I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain

Toward the end our visit to Vietnam we reflected on our trip at the open air roof top restaurant at our hotel in HCM City. The hot humid air of the day had changed to a cooling evening breeze and let us pay some attention to what was going on around us. A pleasant young Vietnamese waitress explained, in English, how we could best use our complimentary coupons. A group of retirement aged Germans joked and conversed at the table next to us. The swimming pool had its share of activity. James Taylor and Beetle music gently played in the background. We wondered just what it would have been like if the US had won its long struggle in this country.

A few days earlier on our taxi ride from the airport to our hotel, our driver with a small but sufficient grasp of English asked us where we were from. When we answered, “The US”, he responded “Very good country, America.” As we walked the streets, we noticed that Coke and Pepsi, products that know no international boundaries, were widely available. HBO and CNN were beamed into hotel rooms. Without hesitation, American accented English was used with westerners. To our children, Vietnam is not the land of your mom and dad.

We found that a smile and a stumbling attempt at Vietnamese brought reciprocated smiles and a gracious forgiveness for the horrible mangling of the very tonal Vietnamese language. A camera brought about mugging and more smiles when the instantly digital image was shared.

The main streets teemed with motorbikes and commerce. Side streets, less congested with vehicular traffic, were filled with fruit and veggie sellers. We know of nowhere else where one can buy a grapefruit the size of your head. On those side streets, there were more pleasant exchanges in mangled language made clear though hand signs, facial expressions and the universal language of a smile and laughter.

Included here are some parting images we wish to share from our adventure of Being In Vietnam.