Mental Doug and Vung Tau's Vietnam beaches

Doug

If you've been following me, you've read how I had myself stuck in Saigon.   Not physically but like that sailor who stops off in a port and can't seem to get out to sea again. Really don't know why or what held our mythical mainer in place but for myself it was the overpowering feeling of lurking dangers that no one other than myself was aware of that were waiting for me once I left.  These were invisible forces taking on their own life inside my mind and I was powerless in fending them off.

Triggering, for a lack of a better definition, an out of body sensation, my vision blurs as I defensibly watch myself implode. Another by product of my decrepit mind is the stomach problems I experience that no matter what medical test I'm subject to no physical cause shows up.

50 years ago, well close to it is when I first experienced this feeling, Vietnam 1968. One night while laying in my bunk a firefight started up outside the perimeter not far from our hut.  This out of body sensation kicked in, I pushed it away, guess feeling a little guilty as I looked on at the fighting.  I was an aircraft maintenance supply sergeant so the return fire wasn’t our thing unless everything  really went to shit.  Anyway, most nights there were firefights outside my hut and these uncomfortable mental feelings grew. Then just like that I'm on my way back to the states to be discharged after landing in Seattle, sent on my way again with an airline ticket back to Detroit and all was good.  Though  in fact their was more to it than just finishing my hitch.

I flew from Seattle to Detroit and after a couple hours in the car and I was home but it really wasn’t home anymore.  I had been away for four years and just spent a year living in a hut in Vietnam and home just didn’t seem right.  Then the feeling of anxiety, blurred vision and that out of body experience hit me hard.  Tried to explain my feelings to the people around me, in return received blank stares or the reply” you look okay to me”.   My family coped by ignoring my mental illness. Meanwhile I drank, found a doctor who prescribed valium and other drugs like that, totaled two cars and  drank some more.   Then it was found I really didn’t have such a great tan but a blockage in my liver, jaundice, but anyway, still had pills. Over the years since I’ve talked to a bunch of mental health folks as these feelings come and go and then here I am once again.

Vung Tau back beach

Anyway back to Saigon, I knew I had to make a move, maybe a change in scenery a bit of sun and sea therapy to get me back on tract. Vung Tau, ya that's the ticket only an hour and a half by boat. My friend Luyen booked me a seat and transported me aboard her motorbike to the boat dock.  Somewhere along the way I picked up the makings of the Jim dandy of all the respiratory infections, complete with all the makings of a crippling caugh.  My boat ride over was spent coughing and hacking slouched over in my seat.  Felt so bad

that when we arrived I wasn't sure if I had the strength to get out of my seat and into the Terminal.

Got a taxi to a hotel, spent two days listening to the surf from across the

Vung  Tau back beach

road as I lay on my back. With a day left I headed out with my camera and shot some beach photos.

It did help my state of mind as I headed back to Saigon and closer to my return flight to the states.

                        

  Vung Tau front beach

A visa is not a passport

Our passport arrived so we can get out of the USA but as always there's still one more thing to think about and that is a visa.

Our passport acts as a certified record of who we are, what we look like, citizen of what country and our past travel records. A visa is authorization from a foreign government to visit their country.

A visa can take many different forms, some countries have a form you too fill out prior to arrival and sometimes this is referred to a visa on arrival. Some countries may require you to apply for your visa in advance.

Thailand has many different types of visas but for most,a tourist visa allowing for up to a 30 day visit is available on arrival, the airlines will hand out forms prior to landing.  Cambodia, offers up to a 30 day visa on arrival $30.00 and a three month online e visa $37.00.  Lao also offers an on demand visa $35.00 for a 30 day duration.

Visa’s come in all different flavors: from a diplomatic visa to a tourist visa.   If you are entering a country for a special reason, it’s best to check out the consular affairs web site for the country you’re heading to or pull the phone number for the up to date info and costs.  For the most part a tourist visa is the norm but you still need to call and get the current costs.

