Hanjié's Blog: September 2007

The Lab technicians asked me where I would like to spend the weekend? I told them I had seen most of the tourist arractions in the HCMC and this time I might join a local tour for a 2 days with one night of a deeper tour in Mekong Delta. Friday, they told me the trip to the Mekong delta had been arranged and they would pick me up at my hotel at 5:30 leaving me no room to object.

I was expecting a tour with everybody in the Lab in an ambulance, like the last time we went to Vung Tau beach until I saw a minibus, a driver and a tour guide waiting in front of the hospital. The guide explained the itinerary in Vietnamese and translated in English through one of the technicials but I had a hard time to pick up anything from her Vietnamese accent which soon became my lullaby. I woke up and found myself next to the Mekong river bank in My Tho after a two hour drive. After breakfast, another tour guide joined us and reviewed the itinerary for me in English which is summarized as follows:

Visit Vinh Trang Pagoda in My Tho. Take a boat trip to Thoi Son Island, visit a coconut candy workshop. Continue to visit fruit orchards and enjoy honey tea and fresh fruit with a traditional music performance. Take a boat and paddle through the canal in Thoi Son Island to Mekong river then switch to a bigger boat to Phoenix Island. Lunch at a local restaurant in Ben Tre and back to My Tho. Visit the snake farm in Dong Tam, then the journey home. (Routes on Google map below)

A combination of Chinese and India architectural styles, Vinh Trang Pagoda consists of five buildings and two ornamental yards. Inside the pagoda, Chinese calligraphy engraved pillars, statues of Chinese deities, in the style of Chinese temples dominate worshippers' eyes. Some bricks on the roof were replaced by transparent plastic for natural lighting; rays of light reflecting on the wafting smoke from joss sticks create a sacred ambience.

The rest of the trip I found insipid. To me, visiting coconut candy workshops and tasting honey tea and seasonal fruits was a way of stalling for time and selling products to tourists. One of the most puzzling destinations was the Phoenix Island. The island looked like a kindergarten from the boat: 9 dragon pillars scaterred over a square; a globe hanging to steel frames on top of it a space ship, apollo, flying into space; two towers rise from a Vietnam map which represent the two major cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Saigon; a concrete cave extends toward to the towers creating an arch between the two where the coconut monk's floating pagoda is situated. The highlight of the weirdness on this island is that you can pay 2000VND to fish for crocodiles. Biography of Coconut monk is exhibited in the lobby of a hotel that I don't think is still open for accommodation. Pavilions were built on the other side of the hotel for dining.

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Just when I thought there would be no suprises on my 4th visit in Ho CHi Minh City, right at the moment I stepped out of the plane. I had a feeling of something strange about the terminal but I couldn't tell what it was.

Passing through the sky bridge, I saw a spacious Customs area with more than 15 lines open for checking passports and visas that certainly shortens waiting time a great deal; tranparent elevators, steel frames patched with huge glass windows brighten up the building giving me a DejaVu as if I was in Suvarnabhumi airport, in Thailand. The crowd waiting at the exits for arrivals are now divided into two terminals which gives an international airport atmosphere back to the Tan Son Nhat International Airport rather than that of a refugee camp.

The hotel I stayed in this time was the Elios Hotel, a 3 star hotel on D Pham Ngu Lao. My passport was held at the counter after checking in which is a weird rule but it doesn't apply to every hotel in Vietnam. There are 3 types of rooms available: the standard room (18-20 square meters) – one double bed US$45; Deluxe Room (32 square meters) – one Queen sized bed & one single bed US$70; Executive room (32 square meters) – one Queen sized bed (bath room with jacuzzi) US$80. Rates are nett for single use, inclusive of 10% VAT & 5% service charge; buffet Breakfast daily.

Facilities are: Conference room • Business center • Fitness center • Satellite TV (including Star World Channel!)• Mini-bar • IDD telephone.• In-room safe (I can't find one in my standard room)• Individual controlled air conditioning • Spacious bathroom with shower / bath-tub /Jacuzzi (really big, about 1/3 of the room size)• Complimentary in-room Wi-Fi.

On my last visit (April, 2007) the hotel was just opened for business, they were still setting up the fitness center and hotel website; 6 months later, the rudimental website design might be one of the reasons of high vacnacy. I was thrilled by the roof top fitness center that overlooks the HCM City, equipped with brand new machines and a set of stereo. Soon later, I found out the setero was malfunctioning, and attempts at fixing it by the hotel staff were in vain. During my stay in the Elios, 8 days, no one ever tried to fix it again despite the fact that this stereo might still has its warranty valid.

I've learned to turn a blind eye on hygiene issues in restaurants in Vietnam after seeing cockroaches and ants running across my table in a 4 stars hotel restaurant, so when I spotted ants on my table in the roof top restaurant of the Elios hotel, I stayed calm. But what I saw next made me loose my cool. There were two glass tables outdoors and one of them had no tabletop. Despite its toplessness, somebody put an ashtray on the frame right at the center of the table, making it look like a normal table. It was amusing to see people drop their plates on the floor looking bewildered.

I couldn't help thinking of the Broken Windows Theory: consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. 6 Months from its opening, the hotel started having some damage yet left unfixed, how long would it take to run down the system, I wonder?

In the hospital, as I expected, when I asked the Lab technicians to prepare some ground ice to keep specimens of interest frozen while sorting from all specimens collected for the past year; the technicians took me to a room where a handcranked ice shaver was and shaved some ice then showed it to me waiting for my approval. I shrugged and told them as long as them could fill up two medium size styrofoam boxes, why not. The day when we were preparing the specimens, I couldn't help asking them if they really spent hours shaving ice? the answer was they bought it as I requested in my email before my visit.

Hanjié's Blog

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Mekong Delta

Friday, September 07, 2007

Ca Va Vietnam