20 April 2005
   Paid 2 visits to local health clinics recently. There are medical companies catering to people with money, but they are relatively expensive and I wanted to see how the locals fared. I had a friend escort me to the ear/nose/throat hospital for an outer ear infection, because the procedures are not exactly clear and the places are ususally swarming with people: it is not a very encouraging picture. Inside, the facilities are spare but clean and doctors seem very competent, though their pay scale is is absurd by Western standards. The visit to the ear doc cost $10, with another $15 for the medicines, and the problem cleared up quickly. A few days later went to the skin hospital for a persistent rash on my back: again, swarms of people and apparent disorder in the reception area, accomodating and competent personnel, and the visit cost $13 with about $23 worth of medicine and the problem gets fixed. I can only guess what my out-of-pocket expenses would have been back in Denver.

10 April 2005
   Spent the weekend in Nha Trang, probably my favorite place in Viet Nam. It's about 450km north of Saigon. Nha Trang has a gem of a beach, the mountains by the sea and the nearby islands remind me of Hawaii. The snorkeling/scuba diving is tops in Viet Nam, and it even has a rare hot spring! A sleeper car on the overnight train from Saigon costs about $17 one way, a plane ticket is about $35. Nha Trang has become a lot more popular after the disruptions caused by the tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand. Viet Nam has a long and gorgeous tropical coastline, it won't take the tourists long to figure out that it's a great place to hang out.

29 Mar 2005
   An American Navy Ship docked in Saigon port today, the second one to visit here since the end of the war (Yahoo News story). The sight of American men in uniform walking the streets of Saigon carries a lot of symbolic impact. I occasionally act as an impromptu tour guide; though I was in the U.S. Air Force, I don't mind helping the sailors find their way around!

15 Mar 2005
   One of the things I love about VietNam is that generally things are inexpensive. If I spend more than a dollar for a meal, then I am indulging. A small loaf of bread is a dime. Clothing has bargain basement prices. At hotel in central Saigon you can spend $3 on an iced coffee, or walk up the alley and get the same thing for a quarter. Transportation is inexpensive, depending on your style. I rent a room in a house for $100 a month. Medicines cost a fraction of their US counterparts, I often go right to a pharmacist for minor ailments (and you don't need a prescription). I had a cavity filled the other day for $13, and they did a great job. The Vietnamese word for candy (keo) is also slang for cheapskate.

5 Mar 2005
   Cars are going to be the death of Saigon. Adding half a dozen automobiles to a narrow tree-lined street really gums up the works; when one wants to make a left turn or park, then traffic grinds to a halt. Currently Viet Nam is a net oil exporter due to the Eastern Sea oil fields (South China Sea to the outside world), which are quite extensive. Nevertheless, the costs involved in pursuing the auto-centered development pattern are enormous. Even SUVs are starting to show up here. China, however, is the one pushing the fast forward button on future shock, they are chasing the American dream of auto ownership just as rabidly as we did 50 years ago. Buckle your seat belts, it's going to be a rough ride!

20 Feb 2005
   When eating in my room, I have to be militant about cleaning up because any particle of food remaining behind will have an ant trail leading to it by morning. There are 3 or 4 different kinds of ants, their scouting parties constantly patrolling the surroundings. Their ability to locate edibile substances (and anything organic, except hair, seems to be edible) is uncanny: once I had a candy bar buried in my daypack, which unbeknownst to me had a pinprick hole in it. The winding ant freeway leading across the room, trailing into the depths of my pack, told the tale.

8 Feb 2005
   I confess, sometimes I eat at KFC. You can't eat pho and chao ga and banh xeo and cha gio all the time! Tastes just like back home too. Kentucky is where my dad's side of the family is all buried, and grandma used to make real Kentucky fried chicken. Most Vietnamese know of states where their family or friends ended up after emigrating: California of course, but also Texas, Florida, New York. Apparently, few settled in Kentucky, so nobody is impressed that Colonel Sanders and I have the same que cha dat to (ancestral homeland).   

5 Feb 2005
   The authorities have recently stepped up enforcement of motorcycle helmet laws, which is not a bad idea per se. So I got pulled over for riding without a helmet; I always wore a helmet in the US, but here it's too hot, and I figure in case of an accident I'd only have a perfectly fine head on top of a broken body. While negotiating the fine, the officer takes a liking to my sunglasses, a $2 pair I bought in China, and he decides he wants to keep them...frankly, he looks pretty sporty wearing them. The irony of having stopped me for safety concerns, then relieving me of my eye protection (which is a real safety issue), may not have occured to him. (note: I recently broke down and bought a helmet)

15 Jan 2005
   I just love dragon fruit (thanh long). They are quite sweet, and eating a whole one is a meal in itself. They have an odd appearance that I couldn't place, but after seeing the parent plant, which is a tall and cactus-like, it occurred to me: they look like a super-size version of the prickly pear cactus fruits that are common in the arid American West.

10 Jan 2005
   Out for dinner with software development team members from my old employer. Lots of fun, drinking Tiger beer, eating wave after wave of glorious Vietnamese cuisine: fish, clams, chicked, spring rolls. 5 people partying down; total bill for the evening: 200,000 Vietnamese Dong, about $13.