THURSDAY, APRIL 30TH - PHUKET, THAILAND

Well, we both totally crashed today. I guess getting up at 4:30 a.m. so many times finally caught up with us. We got up around 9:00 a.m. and stayed at the pool most of the day, reading, catching up on email and swimming. Except for Cambodia, the weather today was brutally hot here and it was tough just to get to the pool across the pavement from our chairs. They keep bringing you cold towels and ice water all day long which is so much appreciated. We did decide, however, that we shouldn't leave here without seeing some of the island. One of the guests had an all day tour with a local taxi driver for $50.00 for the whole day and he gave us his card. Mr. Is Taxi Service - mobile 087 0581754. The hotel reached him for us and he speaks good english and seemed very accomodating. He is going to pick us up at 10:00 a.m. and return us to the hotel at 6:30 p.m. so we should get a good idea of life here in Phuket. We are going to try to avoid seeing any coconut factories, elephant rides, pagodos except for the most famous ones. We are going to try to see the most famous beaches and spend a little time in Phuket Town. I have been unsuccessful finding a place to do my acrylic nails for a reasonable price. The hotel doesn't do them at all and apparently, there is a spot in the supermarket in town and they charge $50.00 for a fill. I paid this two years ago in Prague and they really didn't know what they were doing. Therefore, I sent an email to Astri to see if she can locate a place in Beijing for me. My list of things for Beijing is getting longer: new glasses, fake designer purses and now nails. It is interesting that I couldn't find any acrylic nail places in Vietnam considering that in the States practically the entire industry is owned by the Vietnamese.

We had a nice dinner at the hotel. We shared a seafood salad and also had traditional pad thai - yum! We really could not face another buffet tonight - just too much food and we will stick with the local cuisine. The Italian buffet last night was a mediocre attempt to create this cuisine and was the only meal that we have not totally enjoyed so far this trip.

Tuesday, April 28th and Wednesday, April 29th - Phuket,

Thang picked us up at the hotel for our trip to the Vietnam International Airport. It was built two years ago and is very modern. In the car, we realized that we have been listening to English being spoken without any word endings. Boy would I like to work professionally with the guides here! This is how the conversation went after Thang handed his personal business card and email so we could send him any pictures that we had taken with him in it. You velee welco to cu to our country and we hoe tha you wi cu ba velee soo. We hoe tha you lie yaw tree very mu wee u. We hoe you ter (tell)yer fre(your friends to cu see our Vietnamee peeper(people) . You hab a say trabel today. My pleasure to serb you age sometie. Thang was unable to accompany us into this airport so we said our goodbyes and we were off.

We easily found the Vietnamese Air counter, gave them our passports, got our seats confirmed and our luggage checked all the way through to Phuket though we had a flight switch in Bangkok. Then we easily passed through security and followed the signs to immigration. We presented our passports and we were asked for our immigrations forms but we did not have them. We tried to ask the officer a question but all he said was "you go" and pointed back to where we came from. We followed our way back out through security and back to the ticket counter where the woman who checked us in had forgotten to give us the forms. We then filled them out, went back through security and found another line at immigration to avoid the original "you go" officer and our visas were stamped and voila, we were through and on our way to the gate. I must admit, that with all of our travels, including Russia, I have never experienced such anxiety in these types of situations in these communist countries.

Arriving in Phuket airport, we were totally on our own for the first time in over two weeks - no guide waiting with a "Mr. and Mrs. Drexler" sign but we are old pros now so we asked at the information booth for a "safe taxi" to the Marriott Beach Resort and we were told where to go and how much to expect to pay. The Marriott wanted $37.00 to send a limo for us but the cab was only $12.00 US for the twenty minute ride to the resort.

This is a very luxurious resort and we have a suite overlooking the ocean with a huge king size bed, seating area, flat screened tv, enormous bathroom with separate sinks for each of us, a walk in closet and an ironing board and iron which we have not had before. Thank goodness for our Marriott points that we are using for this stay. There are police type guards everywhere and they salute you as you drive or walk past them. We also see that this is a completely self contained resort and is far from the center of the city. They have about 10 restaurants - all with very high end prices but I think that we are going to suck it in and stay put. We showered and dressed (yes, long pants and button down silk shirt for Lenny and a nice outfit for me). I even changed my shoes. Since leaving the States, we literally have been wearing shorts,tee shirts and our wonderful walking sandals. Makeup - who needed it but here, at the Marriott, for sure.
We had a very terrific Japanese buffet with the freshest sushi, perfectly grilled rare tuna and steaks, skewers of grilled chicken and vegetables, drinks and fresh fruit.

