Vietnam, The Victorious

I only saw Ho Chi Minh City from a bus, and Saigon up close, so all my impression of Vietnam is taken from this limited point of view. Having said that, these people are David to the world's Goliaths; at least, that is how they see it! They have whipped the French, Chinese, and Americans and established their socialist state with a thriving market economy. Go figure. If anything, they seem to be in a gleeful moment, though there are shadows of China maybe wanting their offshore oil, and inflation maybe hurting the Vietnamese people as much as foreign investment helps them. But it is all hustle and bustle, much elbowing and shouting, spiced by a little begging.

I was walking through Saigon after purchasing my Japan Rail pass (which can only be purchased outside of Japan because it is for tourists), and I saw the Paris Boulangerie; how could I resist? And then, looking at the menu, I had to wonder what a Hawaiian pizza made in Saigon might be, so I ordered one. It took forever to make, it contained pickles where you'd expect pineapple, and it was huge. I tried to get my server to bring half of it to a table of students from the ship, but she said her boss was watching and she could not. About this time two boys, apparently brothers, came by and asked if they might clean my shoes while I dined. I declined, but when it was time to get my bill, I asked the waiter if I could give my pizza to the boys. He said that it would be kind and called them over. They took it, wary of its weirdness, and sat down at the curb to explore it, finally folding it over into a proper sandwich and taking a bite. Yuk! Splth! He ditched it in the planter box. Later, when they asked again about cleaning my shoes, I consented.

As if this were not bad enough, I had ordered some tailor-made silk suits, and, when I had them in the bag, they were too heavy to carry all the way back to the bus stop. So, there I was, overweight blond American, pouring sweat in the humid heat, having shopped too much to carry herself and her goods, hiring a cyclo, a rickshaw bicycle propelled by a skinny Vietnamese man, through the hundreds of motor bikes and cars and buses of Saigon. I would not have missed that ride for anything, as it gave me my most 'authentic' moments in Vietnam. I got to the bus right as it was departing, all my stuff with me, feeling Vietnam victorious, and getting out of town just in time... so as not to feel it too much.