We Traded Tuesday for Taipei
Well, defining "yesterday" is going to be interesting in many ways. Not only did we not get a Tuesday this week thanks to the International dateline, skipping right ahead to Wednesday, but I was in such a jet-lagged haze that much of the morning and afternoon is a blur.
But, I do remember being pretty excited to be in Taipei again after 27 years. The 13 hour flight there wasn't as bad as a lot of us thought and we got two really great meals. It made me harken back to the box lunches we'd get on the train from Kaoshung to Taipei.
Taiwan has certainly come a long way in 30 years, based on the Taiwanese tourists flying back home from LA, Jiang Kai Shek Intl. and the tourism industry. It's almost like a little Japan, not the seeming 3rd world of my youth. As I write this from a busy street in Saigon at 10 to 6 a.m. Thursday morning it feels a lot more like that.
Actually, so far Vietnam feels like Europe used to before they became the 51st state with franchises taking over. People here actually stare at you because you're different. Although, everyone seems to speak at least enough English to sell you things and keep Vietnam green.
I did get a chance to learn up on a few Vietnamese phrases and words on the China Airlines flight here, though. They had this neat interactive entertaiment system on the back of every seat with which you could watch movies, listen to music or even play games. One of the "games" was called World Traveller and it was actually a language coach.
As expected, my advantage to learning Vietnamese is my Chinese knowledge. The two languages are, indeed, about as similar as French and Spanish are to each other. The structure and even many of the words are quite similar.
But, it looks like I'll only get to say cam o'n (thank you) to people serving my drinks or food as everyone else just automatically speaks English to me.
I was glad to see that places like Saigon haven't been taken over by Starbucks and McDonalds. For a while I was worried this place would feel just as homogonized as the once-foreign Europe.
Everyone here rides scooters, for one thing. There are cars, buses and a few taxis but the real way to get around is on two wheels. Makes sense for a developing city rather than invest in an expensive mass transit infastructure or expressway/freeway system. Cheap vehicles that sip gas and require little space for a high volume of traffic.
That traffic is crazy, too! There are stop lights but they're optional for the most part, especially if you're on a scooter. Buses and cars have to obey them, but they can't expect two-wheeled cross traffic to do the same.
Crossing the street as a pedesrian is an excercise in faith, too. It's just as we were told: just start walking out into the street and the bikes will go around you. On our brief walking tour yesterday we got to see that in action with many in our group expressing concerns as we all ventured out into the middle of a busy traffic flow.
Today should be an easier day for me. I went to bed at 5 p.m. yesterday. The time difference is 12 hours from Minneapolis. So, I didn't even bother changing my watch, just assume a.m. is p.m. and vice-versa. I didn't get much sleep on the flight and it was a very long night even without that. After our group lunch and brief walking tour yesterday I was exhausted and probably on the verge of hallucinating.
When we got back to our room the plan was to sleep for a couple hours and then get up for a dinner and boat ride along the Saigon river at 7. Reese tried to get me to help her set my cell phone alarm for 6:30 but I refused, saying she didn't understand how tired I was. She told me this morning she was too tired to know to tell me the same thing.
She did get up for dinner, though, while I just told her to leave me to sleep. Only half of our group showed for the dinner, so I wasn't alone in feeling totally dead. But, now that I've got a solid 12 hours of sleep I feel much better.
But, I do remember being pretty excited to be in Taipei again after 27 years. The 13 hour flight there wasn't as bad as a lot of us thought and we got two really great meals. It made me harken back to the box lunches we'd get on the train from Kaoshung to Taipei.
Taiwan has certainly come a long way in 30 years, based on the Taiwanese tourists flying back home from LA, Jiang Kai Shek Intl. and the tourism industry. It's almost like a little Japan, not the seeming 3rd world of my youth. As I write this from a busy street in Saigon at 10 to 6 a.m. Thursday morning it feels a lot more like that.
Actually, so far Vietnam feels like Europe used to before they became the 51st state with franchises taking over. People here actually stare at you because you're different. Although, everyone seems to speak at least enough English to sell you things and keep Vietnam green.
I did get a chance to learn up on a few Vietnamese phrases and words on the China Airlines flight here, though. They had this neat interactive entertaiment system on the back of every seat with which you could watch movies, listen to music or even play games. One of the "games" was called World Traveller and it was actually a language coach.
As expected, my advantage to learning Vietnamese is my Chinese knowledge. The two languages are, indeed, about as similar as French and Spanish are to each other. The structure and even many of the words are quite similar.
But, it looks like I'll only get to say cam o'n (thank you) to people serving my drinks or food as everyone else just automatically speaks English to me.
I was glad to see that places like Saigon haven't been taken over by Starbucks and McDonalds. For a while I was worried this place would feel just as homogonized as the once-foreign Europe.
Everyone here rides scooters, for one thing. There are cars, buses and a few taxis but the real way to get around is on two wheels. Makes sense for a developing city rather than invest in an expensive mass transit infastructure or expressway/freeway system. Cheap vehicles that sip gas and require little space for a high volume of traffic.
That traffic is crazy, too! There are stop lights but they're optional for the most part, especially if you're on a scooter. Buses and cars have to obey them, but they can't expect two-wheeled cross traffic to do the same.
Crossing the street as a pedesrian is an excercise in faith, too. It's just as we were told: just start walking out into the street and the bikes will go around you. On our brief walking tour yesterday we got to see that in action with many in our group expressing concerns as we all ventured out into the middle of a busy traffic flow.
Today should be an easier day for me. I went to bed at 5 p.m. yesterday. The time difference is 12 hours from Minneapolis. So, I didn't even bother changing my watch, just assume a.m. is p.m. and vice-versa. I didn't get much sleep on the flight and it was a very long night even without that. After our group lunch and brief walking tour yesterday I was exhausted and probably on the verge of hallucinating.
When we got back to our room the plan was to sleep for a couple hours and then get up for a dinner and boat ride along the Saigon river at 7. Reese tried to get me to help her set my cell phone alarm for 6:30 but I refused, saying she didn't understand how tired I was. She told me this morning she was too tired to know to tell me the same thing.
She did get up for dinner, though, while I just told her to leave me to sleep. Only half of our group showed for the dinner, so I wasn't alone in feeling totally dead. But, now that I've got a solid 12 hours of sleep I feel much better.
posted by Chris Druckenmiller | 3:51 PM
2 Comments:
Hey Chris where did you find the connection? Thanks for the post, great title for your post. When you get a chance send pictures too if your bandwidth permits. Your mom and I are at Bergdahl's in Chicago and are looking forward to sharing your trip.
DAD and MOM
There are actually several wifi spots around Saigon, and so far they've all been free. Right now I'm actually connected via wifi by the rooftop pool at my hotel. I've got a view of Saigon from 16 floors up as I write this!
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