Now, here is the first major glitch in our trip for us! We are traveling with a new very small computer that runs on Linux and I, at least, am not very familiar with it. We have been writing our blog every night as a word document off line on the computer and then saving it to our diary in the diary section of my documents. When I went to open the diary to copy it to the blog it didn't open right away and asked what program I wanted to open it with. Then the whole computer went crazy and we now cannot open any of our files on the computer, including the work documents that I took with me. Fortunately, all of our pictures are fine and we can write the blog online but it will be more of a hassle to do it. We purchased a full week internet package at the hotel (no free WIFI here ) so it will be ok but it has been very frustrating. The IT guy at the hotel came up to try to help but he really didn't have any idea what to do except to completely wipe out the files and start all over again with a new download of the software. We have passed on that idea, at least until we get to Beijing where perhaps Phil can direct us to reliable computer tech support.

Fortunately, breakfast is included in our room; otherwise, the breakfast buffet is $35.00 pp. We decided that we would do a big breakfast and dinner. This morning, we had bagels and fabulous smoked salmon with cream cheese and chives - yum, as well as all of the asian dishes, eggs, waffles, french toast, salads, mimosas and bloody marys. We could probably pass on dinner as well. There are four edgeless pools on the complex and I just left Lenny sleeping by the pool with his kindle in his hand. It is difficult for me to stay put all day. Len says that I have to learn to do it. Tonight we will take a walk on the beach and go to the Italian restaurant.
Met an American couple who live in Hong Kong and they have been here for a week. They said that Phuket Town was basically the same type of tourist stalls we have seen all over and they didn't think it was worth the 45 minute taxi ride to get there. We'll see.

Pictures to follow we hope.

Monday, April 27th – HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON), VIETNAM

Monday, April 27th – HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON), VIETNAM

Some thoughts and info:

To buy a house in Vietnam, you first save enough to buy the land and then you save enough to build a house - it is mostly a cash transaction.. Some people borrow some money for not more than five years. Private houses are on about 40 square meters of land which costs about $7000.00 US per square meter. If you go out to the suburbs, you can buy the same land for about $2000.00 per square meter but you have a 45 minute motorcycle ride into the center of town. This is our guide's situation. These houses are very narrow and are built up sometimes for four or five floors. Most young couples live with the husband's family. In Thang's case, they live with his mother so they say that they have inherited the property from the family; otherwise they could not afford to build a house. On the ground floor they have a tailor shop for his wife, a place for their two motorcycles, a small restroom with a toilet, and a room for his grandmother. On the next level, his mother has a bedroom, living room, kitchen with stovetop, small refrigerator, sink, washing machine and tv. On the third floor, Thang and his wife live. Every floor has its own bathroom. On the top floor, they have a place to hang their laundry and a room for Thang's sister-in-law to live.. They have a small flower garden.

On our trip today, we saw some new houses going up in what we call “a gated community” and it sounds like this is the future here for those with money. The math teacher who makes $300.00 per month can add substantially to his income in this way: He charges a student $10.00 a month but has 100 students in a small space in his house.. He uses a microphone. He can earn $1000.00 per month in this way and he pays the local police a bribe so that he doesn't have to tell the government how many students he is teaching privately.

The cost of a Honda motorcycle is anywhere between $2000.00 and $7000.00 depending on how fancy you want it to be.. This is a most prized possesion. When they park their motorcycle on the street they have to pay someone to watch it. A Chinese motorcyle is cheaply made and might only cost $300.00 but it breaks down frequently and needs constant repairs. The blue color worker and the laborer buy these motorcycles. Today, on the way back from our day trip, it started to rain very hard. The cylists simply take out a plastic poncho and continue on their way. We saw many families – a mother, father and two small children between them riding in this way – one large poncho over the driver stretched all the way back to cover the rest of the family completely. It is truly an amazing thing to see. People here wear masks when they are riding, not only to keep away the gas fumes of the city but to keep their skin light. We have been told this everywhere we travel here. They keep their arms covered, cover their faces with large kercheif type masks, long pants and socks – even in the hottest weather.

On the other hand, in Saigon, there is also a layer of large wealth with very high end restaurants and shops where tourists and also rich Vietnamese shop. This is the land of “haves and have nots” as we have seen before in Russia and also throughout Thailand and Cambodia too.

