photos: Weasel Coffee, Making Rice Wrappers and Threshing

Through the Rabbit Hole - December 23rd

On Dec 23 we drove to the CuChi Tunnels. If you’ve read anything set in Vietnam during the war, you may recall stories of Viet Cong soldiers popping up, seemingly from nowhere, and attacking. Or tales of people, soldiers and citizens, living underground in a network of tunnels. That system is the 120 miles that make up the Cu Chi Tunnels. Throughout the property, we were shown camouflaged holes (entrances/exits) which measure 20x30CENTIMETERS! Do the math! It’s 2.5cm/inch. About the size of a standard piece of paper. Into and out of these, people would go. They’re like a network of prairie dog holes. I’ll post progression photos of people from our group getting into and out of one. Feel the dimensions when you see them. The tunnels themselves are frequently no larger than that. Some have been “enlarged” (minimally, I’d say) so that a person who hasn’t got the figure of a starved Vietnamese could crawl on knees and elbows through. It’s hot, musty, humid, and extremely close. Add to that a chain of people before and behind you blocking any air (there’s no light at all, so that’s not an issue), and you’ve got one of the most claustrophobic experiences I can imagine. These tunnels contain (though we didn’t actually see them) a hospital chamber, sewing and machining chambers, kitchens with diverted and filtered chimneys, etc. Prior to being permitted to enter the tunnels, we had to sit through a 20 minute propaganda film which went into detail about the “American Devil” bastards, and the “Heroic Viet Cong Comrades”. I’ll grant you, what we did here was heinous and grotesque, but the film made it seem as though the Vietnamese were not engaged in guerilla tactics to which Americans responded. Not something I want to go too into depth on here. We saw a wide array of pit traps that were horrific and celebrated in the exhibit. And were basically verbally beaten about the head and face by the exhibits. Still and all, it was worthwhile. The tunnels are mind-boggling. Have a physical experience, walking cautiously through this lightly tamed jungle, hearing the insects, the elements, and the report of machine gun fire, was very vivid. At the site, they give tourists the opportunity to shoot AK-47s and M-60s in a range. The sound is everywhere. It’s no challenge to imagine the stress, anxiety, lasting trauma and fear this situation might have elicited. Add to it, abundant adrenaline and a chunk of military re-education, and you’ve really got something volatile and unstable.

Ok.. pardon me. I’ll skip ahead to the end of the CuChi Tunnels visit where in the gift shop we were allowed to try….. SNAKE WINE! Alison and I led the charge and we successively drank cobra and scorpion infused wine from a filthy communal shot glass, wiped “clean” by a filthy rag. It was… powerful. I’ll give them that.

I’m still 2 days behind in my reporting, but tomorrow is an early day. We leave at 7am to go to the Floating Markets.

Yesterday and today were both terrific (well. Mostly) and today was our first day visiting Heifer Projects. They did NOT disappoint! We are presently in the Mekong Delta Region, Can Tho City, Can Tho province.

Tomorrow night , Alison and I have dates with some of the staff here to eat unusual (for us) things, in town.
Today’s unsavory items, and I’m happy to cross them off my list frankly, were chicken foot – spicy, but not really tasty or meaty - , and pig liver. You may already know that liver of any sort is at the top of the short list of things I cannot bear to eat. This consumption today was an accident. We had a wonderful soup and in it were strips of meat. Not until I was chewing did I realize what it was. Bad surprise, but I swallowed it and moved on.

catching you up

While I try to upload some photos to this site, I'll tell you about my trip from the start:
The first day, post -breakfast and teh Ben Thanh Market adventure, we decided to unwind a little from teh long long plane trips. Alison suggested a salt rub and a massage. Pamela found us at the hotel and we invited her to join us.
I cannot vouch for the others, but as I lay on the massage table, thinking of all I'd seen, and smelled and tasted thus far, and of all the tempting and alarming and amusing things I hoped to taste or avoid, I realized that I myself was having coarse salt and oil rubbed into my skin.... much like a roast.

Spent that afternoon lounging by the pool. Had a bit of wine and some local spring rolls (which are a big thing here and delicious). Decompressed and prepped for 2 adventurous weeks.

This photo depicts a mountain of sweet goopy cherries and dried persimmons from the Ben Thanh Market. ... both of which I ate.

