Good Night South Korea, Good Morning Vietnam!

After my last blog we stayed in South Korea for 5 more days. We went to the war museum where I learned about the Korean war and how once again, America somehow managed to fuck things up when they thought they were helping. The museum was very impressive and must have been extremely expensive with hologram videos and moving sets, the only way I can describe it really is as if the Native American figures at the Museum of Natural History in NYC started fighting with ships and guns and sound effects and lights, and they were Korean, then thats what it was like. A great description, I know. Aside from that our stay in South Korea was very uneventful. Our friends at the hostel were fun, it was called Backpacker Friends, and everyone there really were friends of the owner. They all slept on the floor of the hostel. Every night they made food and drank a lot of beer and soju and laughed and watched funny you tube videos. For the first few days it was a lot of fun, but getting a good night sleep was out of the question. Our hostel room, which was a 10 person mixed dorm, also did not have a door. So that was frustrating. Overall not a bad experience though.

We traveled farther south and stayed in Gyeonju for 2 days. Gyeonju is advertized as "Beautiful Gyeonju" and we decided to go there to bask in its beauty among lakes (which we assumed would be frozen since it was winter, but possibly still beautiful) and the tombs which websites and pamphlets boasted about. I think that South Korea should win the photoshop award because in reality it should have just been called "Gyeonju" or something that means "dry and barren." Not only was the lake not frozen, it was non existent aside from a fence that at one time must have surrounded it. The tombs were merely large mounds of grass which you could walk around. We were able to enter one, which immediately stated, "everything you're looking at is fake," although in a nicer way. It was a bit disappointing, but at the same time I'm not really sure what I expected to see. Dead bodies? Graves? Bones? People excavating the site while I observed? I'm really not sure. We quickly hurried back to Seoul for our last night before our flight to Vietnam. We met up with Mimi's friend from home who took us to an Ugly Sweater Christmas party and we got to talk to a lot of people who are living in Korea, either teaching or because they are Korean American and have moved there from the states. The next day was our flight and we were waved goodbye by the only snow flurries we'll probably see the entire time we will we gone, which made us nostalgic, but equally excited to get to warm weather. Also, you dont have to take your shoes off in the Seoul airport at security which was awesome.

So after an easy 6 hour flight we arrived in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam and there was a man standing with all the other cabbies holding up a big sign that read Margaret, which was wonderful, because we were not sure if the hotel remembered we were coming or not. Had we not been picked up we also never would have found our hostel which was off a main road, down a creepy alley and essentially locked up for the night. Once inside the hostel itself was very nice, and safe. The room was decent and we got our own bathroom which I never thought would become such a luxury.

Ho Chi Mihn is a ridiculous city, first because you have to cross the street against on coming traffic. In New York when you're crossing against the light and you see an openning you run as fast as you possibly can. In Ho Chi Mihn you cross slowly, one terrified step at a time while hundreds of motorcycles whip by you and busses and cars honk for you to get out of the way. Everytime we made it across the street I was shocked I hadn't died. Honking has taken on a new meaning in Vietnam. Again, in the states, honking is usually reserved for near accidents, someone who has fallen asleep at a light, trying to get a friend's attention, or picking up women, but in Ho Chi Mihn honking means "I'm behind you, please move." It works most of the time, but everyone is honking and no one knows if its really them who is being honked at and NO ONE slows down. If a bus honks at a biker it means, "I am here, you may get crushed." Scarier than crossing the street is being in a cab. There are no road laws. You can drive wherever there is space, even if that means on the opposite side of the road. There are very faint lines in the road that may once have suggested a lane, but they aren't used and driving into a round about is chaos. Our cab almost hit a biker and then finally as the biker drove off he just laughed and laughed and laughed. It was terrifiying.