I’m in Vietnam right now so I’ll use it as example:  Vietnam requires you apply andgain authorization in advance before you arrive.   Here are a couple links detailing the procedure for a visa.

http://www.vietnamconsulate-sf.org/en/consular-services/visas/   San Francisco, California 

http://vietnamembassy-usa.org/consular/visa-application-process Washington DC

At the time I applied in July, a one month and a three month tourist visa could be down.  A three month single entry visa, meaning enter and leave one time then a $130.00 and a multiple entry, leave and return as many times as you want for $180.00.  I can’t stress enough that Vietnamese visas are date sensitive, whatever date your visa starts on you can’t get in before that date and your visa period starts on the original date, no matter how much later than that you arrive .

Thanks for stopping by -   Doug

Vietnam - the siren song

I was greeted by a cardboard sign, nailed to a tree, located around a bend, at the top of a hill, with an arrow pointing to a lot of construction - Phu Cat, the sign simply stated.

The Vietnam War now is just a past memory to people like me; while many younger ones only know of North Vietnam with no memories of a divided North and South nation.  Tall buildings have sprouted in the main centers of commerce, even a subway is being built in Saigon. Though, Vietnam is still a place you feel more than see.  Many people ask me what sights I recommend and I always reply - pick a corner, hang out and there it is.

 Graham Greene in his book  The Quiet American  said it best -

"I can’t say what made me fall in love with Vietnam - that a woman’s voice can drug you; that everything is so intense. The colors, the taste, even the rain. Nothing like the filthy rain in London. They say whatever you’re looking for, you will find here. They say you come to Vietnam and you understand a lot in a few minutes, but the rest has got to be lived. The smell: that’s the first thing that hits you, promising everything in exchange for your soul. And the heat. Your shirt is straightaway a rag. You can hardly remember your name, or what you came to escape from. But at night, there’s a breeze.”

For me I'll be back there in a few months - what’s this, my 17th or 18^th trip, not really sure.  I do know that once Vietnam gets her hooks into you it’s hard to pull away. 

1967 was my first step outside the states and that was to Vietnam.  Like me at the time many had no idea what to expect in the war or what was to be expected of them. My trip over was good, flew

aboard a commercial flight, reasonable food, cute stewardess and all that.  Arriving at Tan Sơn Nhat which seemed pretty much the same as any large base in the states, all the buildings with AC an NCO Club where I had a nice steak sandwich lunch and then it all changed.

My set of hard copy orders had me reporting here at  Sơn Nhat  but as quick as you can say jacaty flip those orders were exchanged for a note written in pencil, with the two words scrawled on it - Quin Nhon. 

Clutching my note, duffel over my shoulder, I’m directed out towards the flight line and told to find a ride up country to Quin Nhon. 
  

Man it was hot when I arrived at Quin Nhon ops, the sergeant in charge  had made a futile attempt to beat the heat by positioned himself strategically in the vortex of three portable fans blasting air drawn from outside via the rolled up flaps of the tent. While his assistant scrambled around trying to carrel the flying debris.  Even with all that he still looked hot and pissed off as he grimly pressed on in the center of his self styled, rainless typhoon.  My hand written, penciled, note seemed to bring a bit of joy to his face.  He wadded it up, looked over his shoulder at a chalkboard swaying in the fan propelled air, “find your name and erase it, easy peasy.”  He goes on to say - “Getting late, Charlie’s out so get yourself some chow and a bunk. In the morning grab a ride with one of the convoy trucks. 

The next day I’m on my way again riding shot gun in a deuce and half.   In the late morning the driver pulled his truck out of the convoy and we rolls to a stop beside the road, pointed off to the side to a dirt road - saying “just down their”.  After the rumble of the convoy there was an eerie quiet left in their wake as they faded from sight.  Seemed that I was all alone, and the land was barren except for an old, dilapidated thatched hut to my left.  I start walking up the road to the top of the hill, its then I see the cardboard sign , nailed to a tree –  announcing Phu Cat.

As I looked down the road on past the cardboard sign all I could see is a bunch of construction going on, flanked by a couple guard towers.  However, as I walked closer I could see Quonset huts and what looked like what might be temporary living quarters.  So I’m thinking that’s the cause of my convoluted orders there wasn’t a Phu Cat Airbase yet.   

Vietnam is changing ever so rapidly now, like an old friend who discovers fame and fortune and  his success carries him off for a walk on the wild side.   I struggle to hold on but I fear the chasm between us may bring an end to our long relationship.   I’ve started looking for a raggedy cardboard sign that points me down a new road, just in case.    

