Out on the town, and talk of the war
[This blog entry refers to our presence here on March 2]
The halfway point – at least in terms of the workshop commitment. Still three days of workshop left.
The society and this community continue to fascinate me. This afternoon and tonight, however, we got a whole different picture of Cantho. Our driver this afternoon took us accidentally to the wrong hotel, one in the city center. But it afforded us an opportunity to see a part of the city we had no idea existed. Near and along the riverfront, this is a beautiful part of the community. The main avenue is quite wide, divided, and lined with trees. Many of the shops that line the streets of this part of the city seem much more upscale. Apparently, the part of town where we are staying is less economically developed than some other parts of the city. The accidental trip this afternoon opened a whole different view for us of the city and this region. Uncle Ho’s statue stands tall and proud along the riverfront in city central.
Tonight we were privileged with two special treats. The first was to eat at the restaurant of the sister of the director of the international center. We had a special, reserved table above the restaurant off the private living quarters. The food was again all new and all good. There are so many new names for things I can’t begin to imagine what they all are. After the meal, they took us for a motorbike ride around the city center. For a few minutes tonight, we became part of the relentless swarm, instead of viewing it from the safe distance of a car’s interior, a remarkable experience.
Then we stopped for “coffee” (I had an orange juice and yogurt – Vietnamese coffee at 9:00 at night is a receipe for a sleepless night. Not that it apparently would make a difference with my current sleeping patterns, or lack thereof). Again, we were on the upper floor, out in the air, with a good view of much of the city. It was simply enchanting. A cool night with a light breeze, pleasant conversations with gracious hosts, and the playing of techno (or whatever it is called) playing in the background. Close your eyes and you might think you were in the lobby of a W Hotel in the states. Globalization or the movement and merging of universal tastes? If it is the latter and techno music are its manifestation, our collective soul is in trouble! The sound of a pulsing headache played through Bose speakers.
At dinner, our hosts talked some about the war. The one was too young when it was all happening but the other man was about my age. He provided vivid descriptions of seeing the war up close and personal, in the city streets. He described the difficulty of not knowing who the enemy was, the “unknown enemy,” as he called it. This was apparently true not for the American soldiers fighting there but for many of the Vietnamese people. It was also interesting to hear him describe the gradual morphing of the political systems of the north and the south, and the gradual emergence of their current social and political system, of the North Vietnamese army invading the south, of the later invasion by Vietnam of Cambodia and the mean-spirited invasion of the North by the Chinese to take back what they had paid for and helped the North Vietnamese develop. They were not pleased with the cozy relationship that Vietnam eventually developed with Russia. A playground spat played out on the stage of global politics with tragic consequences.
Today our work seemed difficult at times, due to some language barriers, as well as the apparent abstract nature of this administrative and organizational stuff we are working on now. I will take up this issue in a separate posting.
The halfway point – at least in terms of the workshop commitment. Still three days of workshop left.
The society and this community continue to fascinate me. This afternoon and tonight, however, we got a whole different picture of Cantho. Our driver this afternoon took us accidentally to the wrong hotel, one in the city center. But it afforded us an opportunity to see a part of the city we had no idea existed. Near and along the riverfront, this is a beautiful part of the community. The main avenue is quite wide, divided, and lined with trees. Many of the shops that line the streets of this part of the city seem much more upscale. Apparently, the part of town where we are staying is less economically developed than some other parts of the city. The accidental trip this afternoon opened a whole different view for us of the city and this region. Uncle Ho’s statue stands tall and proud along the riverfront in city central.
Tonight we were privileged with two special treats. The first was to eat at the restaurant of the sister of the director of the international center. We had a special, reserved table above the restaurant off the private living quarters. The food was again all new and all good. There are so many new names for things I can’t begin to imagine what they all are. After the meal, they took us for a motorbike ride around the city center. For a few minutes tonight, we became part of the relentless swarm, instead of viewing it from the safe distance of a car’s interior, a remarkable experience.
Then we stopped for “coffee” (I had an orange juice and yogurt – Vietnamese coffee at 9:00 at night is a receipe for a sleepless night. Not that it apparently would make a difference with my current sleeping patterns, or lack thereof). Again, we were on the upper floor, out in the air, with a good view of much of the city. It was simply enchanting. A cool night with a light breeze, pleasant conversations with gracious hosts, and the playing of techno (or whatever it is called) playing in the background. Close your eyes and you might think you were in the lobby of a W Hotel in the states. Globalization or the movement and merging of universal tastes? If it is the latter and techno music are its manifestation, our collective soul is in trouble! The sound of a pulsing headache played through Bose speakers.
At dinner, our hosts talked some about the war. The one was too young when it was all happening but the other man was about my age. He provided vivid descriptions of seeing the war up close and personal, in the city streets. He described the difficulty of not knowing who the enemy was, the “unknown enemy,” as he called it. This was apparently true not for the American soldiers fighting there but for many of the Vietnamese people. It was also interesting to hear him describe the gradual morphing of the political systems of the north and the south, and the gradual emergence of their current social and political system, of the North Vietnamese army invading the south, of the later invasion by Vietnam of Cambodia and the mean-spirited invasion of the North by the Chinese to take back what they had paid for and helped the North Vietnamese develop. They were not pleased with the cozy relationship that Vietnam eventually developed with Russia. A playground spat played out on the stage of global politics with tragic consequences.
Today our work seemed difficult at times, due to some language barriers, as well as the apparent abstract nature of this administrative and organizational stuff we are working on now. I will take up this issue in a separate posting.
posted by John at 1:08 AM
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