Vietnam is here.
Sadly, my camera was stolen in Saigon the night before we left, so I lost all my pictures...So I'll do my best with the words... (In one of the many coffee shops, on one of the many streets, trying to summarize my first impressions)
Saigon makes me feel at home. She watches out for me, and us.
Fumes and motorbikes swarm her streets, but she stays clean, reliable, and livable all the same.
The pointed Vietnamese hats symbolize to me the softness of the people - while the motorbikes represent the speed and energy off the streets.
Entrepreneurship is every corner and every store - making a deal, a better deal that is - from the neighbor selling the same thing. "same, same, but different" they sing. In their store, "Better quality, better price."
The Vietnamese are witty, fun, serious when they need to be, and friendly to all.
There is a lawless murmur in the air - provoking a sense of freedom and liberation. Maybe deeper than we really see - from the government and/or from the many countries that tried to take it away.
Through the lens, she looks a bit chaotic or mad, but she is calm and understood.
Her people coexist harmoniously - respecting each other's role in the community.
No hostility, look, or disrespect ever shown from the faces - or behind the hats into the deep brown eyes.
They dance around each other gracefully with an unspoken kindness.
The high-end hotel manager and the restaurant owner all accept the nature and necessary peddling of the hawkers. Business will be business - with a kind hand in the deal.
The Vietnamese colors are bright with shades of silk, a whiteness of the present day - truths of their history soiled by deep reds.
Too much unforgettable blood has spilled, the political capitalism spill.
Overcome and rising above - Vietnam won, with the forever scars in the generations of children to come.
Our history book, the American tale of truths - much different once you are here and see.
I am a proud American traveling. I am received by clapping and happiness when I share where I am from. Welcomed openly with good English they say, "I like America - a friend lives there - I want to go." No grudges, just smiles.
Smiling cause they know their culture is strong with the mix of incense, jasmine, dignity, Buddhism, prosperity, honesty, sweat, citrus, soul.
A world of working women, and very proud men. Early to rise, early to nap. Will pull you off the streets for a sale, but will be snoozing when you walk in.
A well balanced social class, going after the tourist dong (Vietnam's currency).
Her specialties: silk, rice, quilts, lacra (sp?), chicory drip coffee, tailor clothes, zippos from wartimes, eggshells used as a medium of design for bowls, plates, noodles.
Amazing and effectively, one family, one house - a home at night, but a tour office, guest house, internet cafe, restaurant, laundry service, and cafe by day. All in one.
If you need or want something they do not have, wait only a minute, and it will appear. Crazy resourceful. Of course, at the right price.
Saigon (as the rest of Vietnam I am sure) is changing so fast. In 2 weeks, we watched her try on and sport new outfits to better suit her surroundings. Hotels, storefront, tour offices - all constructed and finished in the blink of an eye.
i can only imagine what she was just a few years ago, just after her wars. And, at this pace, what she will become in only a few more. Certainly, never the same.
I give thanks to be walking her streets now - feeling her today.
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