The land of delicious “dog meat”?……. It is!!!!! While trekking the beautiful mountains of Sapa we visited the local market. There it was, all chopped in pieces. I noticed the head of the dog and the paws. You should know that the rest of it looked like your average piece of meat. You could order the head, the shank, the rump or the liver. One lady who spoke some english said to me “try, taste very, very good”. She was right…. it tasted lovely. Like any other kind of meat you could buy. I will never look at dogs the same way again. From now on they will not look cute, but delicious. Hmm, I wonder if the next door neighbor’s dog will sense something different about me when I return to San Fran.

Anyway forget all you think you know about Vietnam. The stereotype as protrayed in movies is long past. In fact it simply does not exist. The only remnant of the war is located in the War Museums. Other than that Vietnam has cleaned up pretty well for a place what had a war waging for over 20 years. Saigon is rediculous. A little New York City if you ask me. Building are going on everywhere. High rises are getting higher, vehicles (mainly motorbikes) of all sorts are thick on city streets and the people are hungry for money and advancement and successful futures, just like the rest of us. I knew that this country was moving forward when we went into Kentucky Fried Chicken and saw a some young women dressed to the max with hot pants and with butt cheeks hanging out. No one gave them a second glance - just kept hawking down that KFC. Hence if you thought Vietnam was conservative, think again. Vietnam has been described as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Not hard to believe. Check your appliances, your clothing, your furniture…. hey check your spouse….if its not made in China, its made in Vietnam.

Our introduction into Vietnam involved many occurances that’s too much to even relate here. One thing we had to do though, was take a long overnight bus ride after crossing the border into Saigon. It was an 8 hour bus ride on a small local minibus. We were the only westerners of course which did not matter. As per usual we were the butt of many a joke but that roles off our back now. It’s just another day. Our only issue is that no one spoke English and that most of our communication was based on sign language and various guestures. The other issue was that our legs were just too long for the bus and resulted in not very comfortable ride. At one point the bus came to a sudden halt. Everyone dashed out. We kept asking the driver what was going on but he could not say because he did not speak a word or English. Turns out that everyone was rushing to a nearby bathroom(which we needed) and to get food (which we also needed). However by the time we dummies had figured it all out, all were back on the bus and we were off in a huff. It was upsetting because we were starving and we needed to wee wee badly. Then guess what? The man next to us turned and offered us some freshly steamed corn that he had just bought when he stepped out of the bus. I was like wow!!!! It was the best corn I have ever had, I swear. We did not speak a word in each other’s language and yet all was said. That was so nice of him. Was that a nice introduction to Vietnam or what!!!!????

So it is that I also did not realise that there Vietnam was such a large country. We were there for thee weeks but seems like we needed more like 2 months. We first went to Saigon in the south, then to Hoi Ann, a quaint old town with beautiful beaches, then up to Ha Noi, the capital city in the north. From Ha Noi went up the the mountains of Sapa for a couple of days and then to Ho Long Bay (a host of islands in the water that hold such beauty words cannot describe). For some legs we had to fly and for others had to do overnight trains. Taking overnight trains involved 10 to 14 very long hours, which we took in stride. We prefer the trains in Vietnam to those in Thailand. The trains are nicer but not without issues. We decided to pay for a delux train you see, which meant that we got wood panneling in our room instead of grey prison cell steel and we got thicker mattresses instead of rock hard ones. The only problem is that we have to share these rooms with two others since the room is for four. Basically the rooms are made up of two bunks. So just imagin you are in very close quaters with two people you do not know and who you cannot speak a word to. Once our companion was a wonderful old vietnamese man with whom we shared all our food. Him with us and us with him. Again no verbal communication was possible. The other time we rode with two men who snored the whole darn night. No sleep was possible.

Anyway some stranger things have happen to us while here. For example, once I was standing in the road having breakfast made on the street for me by a longer vendor. An old woman who looked like 100 years old passed and punched me in the upper lelft had shoulder. I was like “what the…..”? She was just laughing at me. I took it in stride. She passed back about 10 mintues later. I braced for the second attack! She came up and took my had, rubbed my skin, pulled my hair, squeezed my chin and pinched my cheek. All with a look of glee on her face, like a gradmother happy to see a grand-daughter. She spoke to me the whole time in her language. I just smiled, stood there and nodded yes, yes, yes to her. Then she punched me again gently with a “see you later” grin and went on her way. Charles who had missed her the first time she punched me, asked me “so whose your friend”?. I had to tell him, “I have no idea”.

While on the subject, being black (dark complexted black, I mean) here can result in some annoying but sometimes facinating occurances as well. Not unlike the story of the old Vietname woman above. As you will see from the pictures we get pictures taken with all kinds of people all the time. Most you see with Asians are becasue they asked that we take a picture with them, so we took a shot with our own camera also (i know, that’s corny of us!!) Anyway, in general most people use their camera phones but if we go out to a place with Vietnamese tourist it can be a bit of circus. They have their cameras so they come over and sneek pictures in or if brave enough they will ask to take a picture with us. The Korean tourist also have so much fun with it. The women in general like charles I think. One guide told said he thinks that they think charles is a famous football player in Vietnam because he is so big. Another guide said that they are so excited because they most of them have not seen black persons such as us in reality before. Hey celebrity can be fun….why knock it!!!! Is it hot in your country they ask? There is no snow in America, they ask? Were you born that way one women ask. I told her, yes, as far as I know, I came out of my mother’s tummy that way. Where did you buy your hair is another favourite question. Often results in our hair being tugged upon to prove that is so.

I do think sometimes though that vietnamese women in particular feel a bit sorry for me. Some do afterall dress in not only hats and face wraps to protect their skin from the sun, but also wear long sleeve shirts and long gloves that go up their arms. If they wear slippers (as in flip flops), they put on socks to protect their feet from the sun. This is all with the temperature over 90-100 degrees fahrenheight ( 32 -37 degrees celcius). When they look at me and stare sometimes, they have the look of “would you like some skin whitener? We can help you pick some up at the drugstore across the street. You can have your pick of the best brands….Kheri, Oil of Olay, Ponds to name a few.” There is such pity in their eyes. Just a note: We have come to realize that if the skin care companies do not put the words “whitener” on their products, in Vietnam and Cambodia, they will not sell. Cara, Serena and I could not believe it. Feel a bit betrayed by the companies I must say. But hey when you have a market with a particular mind set to sell to, what else are you gonna do? Hey, Charles and I even found deodarant that said skin whitener!!! Huh????? Hilarious!!!

All in all we had the time of our lives in Vietnam. And the experience. Wow!!! The country is facinating, the people facinating, the food wonderful, the scenery incredible. What can I say. We will miss it.

By the way, regarding the delicious dog meal. The part about me eating it….”not true” Sorry. Did not have the guts. However now what we are here in India, I could do with a good beef steak. Problem is cows are holy and it would mortify any Indian that a cow could actually be eaten. Here a cow is happy to be born, becasue they are free to roam all over the streets, railway tracks and corridors, recieving offerings of food from the locals. Everything I believe in has gone topsy turvy on this trip. I can find a good dog steak but not a cow steak!! Huh?????

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