We have been giving English pronunciation lessons to our guide and getting Vietnamese pronunciation lessons in return and we have learned to say thank you, good bye and the names of a few dishes to order in the restaurants. As bad as I am with finding my way at home and following directions, that is how bad Lenny is with trying to pronounce the Vietnamese words. We have been laughing a lot about it.

Our all day outing today took us to the Mekong Delta. On our way, we visited a well known Vietnamese Pagoda - The Cao Dai Pagoda. On the front, was what we think of as a swastika but it is actually a backwards swastika. In the Chinese culture, this symbol is a sign of happiness and peace. We have seen this before in Japan, but it is still unnerving to see it on a building. Our guide knew immediately what we were questioning and explained it right away.

We then arrived in the city of Metho and then went by boat into the Mekong Delta. Having been at the war museum the day before, we immediately felt a sadness as we imagined what our peers had to go through as soldiers stationed here during the war. We saw how the Viet Cong hid in the tall water coconut palms and made surprise attacks on our troops. Many of the local people were also killed here. Now the area is populated mostly with fishermen and their families.

Our boat took us to Unicorn Island where we were treated to a variety of local fruits that are grown there such as papaya, pineapple, saparillo, jack fruit (which we didn't like at all) and in true tourist trip fashion, we were entertained by some local musicians playing the old traditional Vietnamese instruments and two young women who sang for us. Lenny and I decided that none of them were going to make it on American Idol. We then were taken by sampan, a paddle boat for a trip through the narrow canals of the Mekong River and stopped to get a view of some cottage industries making coconut candy and rice wine. We also tasted some tea made with fresh honey right from the bee hives. An interesting lunch was served to us in a private little hut and we tasted some new dishes – all were very good. Once again, we knew that we had eaten way too much.

We returned to the hotel to rest and then took the hotel van to the night market. We ended our day with a bowl of seafood pho, vegtetarian curry and a shrimp spring roll. On the way back to the hotel, I told the driver that we had really enjoyed being in Saigon at which point he said: “Madame, since the war, Saigon has been called Ho Chi Minh City”! You never know here if you are talking to someone from the North or from the South. There is still a lot of sensitivity about THE WAR here as it is with us – we just call it The Vietnam War and they refer to it as The American War. Ho Chi Minh City was meant to remind us who won THE WAR!

It has been a wonderful time in Vietnam. Tomorrow, we leave for Phuket, Thailand where we will be for six days on the beach! We are ready to slow down a little and relax.

Sunday, April 26th – HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON), VIETNAM

Sunday, April 26th – HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON), VIETNAM

We flew to Saigon on Vietnam Air (flight nine) from Hue which took about 1.5 hours. The airport at Hue is very small and essentially has one waiting room. Upon entering the airport, we checked in our luggage and were directed to security – shoes, ok – jackets, ok – computers inside carry-on luggage, ok – purse had to go through the x-ray. We then had to shlep our carry-on suitcases up a long flight of stairs to the waiting room. When the flight was called, we had to shlep our stuff back down the steps and then back up the steps to board the plane This is not easy and at least, for me, annoying. There is absolutely no thought given to the ease of travel here. Arriving in Saigon, we shlepped our stuff down the steps of the plane, up onto the very crowded airport transit bus, up the steps into the airport to the baggage claim. It has been amazing that on all of these flights, our luggage has arrived in good condition. In addition, when leaving the baggage area, we easily find our new guide holding a sign with our name on it. Our new guide's name is Thang (pronounced Tang) and our driver is Dung (pronounced Yoong). We have a very nice SUV for transportation.

Without a beat we were off for a city tour of Ho Chi Minh City. Immediately, we could see that this is a big city with much traffic and modern roads, tall buildings, lots of upscale shops and hotels, and lots of small shops like we have seen in every city selling scarves, shoes, knock-off watches, purses, tourist trinkets, clothes and anything else you can imagine. Our tour included:

The Presidential Palace - known as Reunification Hall was where the South Vietnamese fell to the Communists when a North Vietnamese Army Tankcrashed through the front gates in April 1975. The hall has been preserved as it was in 1975.

War Remnants Museum – houses a sobering collection of military hardware, photographs, an other items from the Vietnam War which presents a very graphic account of the conflict from the Vietnamese perspective from the North. We were very uncomfortable reading all of the propoganda about how cruel the US soldiers were to the Vietnamese people, how brutal their warfare tactics, etc. On the whole, the war is presented exclusively from the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong view. The photographs show a very graphic description of man's inhumanity to man. One whole room is dedicated to war photographers and their pictures, forming a tribute to those who died in the war, including pictures of American soldiers fighting alongside the South Vietnamese and also depicting the war from both sides. The propoganda room contains records of international protests against the war. These protests brought to mind our era and our generation. We remembered sitting up all night waiting to see if Lenny's draft number would be called. He was very lucky to have been passed over and given an industrial deferment. We certainly were against the war and didn't want him to go. Seeing these awful pictures made us feel uncomfortable sick to our stomachs. The Museum is a “must see” but we were totally drained when we left. Our guide knew enough not to discuss the museum experience with us.

