Day 2
A quick breakfast a pho, a stop to exchange some money, and visit to the mobile shop for a cheap esim ($8/month, 4gb/day, unlimited calls and texts!) and then back into the city on scooters, this time for some governmental paperwork. Yesterdays sandal shenanagains left me with a blister, so today I wore boots - and between the acclimitization, sunconciously learning to adjust my body position to the traffic and the feel of the engine, and not worrying about losing a VN SLANG FOR SANDAL on the freeway, the ride was way more chill. I do have a new favorite part of the <emergent swarming behaviour, word>: Traffic circles. The bigger and more complicated the better. Thousands of animals <word?> reacting to hundreds of stimuli multiple times a second, and all being fed back into the system in an infinitely iterative loop. Anyways, enough bioinformatics nerd shit, on to government paperwork!
I wasn't allowed in the embassy, or consulate, or whatever it was, so I found a park attached to a nearby bank and posted up with my kindle, enjoying the shade and rubbing fountain water on my arms to stay cool. After a few chapters, Lou emerged from the beaurocracy with a form directing her to another branch of the beaurocracy. We made our way over, and then I settled in with a book for what was sure to be hours of good reading... However I was only a few pages in when she emerged! Apparently you can pay people to deal with the paperwork for you, and they deal with the lines and the forms - and just like that a few hours opened up!
So we went to the old presidential manor! An iconic structure straight out of vietnamese history and featuring prominently in the War, it's now open for tours and taking selfies at! Apart from the inspired architecture (the house forms several vietnamese characters from certain angles, in addition to catching the breezes and sunlight from every side), the first thing we noticed was the quantity of tiktoks and instagrams being captured in the front yard, most in full ceremonial dress. As an outsider, it's an odd perspective to see this stark reminder of "defeat" being treated as a stunning symbol of victory and perserverance.... but I'm probably reading too much into this. The important part is it's a good excuse and an aesthetic backdrop.
After checking out the soviet tanks (known for barreling into the yard) and the US fighter jet (known for being stolen from an airbase by a brave hero of the revolution and bombing the palace) we headed inside to check out the staterooms, meeting rooms, living quarters, etc of the palace. (CHECK WORD). While the history was cool, it's a stunning example of 1960s/70s architecture on the inside was well as the outside, adorned with fantastic design work, especially in the furniture. Classic examples of mid-century modern woodwork abound, (LOOK UP ARCHITECTURE TERM) and I was more into them then the history. We wound our way up to the roof, where they have a huey parked on the roof, next to two red circles denoting the bombing run of the aforementioned F4 fighter. Technically the last chopper out of Saigon was at the US Embassy (FACT CHECK), but the evocation is powerful and hard to miss.
On the way down we exited through the bunkers, a set of radio-chambers, armories, shooting ranges, and bedrooms staggered beneath 1m and 2.5m of cement, all well preserved. The classic mercedes alongside was a good reminder that this is as much flaunting the spoils of war as a museum, but there's an aspect of that in most museums if you think too hard about it.
After the palace, the tickets also got us into a side-house (WORD) which had an exhibition about the history of the palace, as a lens to review the history of the country from french colony to dictatorship, assassination, to civil war. To be honest, there was little architecture and no furniture so we kinda skimmed it all and moved on.
Having experienced this amazing "touristy" site, Lou wanted to hit more touristy things she'd never seen. The iconic post office is now a tourist trap, and we tried to book a tour-bus around the city but that was a bust due to the timetables. So we went to the Cathedral! Which is closed for renovations. So we went to the famous opera house! Which won't let you in if you don't have a ticket for a show.... Having exhausted the major "Tourist" things in this part of town, we now did the "touristy" thing all the locals are doing: Riding the metro.
The very first metro line opened last week, and the second stop is at the opera house! Since it's free for the first month to drum up interest and sell the idea to the masses - everyone is riding it, posting about it (and the need for deodorant) on social media, etc etc. So we took it out to the end and back! Growing up outside DC, I've been riding the metro since I was in a stroller... which made it cute to see all the first-timers form orderly lines, grab one handle apiece, and face forward. Luckily it also means they didn't know the best seat in the house: Very back of the train, so you can look out in all three directions. The line starts off underground, so check out this sweet video:
Is this an idea I stole from some random guy in an airport last year? Absolutely. But look how cool it turns out:
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After the first three underground stops, the train switches to elevated rails and soars across the city. We took it out all 10 stops to the end, hitting a max of 89.9kph between stations (we could see the cockpit display), and getting a great overview of how city fades from metropolis to industrial to housing and education as you head out of the city. Honestly, better than the bus-tour, and more fun. And 80% of the people who made it to the last stop stayed on as the train switched directions to head back into the city.
On the way back we got off at the water-park, mostly because it had an artificial mountain with a giant face on it, and because why not. Metro is free! We have to get off somewhere. The park was closed for the season, but that didn't stop us from taking dozens of pictures for Instagram, just like the locals. What I said before about the symbology of victory as a backdrop and the depth of instagram... nah. Totally wrong. Every time the train rolled into a station, there were at least a dozen camera-phones clicking. There were tiktoks being filmed on the platforms, with or without the train there for context. One family got on the train just to take some instagram shots holding the handles and got off at the next station. Turns out any excuse is a an excellent reason, the Vietnamese love taking pictures. [I ran this by my local cultural consultant who said "Don't worry it's not racist, it's true" Update: She's getting a manicure from her sister, while both she and a neighbor are filming]
As we headed back into the city the train filled to the brim. Not quite as bad as Japan, but very nearly reaching those levels, and we exited the train at the first station (with this cool roof!) in a surge? tide? of humanity. From there, it was scooters and back home.
The dinner plans were 1) family style at home, and 2) later, go out with friends for food. For family dinner one of Lou's school friends came by, and we all ate at her mom's apartment (in the same block). Mom cooked chicken (one of "her chickens"), served with rice and vegetables. As always, they piled food into my bowl, and I did my best to politely eat it all, though I did graciously decline the butt and feet. After some fruit for dessert, another of Lou's friends came by and we all jumped back on the scooters. Quick trip, but at one point my driver asked "do you trust me" before executing a 3-point turn and heading into oncoming traffic - apparently we'd missed our turn by a block. And just like that, bam, second dinner.
I was still stuffed, but tried it all anyways. Prawns and clams are still delicious, snails are still gross. Plus one octopus dish that I swear I had constantly in Thailand, but this was made with Mango, not Papaya, which makes it definitely a vietnamese dish and not at all Thai. I spent most of the dinner following the conversation through snatched loan-words and gestures, but it was still a fun time hanging out with friends / experiencing the more traditional night life.
One post-script: I grabbed a shower (in the closet), and mid shower the whole family came to our room to hang out... they passed me my clothes over the wall, laughing something about traditional vietnamese experiences.
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