See ya- thanks for stopping by....... Doug 

Doug says: What is a guy to eat - cheap, and fast but always good - Pho in Saigon

Pho 32

A type of Vietnamese noodle soup know as Pho, in English it would be pronounced like fuh, if there was such a word.  Originally a street food ate by workers as a quick, inexpensive morning meal. Though, over time it has risen to one of the world’s most popular eats.  As an example in 2011 CNN GO ranked pho as the 28 th most popular dishes in the world.

The soup pho gets its name from the pho noodle which is the base of the noodle soup.  In creating this dish the pho noodles are added to an individual serving dish filled with the beef broth.   The broth is created by simmering beef bones and adding seasoning over a lengthy period, like 12 hours or something like that, anyway a long time.

After the broth is ladled into a serving bowl, an individual portion of pho noodles is dipped into boiling water for a minute or two in order to soften them. Once the noodles are soft they are added to the individual bowl of broth, along with a small amount of finely sliced beef, onions and a dash of ground pepper.

At your table will be a plate with sprigs of fresh ngo gai, hung que and…. Along with these vegetables their will be sliced jalapeno pepper and lime.  It’s up to you to decide how many leaves you want to pull from the sprigs and pop them into your bowl of pho. Then season the pho to your liking with hoisin sauce and chili paste and oh ya, they should have brought you a plate of bean sprouts, use your chopsticks and scrape them into the soup.  You do know how to use chopsticks, don't you? Anyway not to worry, there will be spoons on the table as Vietnamese use both hands to eat soup, chop stick in the right and a spoon in the left.  However this is out of the realm of most Westerners, myself included, so just dig in and remember to smile a lot.

A bit of pho history:  So now you may be wondering how and where pho came from; If not you're not or just could just care less, than  go ahead and skip this part.  For those still with me, here we go.  In the North of Vietnam around the late 1800’s pho was introduced and quickly became a very popular, inexpensive street food served in the morning to workers.

About the same time the French started colonizing Vietnam this is where some think the pho name derived from. As their is a French Phrase “pot of feu” – meaning pot of fire, which referred to the lengthy time taken to cook the broth used as the soup base.  Which tosses out my original pho noodle theory but a lot of pho has passed over the pallet since and history can be a fickle mistress.  

Spreading pho’s influence in gastronomic affairs was hastened by the influx of a million or so Northerners who resettled to the south in 1954 and the pho flowed along with them.

Then came along the Vietnam War and the eventual takeover of the South by North Vietnam and if anything positive was to come of this it was the spread of pho’s deliciousness.   As the refugees fled the tyranny of the north as it took control of the South they carried with them the richness of pho.  

helper and owner waiting for you Pho 32

My favorites for pho: Pho 32- 32 Le Thi Rieng, in district 1 is just a skip and a jump from the backpacker’s area and not far from Starbucks at the roundabout. Old school here, charcoal fired hot pot for the noodles, open air seating with a kicked back atmosphere.  As in the song “ just walk right in and sit on down”, no menu or

friendly staff at Pho 32

much English so just point at a bowl of pho, it’s the only thing going so they will get it..  You can order iced tea (tra da) and beverages along with coffee (ca phe sua da - iced coffee with condensed milk) and drinks, all except the tra da come from the motor bike seat, upholstery shop a few doors down. Cost for pho ba and a ca phe sua da about 55,000 dong.

My other pick is Pho Quyen – 323 Pham Ngu Lgo again in district 1 and on

busy corner Do Q, Dau / Pham Nhu Lao across from 9-23 park

the edge of the back packing area, across from 9-23 Park.

cute and friendly staff
Pho Quyen

Has an English menu offering both beef (bo) and chicken (ga) pho and a couple other soup entries along with coffee, tea  and sodas.   Pho bo and a ca phe sua da is about 75,000 dong.

Bon appétit - thanks for stopping by.......Doug 

City Scape Saigon - in 37 photos - part 1

I'm often asked what sights are not to be missed in Saigon - my reply is always the same "just hang out on a corner or take walk and take in the sights and sounds of the city ".   Hope this comes across in my photos.

                                             
                                                    Thanks for stopping by................Doug