I could have used another week to explore Vietnam, but I’ve got a bunch of
stuff going on back in Cambridge this coming week and unfortunately couldn’t
stay longer.
I went down to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City - but all the locals seem to have reverted to calling it Saigon) on Thursday to see the
Harvard-affiliated Fulbright program offering courses in economics and law to
mid-career Vietnamese professionals. My original plan was to stay in Saigon
until Friday evening, so I could have lunch with freelance journalist and
food-blogger Graham Holliday of Noodle Pie. Unfortunately, I ended up having to go back
to Hanoi early Friday morning because a meeting I had been trying to arrange came through
at the last minute for Friday afternoon. Later that day Graham blogged about the
great
noodles I missed, and succeeded in making me feel really really sorry I had
failed to meet him. Oh well. Hopefully he’ll still be in Saigon next time I go. (Photos by Graham Holiday from his NoodlePie blog.)
Friday was definitely one of those days
that you wish had been twice as long. On my way back into Hanoi from the airport
I ended up sharing a taxi with Duc Huy, who turns out to be a well known Vietnamese American
musician. He was performing in a local Hanoi club that evening and invited me to
come. I had to meet up with some people for dinner that evening, however, and
convinced them to come with me to the club, but we showed up a bit late and I
think he may already have performed. But I'm not entirely sure. We sat and watched a Vietnamese pop show
for a while, which was interesting. The place was packed with fashionably
dressed and coiffed Vietnamese 20–somethings out on the make. These kids are part of the
post-war baby boom generation who seem to have no interest in ideology and little interest in history - and look like the same fashionable young
clubbers you see from Bangkok to Taipei to Seoul. (Unfortunately cameras weren’t
allowed inside.) We saw several acts: one Vietnamese hip-hop performance
followed by a series of romantic rock ballads sung by beautiful girls and
stylish guys. Couldn't understand a word, of course, but it was interesting to watch the action in the club, where the 20-year-old hormone levels were rather high to put it mildly. A rather cute Vietnamese guy who spoke fluent German but no
English tried to pick me up, but we had no common language. Then my friends got
bored with the show and dragged me off, so I didn’t have a chance to see if Duc
Huy had actually performed yet or not, or find somebody to interpret…
Another person I would have liked to meet was blogger Geordie of OurManinHanoi, who works for an Australian charity, KOTO, which helps Vietnamese street kids. Oh well. Too much to do, too little time. Geordie will be happy to know, however, that I did managed to eat at KOTO’s restaurant before heading to the airport on Saturday.
More later with an attempt at some broader observations about Vietnam.
(Technorati tag: vietnam)
Sorry too that we didn't get the chance to meet up. Have sent email - hope you got it.
Just one thing - Geordie refers to where I live in UK. The inhabitants of Newcastle, England are known as Geordies.
My name is in fact Steve, or OMIH for the purposes of blogging.
One question you haven't actually covered (unless I missed it) - did you actually like Vietnam?
Just curious. In my experience most love it but some people just find the whole thing too much hassle.
Posted by: OMIH | April 25, 2005 at 06:09 AM
How do Vietnamese see Americans today? Are they still resentful about what happened forty years age?
Posted by: Karl | November 26, 2005 at 10:38 AM