#170 Vietnam AAR
So, I went to Vietnam. With a Vietnamese companion. She had invited me to attend her sister’s wedding. This was my first time back to Vietnam in almost 14 years.
Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the trip very much. There were a number of things that placed me firmly outside my comfort zone, and I have spent enough of my life there. I am not terribly enamored of doing it anymore.
First of all, the majority of the visit was in the provinces. And seriously, the province had nothing that I was particularly interested in. I enjoy Vietnamese food, but I cannot say that I enjoyed typical Vietnamese restaurants in the province. I found them to be extraordinarily dirty, and generally uncomfortable places to eat. Although the food itself was pretty good.
The wedding turned out to be a disaster for me. Let me be clear. My companion’s family was incredibly friendly and welcome. I had simply forgotten what Asian weddings were like. It’s huge crowds, loud, discordant music, and a lot of drinking. And a large part of the drinking was insisting that the foreigner with them drank just as much as they did. And I didn’t want to. I very quickly developed a full-on panic attack and thankfully, my companion soon took me back to the beach resort where we were staying during the two days of wedding festivities.
The gallery below is various photos from the Melia Ho Tran Beach Resort - Very nice!
After the wedding we spent two nights in Vung Tau, a small beach resort town. It was better than the deep province, but I am a big city guy in my later years.
It is very possible, that had I simply remained in Saigon, it would’ve been different. Although, I have three comments about Vietnam in general, that are not related to where I was staying in the province. My companion was a Vietnamese. Almost every time she turned around, she was warning me about being careful in Vietnam, because it was not safe. And after a while I started to feel unsafe. Secondly, the officials I saw, primarily police on the roads, and the immigrations and customs people that were at the airport … Unsmiling. Unfriendly. Very different than Thais. Lastly, having driven all over the world, I would say that Vietnamese traffic, especially in the province (cargo trucks and passenger buses), is absolutely insane. I would be afraid to drive there.
A station on the basically abandoned public commuter train project in Saigon. Many countries and corporations have attempted to finish it but have always run aground on the shoals of Vietnamese government corruption.
The Gallery above is from the Villa Song boutique hotel in Saigon. Wonderful hotel!
So after an interesting interlude in Vietnam, I returned to Pattaya, Thailand. I have to say that I was so glad to get back. I feel very comfortable here, I speak enough Thai to be able to get by, and everything I want is within walking distance. I think what bothered me so much in Vietnam, at least where I was, with my companion and out in the province, was I was utterly dependent on somebody else. Of course, I could’ve gotten out and about on my own, even with no Vietnamese, but it would not have been easy. Plus, in the province, there really was no place to go. I have spent enough of my life roughing it that I have no desire to do so now.
While here in Pattaya, I decided to do my annual checkup. And although everything seemed to be okay except for cholesterol and uric acid, extended testing revealed that I seem to have an advanced case of osteoporosis. Which shocked both me and my doctor. Apparently, it is treatable. They have some annual intravenous options plus calcium supplements. And it would appear that (pardon me if this is over sharing) I have been suffering from chronically low hormone levels for years, which exacerbated the issue with the osteoporosis. Again, however, this is all basically treatable. But I still feel like my factory warranty has expired 😊.
I have been here in Pattaya for eight days as I write this. I had a problem with my return ticket to Manila and I have now moved my departure to the 23rd of this month. I cannot describe how nice it feels just to stay in one place for an extended period of time. I am absolutely exhausted from travel. I am evaluating how I can minimize the amount of travel that I do this year. I will have to return to South America, Argentina, at least once (hopefully) so I can finally get my passport. But, beyond that, I am thinking to basically stay in either the Philippines or Thailand for the rest of the year. And my thoughts are that I will try to arrange whatever travel I need to do so that I stay wherever I go at least a month prior to traveling again. I’m really exhausted. I’m giving serious thought to spending at least 4 months this year in Pattaya. I forgot how much I liked it. Very civilized.
A nice quote from one of my favorite authors (Ilona Andrews)
“The ugly truth about democracy is that it breeds anxiety. The responsibility for the government is shifted onto the body of the citizenry, who often lack the awareness and knowledge necessary to make informed decisions. They are tasked with electing their officials, they stress over it, they fall into despair when their side loses and act like their lives are over, and then when the government they elected inevitably does something they don’t want, they feel betrayed. There is no constancy in leadership, the policies vary wildly from one administration to the next, and one never knows where the nation shall be in ten years’ time. It is chaos.”
Another quote from a book but don’t know which one … which describes me to a “T” 😊 … “Years ago, you said something to me. I don’t remember it word for word, but in essence, you told me that men, even otherwise sensible men, fall under the illusion that they will be able to find a perfect woman. That the problem lies not in the search so much as in the definition of perfection, which is a beautiful female who will integrate seamlessly into a man’s life, bringing with her exactly the right amount of intelligence, wit, and interests to align with his, in order to brighten every aspect of his existence.” – I certainly need to get over myself for that. 😊