Our plane arrived into Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) last night and the change from when I was last here in 2020 to today is almost disturbingly shocking. The center part of the city, District 1, where our luxury hotel, The Reverie, is located, resembles midtown Manhattan, New York, more than anyplace in Asia. The Vietnamese have taken the opportunity for investment and development and run with it as fast as possible, if not supported by, at least not deterred by, a so-called Communist government. Large beautiful buildings, both apartments and commercial spaces are everywhere with 5th Avenue brand stores lining the streets. One of our guides compared Hanoi to HCMC as the difference between Beijing and Shanghai, the first being more traditional and conservative in taste, in part due to the presence of the national government institutions situated there and the latter being commercial and financial powerhouses. My hotel room on the 39th floor overlooks the river and one of the longest LED advertising screens down below along the shore I have ever seen or heard about.
Our day in the Delta
Our journey this morning from the sleek newness of central Ho Chi Minh City to the backwaters of the Mekong Delta was a transfer by luxury bus from the 21st century back to the 19th, when rice growing and irrigation were the hallmarks of advancement. Our tour operator, Realistic Asia, chose to take us off the beaten path to an island in the middle of the delta region, inhabited by 6000 people, called Thoi Son. Here generations have lived off their incredible gardens, supplemented by fish farms (Tilapia and Carp), local fruit sales (yellow and orange jackfruit, pomelos, dragon fruit, and breadfruit), fresh oyster mushroom cultivation, and fruit wine production. We were rowed in small wooden canoes through narrow waterways and then into the larger river where we then boarded a motorized boat to take us around the area.
The fish farms included the raising of frogs for consumption in the French style while at another stop we tasted fresh oyster mushrooms, sweet and delicate, grown in bags of sawdust. We were treated to platefuls of beautiful colorful fruit at peaceful private outdoor tables and at our lunch we were served exotic elephant-ear fish, among other delicacies. Most of the group tasted various fruit wines, from mild to strong. On our boat on the river we were each given a fresh coconut with our names actually engraved into the husk! I gasped when I tasted it as it was far sweeter than any fresh coconut water I have ever tasted – including throughout India. I thought sugar had somehow been added our local guide, said that it is from the water on the island which is very rich in minerals producing this unusually sweet coconut water.
Our guide around this island was a man named Dy (pronounced “Yee”) with beautiful English, When I asked how he learned it so well, he said from his father, now 85, who was a commander on the island who translated for the Americans during the War and paid afterwards with 5 years in a re-eduction camp after independence. He said there was a major military installation nearby and there were many U.S. deaths from snipers hiding in the mangrove bushes. Dy has 2 children, a son in medical school in Ohio and a daughter in Austin at the University. I asked whether he thought his offspring would come back to live in Vietnam and he replied “No” – after 15 years in the U.S. his son wanted to stay and he thought his daughter, majoring in finance would also forge her life away from home. He was proud of their accomplishments and did not seem to regret that they would live their lives so far away.
Dy knows everyone on the island and has instigated many projects, such as constructing septic systems and environmental cleanup to promote tourism. We ended up in the middle of a family gathering to commemorate the death date of a local relative of many, which is a joyful communal occasion for everyone to be together and celebrate life as well as pray for a dear one now gone. We walked through their festivities and saw tables of men and tables of women, separate, each piled high with food and drink. And inside the attached local temple there are prayers and gifts to remember the deceased.
It is hot out and when we get back on our bus, it begins to rain lightly. We are on our way back to HCMC but we will stop at the main covered market before we end our day.
HCMC/Saigon in a Day
Our day was packed from morning to night visiting historic landmarks of the city, from the old French-built central Post Office (with metal details by Gustave Eiffel), to the great Notre Dame Cathedral, now closed and under renovation, to the Presidential Palace (historic but of more interest to those looking to walk in the footsteps of Ho Chi Minh as the only thing to see were grand meeting rooms). Last was the War Remnants Museum, which is a difficult place to visit due to the horrific images of the American War and most suitable for those hoping to understand what happened from the Vietnamese standpoint and with several hours to spend reading the photo captions.
A special unexpected stop was to visit Hoang Van Cuong, an 80 -year old former UPI Photographer who created many iconic images of the war and who famously rode in the tank that led to the surrender of the South Vietnamese government in 1975. He paid for his collaboration with the U.S. by spending 8 years in various re-education camps before being allowed home. He then followed his passion to preserve the national heritage by collecting antiques and now has a significant collection, a few bits. of which we were able to see when we visited him.
We ended the day and our tour together with a memorable evening riding in vintage cars. some in an old Mustang and most of us in classic mid-1960’s VW bugs. Mine was pink and we rode with the top down through the light-filled world of HCMC nightlife to enjoy one bar and then another all before our grand sit-down dinner at the ST25 (refers to the best rice in Vietnam) at the Sofitel Plaza. They created a menu especially for me and it was superb. It was indeed a grand finale to a very luxurious 10 days in Vietnam, from the traditional to the ultra-modern, tasting our way through the various cultural palates from North to South, all beautifully arranged by our hosts, Realistic Asia.
