall, I had a kind of discomfort for the rest of my time in Saigon whenever visiting “touristy” areas after that. Like on Dong Khoi, where all the Versace and Louis Vuitton shops cover up the poverty that lingers in Saigon in the slums that are routinely cleaned up, or anywhere that we get food- the market, restaurants, cafes- just because now I know why the food is so ridiculously cheap. Or even the A O Show, a drama/acrobatics/dance/musical show we went to in our last days in Saigon (no pictures unfortunately because we weren’t allowed). The performers use bamboo props (like baskets, trays, poles, etc.) to show the transformation of Vietnam from small villages to the more urbanized nation it is today. It was a wonderful show, and the live music as well as the cast’s expressions were amazing. But I couldn’t help but notice the audience was all tourists, of course, as it took place at the Saigon Opera House and it was an expensive show. And it was a show designed to showcase Vietnamese culture. But opportunities for recreation for those not as wealthy in Vietnam do not exactly exist, nor are these social issues ever mentioned or considered by most tourists who see what the government wants them to see.
On a related note is how much I (and our group) am able to consider the role of patriotism in the United States. It’s a very similar thing where (while we do discuss what’s wrong in America a lot more than people here discuss what’s wrong in Vietnam) waving flags and celebrating national holidays are activities that unite us, or create an image of America, that does not reveal anything lurking beneath. We have intense support for the ideas of America, the concepts of freedom and “American” things too. It just seems more visible now that we’ve experienced it (albeit more strongly) in a different country, where HCM and the red flag with the yellow star are everywhere. Though here it’s easy to call everything propaganda because we still do not know so much about Vietnam other than the fact that “ooh, it’s a one-party Communist government,” it could just as well be simple acts of patriotism or country pride that we end up associating with the surface-level things we know about Vietnam.
On an unrelated, but more fun, note, here are some final highlights from our time in Saigon:
Cong Caphe
This place is the absolute bomb (sidenote: I have never used that phrase until spending extended periods of time with my group…we’re all rubbing off too much on each other!) The special is Vietnamese coffee with coconut milk (kind of a yogurt, really) and it’s absolutely wonderful. It’s a dream, really, kind of like a frappe but fresher and better because you can taste the coffee and the coconut. And the vibes are the coolest, like literally every café in Saigon, but particularly so here, where the décor includes fun pokes at Communism or Ho Chi Minh and is just kind of vintage.
Farewell to our Vietnamese buddies
Though we had only hung out with them for about six or seven days, we had grown pretty close to our Vietnamese buddies and saying bye to them after getting ice cream at a mall was real. Obviously we have social media- but it’s weird that we won’t all be a big group ever again. And this is only a foreshadowing for the end of the summer with our roommates!
Vietnamese malls have a lot of ice cream
Saigon has a lot of upscale malls and even regular malls that are newly built so they’re super maintained. We went to one with our buddies to grab ice cream with vouchers from CET, but in addition to the one place we went to there were probably about seven more ice cream shops in the approximately six-story mall. We also crashed an arcade because we are children. Jared (“Dad”) bought us two tickets to use as we wanted and I used mine on a racing game that I lost. Good stuff.
We also went to the Bitexco Financial Tower and on the Skydeck, we looked at ~views~ of Saigon, which is huge, and then went back down to the mall inside to see Finding Dory. We got the last twelve tickets in the theatre for the next show in twenty minutes- unbelievable luck- and also unbelievable pricing (they were $4!) Worth every dong.
Artbook
Diane and I visited this super cool bookstore/gift store on Dong Khoi that had a ton of really cool, reimagined movie posters on cardboard. She proibably spent more than hour to look through all the posters because she’s into them or something, but seriously they were all so cool! Also had some music posters. I took an illicit picture of a Beatles poster that I ended up buying, so take a peek in the gallery! They also had solid vintage propaganda posters but I couldn’t decide what I wanted- so I bought an entire calendar of propaganda. It’s great.
Hindu Temple!
So I found a bunch of Indian restaurants in Saigon but didn’t make it there…but I did explore and find a Hindu Mariamman temple! It was established by Tamil traders in the late 1800s, fell into disrepair and was used by the government during the war years, and later reopened. It’s run by government-appointed “priests” and frequented both by the few Tamil families left in Saigon as well as, more popularly, Vietnamese people who believe in Mariamman. It’s small but beautiful, with carvings of various forms of the goddess along the walls. It’s also really cool because it’s a traditional South Indian temple that’s been influenced by Buddhist tradition over the years, so it was amazing to experience the mesh of cultures in a religious setting.
On Saturday we'll depart for Quang Tri, flying first to Hue and then driving to QT! Stay tuned.
