In-Tense-City

Saigon - January 30

I stood transfixed for over half an hour by what was the equivalent to a 4-espresso-shot rush of adrenaline. Rush Hour, at the busy intersections of Tran Dung Dao + Nguyen Thai Hoc - Utter Chaos! Motos are up to 60 deep and a dozen across at it's thickest, all four directions, and there are loads of bicycles and some cyclos, cars + buses too. Kids have just gotten out of school and they clog the sidewalks, making it difficult to manouver through even on foot. It's a massive, mobile sea of humanity unlike anything I've ever seen. On one moto was a family of four nestled in to one another; Another had a man with a REFRIGERATOR strapped on and towering over his head; A teen girl in mini skirt, high heels + face mask to protect her from the sun; An old woman with conical hat attempts to skirt the traffic on foot balancing pots of hot food from a long pole over her shoulders; Beautiful schoolgirls in traditional, white Ao Dai cruise by on old bicycles, defying the flow of traffic. They all expertly weave in + through each other like schools of fish. It truly IS a sight to behold... I just wonder how many days of my life were taken off by inhaling all those fumes :(


Saigon - January 31

The War Remnants Museum - Heavy Duty! Frozen images captured on film. Many by photographers who died soon after the shots were taken, some within minutes. Men in ditches, families struggling for survival, guns, death, torture, blood + tears. And then too, the aftermath of horrific substances like Napalm + Agent Orange which have damaged millions of lives + livlihoods, apparent to this day. Has the U.S. ever even sincerely apologized? And even if we could be humble enough to do so, would/could the Vietnamese accept it? In disbelief I've spent the past ten days in country puzzled by the fact they they don't hate us, and stranger still, idolize America (at least American pop culture) and move ever faster to be more like us. I've come to realize through previous travels in places like Latin America that people don't hate US, just our government, but still I keep waiting for the spittle to fly and the disgusted cry, "American!", and all I'm getting is smiles.

Check the "link" for more photos of Saigon + the Central Coast of Vietnam