Destination Saigon: Adventures in VietnamFrom the crazy heat and colour of Saigon to the quieter splendour of Hanoi, Walter Mason gives us a rare, joyous and at times hilarious insight into twenty first century Vietnam. Seduced by the beauty and charm of its people, and the sensuousness of its culture, we can almost taste the little coconut cakes cooked over a fire in a smoky Can Tho kitchen, or smell the endless supplies of fresh baguettes and croissants just out of city ovens. As colourful city cafes and bars make way for visits to out of the way shrines and temples, we take an impromptu visit to forbidden fortune tellers, and glimpse a little of the Cao Dai religion, made famous in Graham Greene's The Quiet American. Escaping on impulse to a far flung province, a brief imprisonment culminates in an invitation to local wedding celebrations. Travelling off the beaten track to far flung villages and lesser known towns, we cruise along the Mekong, board hopelessly overcrowded local buses or perch perilously on the back of motorbikes. Behind the scenes visits to Buddhist monasteries reveal a quieter and more transcendent world beyond the busy day trips of tourists. And in the process we begin to see the country through the eyes of its people. |
Contents
MONKS AND MOVIE STARS | 1 |
HAIRDRESSERS AND SEAMSTRESSES | 8 |
TELLING LIES ABOUT CONFUCIUS | 19 |
LATIN QUARTER | 30 |
MYSTICAL HANOI | 36 |
WHEN CHEAP ISNT CHEERFUL | 44 |
THE TOWERS OF BINH DINH | 51 |
ICE CREAM IN QUY NHON | 58 |
DONT PAY THE FERRYMANS CRAZY DELTA | 80 |
DADS PLACE ON | 92 |
GRAND MOTHERS | 100 |
TAY NINH | 106 |
DRESSING | 118 |
FENG SHUI AND FLOWER | 129 |
FORGOTTEN | 140 |
HELLO | 146 |
THE CAN THO FEAST | 74 |
LOSING HOPE | 154 |
Common terms and phrases
abbott asked beautiful beer Binh boat bodhisattva boys Brother Nguyen Buddha Buddhist café called Cao Dai chanting Chau Chinese Cholon coffee crowded dance dong Dragon dressed drive durian enormous feng shui fishermen floor foreign Goddess hand Hanh Hanoi Ho Chi Minh incense karaoke Khoa Kien Kwan Yin La Vang Linh living look lunch Minh City monastery monastic monks mother motorcycle mountain Mui Ne never Nhuan night no-one nuns once one’s plastic prayer hall Quy Nhon religion religious restaurant rice Ricky Saigon seemed shirt shrine smiling song spirit statues street supermarket tattooed Tay Ninh temple Thao Thay Quang things ticket took tourist park Tra Vinh traditional Vang vegetarian Viet Vietnam Vietnamese village Vinh Vung Tau waiters walked women young monks