Hmmmm. can I only post one photo per post on this site>? Will explore more later.

Ack. Internet frustrations

I've got lots of great photos for you, but I'm having internet challenges here in the new hotel and in the old hotel the service was too slow to upload them. This evening, I'll have time to write more and will make teh opportunity.

Presently, we're on an island chain, a provice about 120 KM outside of Ho Chi Minh Provice an frankly am very to be out of the city. Today we really start visiting Hiefer projects and cut down on teh sight-seeing. Excellent. We're scheduled to depart in a few minutes to the main HQ of Heifer Vietnam and then we'll go to our first site/home visit. Will photograph as appropriate.
Am going to post this and them continue writing because of low battery and short time.

Merry Christmas.
And Mom... the fruit had thick peels. THAT'S not the thing I've eaten that you need to worry about. xo

Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City

Twenty + flying hours between LA and Vietnam, with a brief stop in Seoul. Just long enough, in fact, to run from gate to gate for the transfer, making sure that my new monk friend had was able to keep up managing his bags and his monkly togs. It's actually not fair of me to say that he needed help. He and 2 other Buddhist monks whom I met in the "real people" line to check in at LAX were helping lots of other people - who may or may not have felt they needed assistance - cart their stuff. I was in charge of my own bags, but I did enjoy watching them, and they me. They honed in on me for a chat in line and this one declared that he would be going all the way to Ho Chi Minh too, and that he would look out for me. O.K.! Seemed like a fine omen to start when a saffron-clad monk wants to take you under his wing.

After an uncomfortable 14 hours flight, and an unconscious 6 hour flight, we arrived to a steamy Ho Chi Mihn shortly after midnight, 2 days after I'd left LA. My monk gave me about 7 ways to reach him here, and offered to teach me monkly things, but I waved good-bye and took off for the posh Park Hyatt where Alison had a room. Ah... 5-stars.

*****
The next morning we had a nice breakfast at a little coffeshop near the hotel. Had our first Vietnamese coffees of the trip. SHAZZAAM!!!! breakfast consisted of baguette with jam (baguettes are a leftover item from the "French Domination" as they call it here. Gee... I wonder how they feel about that era.), dragon fruit cubes for me, and so cold cuts and pate for Alison.

Then... Then..... on to our first Marketplace experience! The Ben Thanh Market is a large, covered, central market with a bit of everything. Some syrupy treats, spices, live and cooked animals, clothes and textiles, sparkly sparkly things, plasticky things, and mounds of exotic fruits and veg. (More on this later as I've got to run in a moment.) Alison and I bought some sticky sweet cherries gooped in syrup, some dried persimmons, and a small wrinkly item which th evendor insisted was "lamb". Looking at it, called over by Alison, I questioned the seller. "Lamb? Baaaaaaa?" I mimicked.
"NO" she rolled her eyes at me. "LAMB". Like I was deaf, not merely perplexed at a potential language glitch.
Still and all, we did buy some "Lamb", an assortment of spicy and non- , which I remain convinced is some sort of dried plum or other stone fruit. Yes... I tasted it. No.. it's not meat. We may never know what it is.
An on THAT note.... I haven't yet eaten anything unidentifiable or particularly unusual.. but I'm set on it, and will disclose more soon.

Now... Day 4 . Still in Ho Chi Minh and off to.... brace yourself for it... the CuChi Tunnels. (snicker). The story when I return.

Egads! Leaving in 2 Days

I'm very excited about this trip (and this blog), and also oddly nervous. I'm ready though. Really ready. Got my clothes, shoes, scrips, travel-sized toiletries, Dramamine and Bonine both, books, visas, passport, travel details, e-tickets (maybe I wish I had a real hard copy ticket, but it's ok), travel watch/alarm, ... dog-sitter (thanks, Molly).... am I forgetting anything. Oh! And I bought a teensy computer to take with me so that I can easily flo-on-the-go so to speak.
I leave the morning of Friday the 19th, and arrive the evening of Saturday the 20th. Will stay in swanky digs with Alison, who arrives the day before and who I'll be very pleased to have as a companion on this adventure. And then... Sunday, we're off!
I'll miss my normal New Years Crew and holiday time with my family, but they should assume that I'm scoping out the terrain for future adventures we'll have together.

That written, I'm signing off.