We began our Sunday by heading to the Notre Dame Cathedral for the English-language Mass. A few wedding parties were taking photos outside. Inside, the service was absolutely packed, and it was exciting to see people from all over the globe--including a lot of Africans--at the service.
After church, we went to the War Remants Museum, previously known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes. The museum focuses on what we in the states call the "Vietnam War", but is known to the Vietnamese as the "American War". The brutality of the war is graphically depicted in photographs throughout the museum, many of which we had to steer the boys past quickly. The aftermath of the chemical aspect of the war, particularly as it affected children, was pictured front and center. The horrors of the war were difficult to shake from our minds; the Communist propaganda, laid on thick throughout the museum, was by turns frustrating, humorous, and odd.
We decided to break the mood by taking Cyclos to the market. Charis flew solo, with Barek and I in one cyclo and Steve and Asher in another. Vietnamese traffic is a mighty thing to behold. I actually think their system makes perfect sense: everyone simply heads the way they want to go and no one stops for anything, yet it all works out. For example, if you want to turn left across oncoming traffic--as we did in our cyclos--you simply go for it. And somehow the oncoming traffic swirls around you until everyone gets to where they want to go. Intersections often look like schools of fish encountering oncoming schools of fish. What makes it work is that 90% of the vehicles on the road are motorbikes and everyone travels at relatively low speeds. I don't have a great shot of the motorbikes on the road, but suffice it to say that there are 8 million people in Saigon--and people claim that there are 10 million motorbikes. Ten years ago, there were only bicycles and many wonder if in another ten years, all of the motorbikes will turn into cars.
On the outside of the Ben Thanh Market, fresh and dried fish were for sale, along with meat and produce.
Inside, the market was filled with shoes, clothing, and souveniers. The bargaining was tough, but luckily we had little Asher as our good luck charm. All of the ladies wanted to hold him and pat his head! The bargaining was more intense here than in China; we got some good deals, but in the end did not find too much at the market that was a great bargain. The theatrics, though, of some of the shopkeepers were priceless! Lots of anger and dismissal on one hand--and some excellent renditions of deep sadness on the other. It made it doubly nice to actually connect with someone and have a more authentic exchange. The woman in the photo above really did love Asher and we could tell that holding him made her day!
The heat was near 100 and the day was extremely humid. We had to take a break from shopping and get a soda at a nearby stand where we watched the traffic go by.
Reunification Palace, formerly known as Independence or Presidential Palace, was once the symbol of the South Vietnamese government. On April 30th, 1975, the first communist tanks crashed through the gates above. Steve is pictured in the President's Office.
A defunct helicopter on the palace roof calls to mind the famous photo of the American helicopter making one of its last rescue flights during the fall of Saigon. That photo, pictured above, was thought to be taken at the American Embassy, but the rescue actually took place at a Saigon apartment building roof.
We found the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre near the Reunification Palace. The live music and superior production elements made this performance a delight. Six musicians, seated on either side of the stage, provided lively vocals and excellent musical accompaniment on their traditional string, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The stories presented at water puppet performances are nearly always quite similar: the production opens with "Teu", the Everyman Vietnamese farmer, welcoming the audience, and the vignettes include swimming children, a cat chasing a duck, dragons fighting, a processional, and dancing ladies. The stories are simple, but the young people in the audience were charmed by them--and so was I.
After church, we went to the War Remants Museum, previously known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes. The museum focuses on what we in the states call the "Vietnam War", but is known to the Vietnamese as the "American War". The brutality of the war is graphically depicted in photographs throughout the museum, many of which we had to steer the boys past quickly. The aftermath of the chemical aspect of the war, particularly as it affected children, was pictured front and center. The horrors of the war were difficult to shake from our minds; the Communist propaganda, laid on thick throughout the museum, was by turns frustrating, humorous, and odd.
We decided to break the mood by taking Cyclos to the market. Charis flew solo, with Barek and I in one cyclo and Steve and Asher in another. Vietnamese traffic is a mighty thing to behold. I actually think their system makes perfect sense: everyone simply heads the way they want to go and no one stops for anything, yet it all works out. For example, if you want to turn left across oncoming traffic--as we did in our cyclos--you simply go for it. And somehow the oncoming traffic swirls around you until everyone gets to where they want to go. Intersections often look like schools of fish encountering oncoming schools of fish. What makes it work is that 90% of the vehicles on the road are motorbikes and everyone travels at relatively low speeds. I don't have a great shot of the motorbikes on the road, but suffice it to say that there are 8 million people in Saigon--and people claim that there are 10 million motorbikes. Ten years ago, there were only bicycles and many wonder if in another ten years, all of the motorbikes will turn into cars.
As for walking across a road, you simply go out in the traffic and walk at a steady pace: if you stop or if you rush, you may literally die. But if you walk ahead at a steady pace, drivers from all directions will "get" where you are and go around you. When you are out in the middle of 6 lanes of traffic, it looks and feels like a school of fish swimming around a rock in the river.
On the outside of the Ben Thanh Market, fresh and dried fish were for sale, along with meat and produce.
Inside, the market was filled with shoes, clothing, and souveniers. The bargaining was tough, but luckily we had little Asher as our good luck charm. All of the ladies wanted to hold him and pat his head! The bargaining was more intense here than in China; we got some good deals, but in the end did not find too much at the market that was a great bargain. The theatrics, though, of some of the shopkeepers were priceless! Lots of anger and dismissal on one hand--and some excellent renditions of deep sadness on the other. It made it doubly nice to actually connect with someone and have a more authentic exchange. The woman in the photo above really did love Asher and we could tell that holding him made her day!
The heat was near 100 and the day was extremely humid. We had to take a break from shopping and get a soda at a nearby stand where we watched the traffic go by.
We found the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre near the Reunification Palace. The live music and superior production elements made this performance a delight. Six musicians, seated on either side of the stage, provided lively vocals and excellent musical accompaniment on their traditional string, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The stories presented at water puppet performances are nearly always quite similar: the production opens with "Teu", the Everyman Vietnamese farmer, welcoming the audience, and the vignettes include swimming children, a cat chasing a duck, dragons fighting, a processional, and dancing ladies. The stories are simple, but the young people in the audience were charmed by them--and so was I.
Here are three clips from the Golden Dragon production:
When you went to see the water puppets, were there a lot of SAS people with you? Or were you there with a lot of local theatre goers? I just wondered about the audience reaction/involvement with the performance (especially in the third video, I think it was).
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