Moving on from discussion of the post-war period is the consideration of the major issues in Vietnam today. Though Vietnam seems to be loosening up with the government, there is the question of the need for education versus the need to maintain control and power of the government. The lack of investment of education in rural areas and in areas highly populated by ethnic minorities speaks to this. And though we are volunteering and working and living in a rural area (Quang Tri), it’s still doing much better than the provinces in the north (where most minorities live in the mountains) and deep south near the Mekong Delta. Even in cities like Saigon and Hanoi, ethnic Vietnamese, according to certain data, are doing better financially than minorities, who rarely have the chance to express their traditions and culture unless it’s for promotion of tourism in Vietnam- such as in Sapa, where industries run by ethnic Vietnamese show tourists the “rural” ways of life. And overall, I had a kind of discomfort for the rest of my time in Saigon whenever visiting “touristy” areas after that. Like on Dong Khoi, where all the Versace and Louis Vuitton shops cover up the poverty that lingers in Saigon in the slums that are routinely cleaned up, or anywhere that we get food- the market, restaurants, cafes- just because now I know why the food is so ridiculously cheap. Or even the A O Show, a drama/acrobatics/dance/musical show we went to in our last days in Saigon (no pictures unfortunately because we weren’t allowed). The performers use bamboo props (like baskets, trays, poles, etc.) to show the transformation of Vietnam from small villages to the more urbanized nation it is today. It was a wonderful show, and the live music as well as the cast’s expressions were amazing. But I couldn’t help but notice the audience was all tourists, of course, as it took place at the Saigon Opera House and it was an expensive show. And it was a show designed to showcase Vietnamese culture. But opportunities for recreation for those not as wealthy in Vietnam do not exactly exist, nor are these social issues ever mentioned or considered by most tourists who see what the government wants them to see.
On a related note is how much I (and our group) am able to consider the role of patriotism in the United States. It’s a very similar thing where (while we do discuss what’s wrong in America a lot more than people here discuss what’s wrong in Vietnam) waving flags and celebrating national holidays are activities that unite us, or create an image of America, that does not reveal anything lurking beneath. We have intense support for the ideas of America, the concepts of freedom and “American” things too. It just seems more visible now that we’ve experienced it (albeit more strongly) in a different country, where HCM and the red flag with the yellow star are everywhere. Though here it’s easy to call everything propaganda because we still do not know so much about Vietnam other than the fact that “ooh, it’s a one-party Communist government,” it could just as well be simple acts of patriotism or country pride that we end up associating with the surface-level things we know about Vietnam.
On an unrelated, but more fun, note, here are some final highlights from our time in Saigon:
Cong Caphe
This place is the absolute bomb (sidenote: I have never used that phrase until spending extended periods of time with my group…we’re all rubbing off too much on each other!) The special is Vietnamese coffee with coconut milk (kind of a yogurt, really) and it’s absolutely wonderful. It’s a dream, really, kind of like a frappe but fresher and better because you can taste the coffee and the coconut. And the vibes are the coolest, like literally every café in Saigon, but particularly so here, where the décor includes fun pokes at Communism or Ho Chi Minh and is just kind of vintage.
Farewell to our Vietnamese buddies
Though we had only hung out with them for about six or seven days, we had grown pretty close to our Vietnamese buddies and saying bye to them after getting ice cream at a mall was real. Obviously we have social media- but it’s weird that we won’t all be a big group ever again. And this is only a foreshadowing for the end of the summer with our roommates!
Vietnamese malls have a lot of ice cream
Saigon has a lot of upscale malls and even regular malls that are newly built so they’re super maintained. We went to one with our buddies to grab ice cream with vouchers from CET, but in addition to the one place we went to there were probably about seven more ice cream shops in the approximately six-story mall. We also crashed an arcade because we are children. Jared (“Dad”) bought us two tickets to use as we wanted and I used mine on a racing game that I lost. Good stuff.
We also went to the Bitexco Financial Tower and on the Skydeck, we looked at ~views~ of Saigon, which is huge, and then went back down to the mall inside to see Finding Dory. We got the last twelve tickets in the theatre for the next show in twenty minutes- unbelievable luck- and also unbelievable pricing (they were $4!) Worth every dong.
Artbook
Diane and I visited this super cool bookstore/gift store on Dong Khoi that had a ton of really cool, reimagined movie posters on cardboard. She proibably spent more than hour to look through all the posters because she’s into them or something, but seriously they were all so cool! Also had some music posters. I took an illicit picture of a Beatles poster that I ended up buying, so take a peek in the gallery! They also had solid vintage propaganda posters but I couldn’t decide what I wanted- so I bought an entire calendar of propaganda. It’s great.
Hindu Temple!
So I found a bunch of Indian restaurants in Saigon but didn’t make it there…but I did explore and find a Hindu Mariamman temple! It was established by Tamil traders in the late 1800s, fell into disrepair and was used by the government during the war years, and later reopened. It’s run by government-appointed “priests” and frequented both by the few Tamil families left in Saigon as well as, more popularly, Vietnamese people who believe in Mariamman. It’s small but beautiful, with carvings of various forms of the goddess along the walls. It’s also really cool because it’s a traditional South Indian temple that’s been influenced by Buddhist tradition over the years, so it was amazing to experience the mesh of cultures in a religious setting.
On Saturday we'll depart for Quang Tri, flying first to Hue and then driving to QT! Stay tuned.