Meeting Mr. Kiet

So. I haven't had much time to update the blog. I've also been processing a lot.

My south-bound trip from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) ended yesterday. I realized that I was rather disapointed with the trip as a whole. My tour guide, although very nice, wasn't forthcoming with information. We spent more time sleeping on the bus than learning about Vietnam, the American War in Vietnam, and French colonialism. In fact, two wonderful Dutch naval ladies told me that they learned more from me than they did from our guide.

As an aside, I recommend not messing with Dutch naval ladies. They are tough. I am glad they decided that I am their friend. ;-)

I think I was trying to be open-minded and I didn't want to be too demanding. I think I was also waiting to see how things would develop; hoping perhaps that my guide would have insights to provide at the next stop.

Since I've never been on this kind of trip before I really didn't know what to expect. The fact that I learned more from my books than I did from my guide was disappointing. Those of you who know me well know that I take in people's stories like sponges take up water. I love learning from other people. I am happy that that part of my trip is over and that I am meeting new people and new guides.

Today was spent walking around Saigon, going back to the War Remnants Museum, and eating yummy vegetarian food. One of my peeves with my old guide, Sonny, was that he didn't make any effort to take us to restaurants that had vegetarian food even though, as I have discovered, it does exist in Vietnam and isn't that difficult to find.

Another peeve I had with Sonny was that he only allowed an hour's time at the War Remnants Museum. The museum is a testimony to the attrocities of war and I put it on par with the Children's Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vachem, in Jerusalem. It should be a catalyst for everyone who visits to protest war or at least, to make sure that governments abide by the Geneva Convention and other international laws. Hurrah for being on my own!!

Yesterday morning I met Mr. Kiet who is a Chinese-Vietnamese man and who was my guide back to the Mekong Delta and to Vinh Long, my mother's birth place. He taught me useful Vietnamese phrases like (in English transliteration) "Trchoi Oi" - "Oh my God", and "eurn Trcoi" - "Thank God". If I lived here I would definitely take Vietnamese lessons. I am appalled that the people I travelled with from Hanoi to Saigon didn't make any effort to learn how to say even "hello" or "thank you". Then again, if Sonny had tried to teach them, they might have felt more comfortable trying.

In any event, Mr. Kiet is a friendly and dynamic man who is not shy about expressing his views with regards to the Vietnamese government's corruption. He is equal parts sophisticate, entrepreneur, savvy southerner, and jealous xenophobe. It was fascinating spending time with him.

His father was an army doctor who trained with American medics at the American military base in Saigon. After Reunification, when the Americans went home, the Viet Cong sent Vietnamese collaborators to re-education camps. People spent anywhere from six months to six years in re-education. They were interred and had infrequent and controlled visits from their families during their stay at the camps. There, they read communist propaganda and wrote papers about the new regime. They were allowed to leave when their jailors decided that they had been rehabilitated.

Mr. Kiet's father, the doctor, spent two and a half years in a re-education camp before being released. He did not tell me what his father did after his release.

Born in 1974, Mr. Kiet has an older sister and a younger brother. He lives 3km away from his younger brother and they are both avid cyclists. He cycles to work and goes on long trips in the countryside. When their families go on weekend trips together, the wives and kids pile in a car and he and his brother leave early on their bikes. Just after picking me up at my hotel, he received a phone call from his brother: the Lance Armstrong sunglasses that they want to order will cost them $200 each. He was still pumped about the Danish win at the Tour de France.

Mr. Kiet's sister lives much further away. She was brought to the United States by their uncle and was raised with their cousins. She is a dentist in Texas and he doesn't see her often.

Mr. Kiet talks optimistically about the future. He hopes that not just his children, but he himself, will be able to travel in the future. When I asked him when he thinks the government will open up, he said by the year 2015. By then he hopes to have his own travel agency or otherwise, to be a landlord.

While Mr. Kiet has bright plans for the future, he begrudges the success of the Vietnamese boat people who have returned to invest in Vietnam. He says "they showoff, they too flash" and that "they forget they Vietnamese too". Clearly, there is some jealousy at play.

On my southbound trip we did a quick jaunt into the Mekong - the Mother River - but we didn't see much other than a coconut candy workshop and a poor snake being bled to death to satisfy the hunger and curiosity of some of my fellow travellers.

On this second trip to the Mekong, we ventured further west and into Vinh Long province, the province that my grandfather administered before the Japanese took over Vietnam. It was great. We again visited a workshop but I was able to taste all kinds of candy that is made for Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, and also some delicious puff rice concoction and coconut-rice chip thing.. yum.

Mr. Kiet is hooked up in the Mekong. Two of his cousins work at the candy workshop and his belly tells me that he has a sweet tooth of his own. It's a good thing that we both like biking. We did a little trip around an enormous Mekong island. It wasn't a very hard ride but I did feel better about scarfing down the Tet candy. Along the way we dodged other people on bicycles and motorcyclists who don't seem to care that the paths on the island are often less than a metre wide. We also stopped and had tea with a beekeeper who was smoking out some bees while his wife was melting honeycomb to make candles from the wax. His bees are chic bees of Italien descent though I can't vouch for the taste since they've been around since 1982... (haha.. get it? 1980s taste?? Bueller? Bueller?.. he)

Seriously, it was a very interesting encounter. Beekeeping is a lucrative business if you can make a go of it, it seems. In this case, the shy beekeeper, who wouldn't let me take his photo because it had never before been taken, has three farms. Each farm gives him an income approximating $8000/year - making him a rich man in this country.

We spent the night at a homestay run by Mr. Ba who has to be the friendliest Vietnamese man that I have met on this trip. His smile could light up a room. He seemed to be about 70 years old and still had a spring in his step. One of his sons had just left for Australia with his Vietnamese-Australian bride.

This morning we took to the river again and were ferried over to Vinh Long Town (it used to be Vinh Long Ville before it was americanized). I snapped two quick photos of the house where my mother was born and then we were off. Mr. Kiet was charming and helpful when it came to finding the house. Our Mekong guide, Sheri, who is from Vinh Long province, was also very kind.

My lasting impression of Vietnam is that it is a place of contradictions. I like it because it is so very human. Nothing is black and white here.

People worry about the environment while they are proud to drive motorcycles. They worry about their children while they have three of them ride without helmets between their two parents. They want wealth but begrudge the wealth of other Vietnamese.

While the government abdicates its responsibilities to its citizens the people here are moving forward as best they can. They build constantly. They build offices, houses, motorcycles, cyclos. They create businesses. They are hungry for success.

They avoid the police and settle disputes on their own. While it can be brutal and uncivilized, in a country where laws are arbitrarily enforced, it can also be immediate and effective. Mr. Kiet was never able to press charges against the man who scarred him with his motorcycle; even though a police officer saw it happen. Today, I saw a man chasing another man down the street. Both were holding large sticks. One stick was bigger than the other. In Vietnam, as in much of the developing world, might makes right.

I again have tomorrow to myself.. I don't yet know what it will bring but I am sure it will be fun! Tomorrow night I meet my new group and new tour leader and then, onward and westward to Angkor Wat!!

Woo hoo!

xoox
E