Over all we discovered that should you take the general precautions Saigon is a fairly safe place, much like New York, and like New York, if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time and look vulnerable it can become a not so safe place. The area we were staying in was known as the "Backpacker" area and there were a ton of travelers from all over. The bars stayed open late and all had western food like fries, blt, and burgers. After dinner you could sit right out on the street constantly warding off the children who come by to sell you everything from cigarettes, to lighters, to gum, to razors to hammocks. A quick shake of the hand though and they are gone. There are a lot of people walking around on the streets with facial and body mutation due to Agent Orange. Its sad and frightening at the same time and it took us a few days to get used to it. We met a lot of people at these bars and would talk to them for hours about traveling, and their experiences everywhere and occasionally we were given some helpful advice on what to see or what to do in places we have yet to go. The bars in other areas of Ho Chi Mihn were weird. There was a bar called Apocolypse Now, which really had nothing to do with the movie aside from the fact that it was in Vietnam. Apocolypse Now was a bar which had drinks and dancing, but most importantly, hookers. Hookers and old fat american men in tank tops who wanted to touch them. After one drink we had seen enough.

Our last day in Ho Chi Mihn we went to the War Remnants Museum which until recently was called the American War Crime Museum. We saw the things that they dont teach you in school. Its no wonde that people who were in the war never want to talk about it. The facts and the pictures irked every inch of my body and I just could not fathom how anyone could ever commit such horrific murders. I left the museum confused and upset and just completely questioning the human race in general. Of course the museum did not mention the terror that northern vietnam brought on the south, but all in all it seemed fairly unbaised, praising and recognizing the American soldiers who took a stand against the war and refused to fight. It makes me kind of sad that I never studied wars in general in high school or college, but I still think that reading about it only gets you so far, its really the visuals, plus being in each of these places and seeing not only the pictures of what happened, but how each of these countries managed to pull themselves together after devestating losses and still function as a nation in whatever way they could.

Now something more cheeful. For christmas we decided to take a vaction from traveling and stay at a resort 4 hours outside of Ho Chi Mihn in Phan Thiet. It is a simple, pretty resort, not over run by people and a perfect get away after a few days spent in the busy city. Even after everthing we had just seen it is nice to just be able to sit by the pool without having to think about our backpacks and passports and bed bugs. We are sleeping in the sheets for the first time on the whole trip. We usually use our sleeping bags even if the sheets look clean just in case. Just like everywhere rustic though, somethings seems weird at this resort. For instance, there are two places to eat, one indoor dining room and one outdoor, by the beach. THey have the same menu, and as we found out, the same kitchen. It takes about 45 minutes after you order your food for it to actually come, and it wont all come at once. Even if you ordered the exact same thing as another person at your table, your meals will probably be dropped off 5-10 minutes apart, along with something you didnt order and they misunderstood. They also have a very extensive drink menu, but they dont seem to know how to make any drinks. Its almost as if they openned up and said "shit, we don't have any staff, who wants to be a chef? who wants to be a waitress? bartender? you've never done any of those things? hmm...that's ok!" Its very strange. Like most resorts you can sign for your meal and pay at the end of your stay. It takes them 20-30 minutes to figure out and print out your bill and then they usually come to your room 5 hours later saying that they made a mistake or they printed something else wrong or forgot to charge us for something and we need to sign again. We checked and they aren't scamming us or over charging, but they just can't seem to get it right the first time. It's very bizare.

Christmas was quiet, aside from a white christmas tree in the center of the lobby and the christmas music playing at the pool it didnt really feel like christmas at all. Last night we were sitting out on our porch and noticed that a large group of Taiwanese had moved into the rooms next to us. We found out that that day they had bought 18 kilos, approximately 38 pounds of crabs, and had brought an electric pot with them and were boiling them right outside the hotel room. They were very generous with them and showed us how to take them apart and eat them. There were a few different kinds of crabs and I asked them what the difference was, and their response was "they look different but they are all delicious." And they were. After eating about 6 crabs we left to go to dinner and there were probably still about 40 crabs left. Before we left they each took turns taking pictures with us.

For dinner we decided to go to another beach to eat, being thouroughly fed up with the food and service at our resort. We had met a nice Swiss couple during the crab eating and the husband , 58, explained that his wife got sick after dinner and asked if he might join us. We said of course and right before we left we met two Finish guys in their 30s who just arrived at the hotel and we invited them to come along too. It was definitely and odd bunch, but made for a very funny dinner. And once again it was very nice to be able to wake up in a bed bigger than a twin, between sheets, and head for the pool. One more day in paradise and then off to Nha Trang! I hope everyone had a great christmas/ channukah!