Not What I Remembered

My mum, dad, uncle and I left the shores of Vietnam behind us back in late 1984 when I was 5 years old. Like many families back in the early 80s we left by boat in search of a better life. In the months leading to that night we went about life as normal, I was told by my mum that we were going to go somewhere but it was to be our secret. My lips were sealed. Back then Saigon was riddled with beggars, some still carrying the marks of the war which finished 9 years earlier. Through the eyes of a child, Saigon was busy, full of yummy food vendors pushing their carts on the streets and Cho Benh Thanh was somewhere I didn't want to get lost in. Among the food were lost souls begging for a few dollars, people with deep sadness and suffering which showed through their eyes and even their smiles. I had my favourites. There was a man who sold grilled banana in front of the temple who I always insisted we give money to. I remember feeling so sorry for a man with no arms and legs on the side of the same temple that I cried. I asked my mum how he walked around if he had no legs. My mum took me everywhere on her push bike. My uncle took me everywhere on my mum's push bike or we'd walk to the cinema to watch old movies like Gone With the Wind and he'd buy me a cup cake (huge treat, considering he had no money). There were always talks of the "new" Government among the adults. There were always talks of suffering, hardship and what was lost. There were also lots of talks about a new life, which I didn't really understand at the time.

Same But Different

Fast forward 25 years and my first trip back to the mother land. Saigon is now Ho Chi Minh City, the push bikes have been replaced by a sea of motorbikes and cars. Surprisingly there were a lot of luxury cars on the road. Traffic was still horrendous, it's just now motorised. Now at 30, I understood what the adults meant by a "new" life. A life which I had been blessed to experience. Going back to Vietnam was a cultural shock but some things made sense to me. There were still some street food vendors with their carts, but I was a little apprehensive to try the food they were pushing around. There is no more talks about the Government. People have just seem to accept their situation and survive the best they can. Their fighting spirits seems to have died. Some families are doing very well. Others not so well. There is still a lot of poverty despite Vietnam's commercial facade. The gap between rich and poor is huge. At first I faulted people's attitudes towards Vietnamese from abroad, they seem to take every opportunity they can to take advantage of us. But looking at it from their perspectives, it's nothing personal, they are just trying to survive and we just happen to be a resource in their path. I also noticed that Vietnamese kids in Australia seem to be a lot more disciplined and have a different set of values to those in Vietnam. Certainly people in my age group living abroad have a different attitude towards having and not having. If we don't have something we want, we work hard to get it. Most families over there have relatives abroad. So a lot of the kids' attitude is I'll ask my aunt or uncle, they live abroad, they have lots of money. They seem to think money is easy to come by if you live overseas. There were a lot of things that were quite disappointing aside from the general attitude and lack of customer service. One of the things that I found hard to understand was the peoples' complete lack of respect for the environment. The country side is beautiful...if you can over look the rubbish in the waterways and plastic bags flying around the foot of the mountains. Certain parts of our culture like the french influence is also not nurtured which I found to be a waste. There were so many colonial french buildings in the city which have just been left to rot. That's a part of our culture that is obviously being phased out.

Food, Fun and Sun

Unfortunately my stay was short so I only had the opportunity to visit Saigon, Phan Rang and Nha Trang. My favourite place was Den Gion Resort in Phan Ran. It was beautiful, modest but beautiful. The food was awesome. The service was excellent. The staff were fairly shy, but they were hospitable. In Nha Trang though, it was a different story. Apart from eating at a place called Same Same But Different and the gorgeous beaches, I didn't enjoy Nha Trang at all. I didn't find the people very hospitable. We checked into Diamond Bay Resort then checked out 4 hours later due to their exceptionally incompetent customer service. One place I do not recommend. Beautiful location, and the facilities were wonderful. But all ruined by the service. The bell boys at Diamond Bay gave the best service out of all the staff we encountered. They went looking for our luggage when an hour and a half later, one of our rooms was still not ready and the incompetent front desk staff had no idea where our luggage was. The market in Phan Rang is the place to go to if you enjoy a bit of tropical fruit. You can go home with kilos of fruit for less than $AU5. If you ever get the chance to visit south Vietnam, definitely make a visit to Phan Rang and stay at Den Gion Resort, not for the social scene, but for the serenity and the hospitality. If you do visit Nha Trang, drop by Same Same But Different and try their fruit smoothies. YUM. And in Saigon, make sure you visit Wrap n Roll during lunch hours and have their all you can eat buffet for $VND89000 (less than $AU7). Also try a Hue restaurant if you can find one and have banh beo. You must also have pho for breakfast one morning.

Verdict

It's very cheap to travel over there so living well on very little by western standard is quite easy. Overall, it wasn't quite what i was expecting or remembered, but it was a fun experience and I thoroughly enjoyed the food and the company of my family. I found that the humble were very humble, but the conniving were all over the place. I guess that was the disappointing part, what I remembered was everyone helping each other, I come back and everyone seems to be taking advantage of each other. Non Vietnamese tourists over there are revered though. I would go back and explore it a bit further next time. There are also so many beautiful places I haven't had the opportunity to see.  I expected to feel a connection to Vietnam when I was there, but in actual fact it made me miss Australia and made me feel very lucky that my family took that risk 25 years ago in search for a better life.  I was glad to land back in Adelaide.