The Central Market (Ben Thanh Market) is a very large covered market well stocked with clothes, household goods, toiletries, souvenirs, silk and other fabrics, jewelry and food, food, food sold in bulk and also with many many stands selling lunch noodles, springrolls, etc. The food looks and smells wonderful but we have been warned not to eat there. We will probably try to return in the evening to do a little shopping and try our skill at bargaining with the vendors which is expected.

Lunch at Pho 2000 where President Clinton ate in 2000 - There are pictures on the wall of Clinton's visit here. This is what we would certainly call a local dive but the noodle soups are excellent and inexpensive. We shared a huge bowl of seafood noodle soup and of course, also had a beer. Lunch and beer cost about $5.00 US. The restaaurant was very crowded with locals and tourists. Our order was taken and served within five minutes and it was wonderful.

China Town – called Cholon – this is a hectic area with bustling markets, interesting temples and some brightly decorated assembly houses, all currently used for prayer and meetings. Our guide is very knowledgable with understandable English.

Wholesale Market - This is -probably the biggest market we have seen in all of our travels. It is packed with every imaginable type of goods. Though it is a mostly wholesale market, they will sell to the public and we saw many locals buying spices, meats, fish, vegetables, prepared foods, clothing, dishes, kitchen ware, etc. While we were in the market, it started to pour. In a split second, plastic sheets appeared to cover the goods that were getting wet where leaks in the roof allowed water to gush into the market. We readily followed our guide through the narrow aisles, dodging the water expertly. Magically, our car was at the exit that we came out of which was totally amazing, since the market is so huge and there are many entrances and exits.

Post Office – built in the 1880s - Thang seemed to be very proud of this building and he wanted us to take lots of pictures of it, inside and out. We bought a few stamps to send some postcards home to the grandkids.

Since it was still raining, we passed on the opportunity to visit a famous Pagoda and returned to our hotel to check in and relax for awhile. We had been up since 5:00 a.m. and were pretty tired. I am typing this note and Lenny is napping. We have a recommendation from our guide for dinner and if it stops raining we can walk there from the hotel.

Our hotel is the Hotel Equatorial (bed number ten). It is very beautiful. Internet services are $6.00 per hour so we will find an internet cafe later to send our blog and check our email. The high end restaurant is catering to the Norwegian Menu and their set dinner is $98 US per person. Our room has a nice view of the city, a very comfortable king size bed and a flat screen tv that has CNN and BBC. What more can one ask for.

Have to add something about tonght's dinner because it was so much fun. We walked to Quan 01 located at 01 Tran Phu St. It was a very busy restaurant with hoardes of 20 somethings just having the best time eating and drinking lots of beer. We were clearly the only Americans and no one spoke one work of English. The menu, however, had some English and our cute waitress was so happy to try to help us . We tried to order a shrimp in tamerind sauce but she kept saying no, no. The cost of the dish was 240,000 dong or about $12.00 US. We then realized after much pantomiming and writing in her pad that the dish price was for a kg and would have been much too much for us. She finally wrote 72,000 and we realized that she wanted us to order 1/3 of the original amount of the dish. We added a sauteed eggplant trying to reproduce the fabulous dish we had a few days ago but we have been unable to duplicate it. At any rate, every eggplant dish that we have ordered has been very good; just different. Our third dish was a fried rice with crab which was incredibly good too. The cost of this whole dinner plus three beers was $10.00 US and we gave her a $2.50 US tip. She almost fainted. We were certainly an oddity as during our meal many waiters and waitresses came over to watch us eat and our waitress actually peeled the shrimp for us, told us to eat a particular dish with a spoon and showed us which sauces to use. We are now using a free WIFI hook-up in a small coffee shop. Lenny has actually had an ice cream sundae here. I think that this is the first real desert he has had since '97. I ordered a capuccino but got a really strong filtered coffee with sugar. After 3 tries to get some steamed milk and then just plain milk, I gave up and drank it as it was given to me. These experiiences are what is making this trip so special. In order to have this experience, you need to be adventuresome, avoid the hotel and tourist restaurants.