Psyco Vets, Bay Area Chapter [abn]

[frisco-kid]

was pretty nice. Clean, and the people very friendly. Qui Nhon isn't as touristy as Saigon and Nha Trang. We drew a crowd about everywhere we stopped. This wasn't people being rude, just curious.

[frisco-kid]

is bigger, and more touristy than Qui Nhon. We rented a cyclo to take us to the "Giant Buddha" temple.

[frisco-kid]

As we came upon this monument, Kath asked Tan, The Cyclo Man, what it was. He flipped "The Bird," and just said "VC." . Tan has no use for the Commies. After the fall of the RSVN government in 1975, as a ARVN officer, he was put into a 3yr. "Rehabilitation Program." As an educated man, fluent in English, he could have done quite well in the new Commie government. Or, if he chose, he could have emigrated. But he couldn't/wouldn't buy into their Communist Bullshit. He only stuck it out 1yr., and now he's a cyclo driver. A real nice guy. One of the people that I will always remember.

[usmcsgt65]

Thanks, I have enjoyed the travel log and the pictures.

[frisco-kid]

can fit on 2 wheels? It was very common to see 2, or more, on a bicycle or motor bike. The record was a family of 5!! Also saw everything from produce to livestock being tranported on 2 wheels.

[frisco-kid]

James and I will be posting our pictures in the GALLERY. David has created a section [THANKS, BUD ] called "RETURN TO VIETNAM 2003" in the MEMBERS section. This accommodates the pictures alot better. They don't come out so huge. We hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them and sharing them with you.

[Jerry D]

Thanks Guys for shareing your memories of your trip with us and the pictures look great

[Annette]

Amazing absolutely amazing. I can't believe how beautiful Vietnam looks now. It sounds like it has changed beyond what words could describe. It would never have occured to us to go there before seeing your pictures. It blows my mind when I compare these pictures to the one's from 1967,68 and 69 when Tom was over there. God bless you all for this wonderful group of pictures and emails.

Annette

[frisco-kid]

As anyone that was there can attest, the Vietnamese were always VERY enterprising people. They would try to sell you everything from a Coca Cola or a shoeshine, to sex or weapons. Hell, I'm convinced that if you had the money and asked the right people, you could have had your own personal jeep or armored personnel carrier .

In Saigon, and all towns for that matter, the bars and cat houses are illegal. There is no more Tu Do St. [sorry Andy] as we knew it, or the Sin Cities that sprang up next to any military base of any size. These were always tolerated [encouraged?] by the SVN govt. and the U.S. military. They aren't "tolerated" by the new Commie govt.. But that doesn't mean that sex, or any other commodity, isn't available. Some is offered openly [sex] on the street, other things YOU have to ask for. I was openly offered sexual liaisons several times in Saigon. Once by a cyclo driver, once by the hooker herself, and a couple times by procurers or pimps. Once in front of Kath! I declined all offers. That's why James and I brought Sue and Kath; to keep us from regressing TOO far into our pasts .

In the areas surrounding the favorite hotels of foreigners [Grand, Rex, Continental, Majestic] you would be approached many times by street vendors. They would be trying to sell you things like chilled coconut milk still in the shell, sunglasses [Ray Ban knock-offs], or post cards. Some of them could be quite persistant for a block or more.

As we ate in some of the restaurants around the Grand Hotel, I noticed that my Tiger Beers would be served with an attractive chilled mug with the Tiger Beer logo on it. When we returned to Saigon, after our tour of the country, I decided that this would be a cool souvenier to take home, so I started looking for them. I checked out a couple of the large markets with no luck, so I went to Plan B: ask the restaurants to sell me a couple of theirs. This didn't work either. These are given by the beer distributors to there better customers, and are hard to come by. I asked 3 different places to sell them, and was turned down by all of them .

Near our hotel, on our last late afternoon in Nam, I'm asked if I want a girl by one of the street hustlers.
"No," I say, "but I'll tell you what I DO want," and I proceed to describe the beer mug.
He thinks about it for a minute and asks "How many?"
"Three," I answer.
"How much you pay?"
"$5 each." Alot of money.
"Okay, I can do" he says proudly.I climb on the back of his motorbike, and he takes me back to the hotel.
"You wait 20 minutes," he says.

He's back in 15 and he has a plastic bag with him. He opens it up and pulls out one of the prized mugs to show me. It still has frost on it!! He evidently has a friend in the restaurant business. Not management, I'm guessing. He's only brought the one.
"I wanted three," I say.
"I know. But my friend say he want $10 for one."
"No way! I'll only pay $5"
"Okay. How 'bout you buy four for $5 each?"
"No! Three glasses for $5, or no deal. I leave Vietnam tomorrow."
"Okay, I ask him," and he takes off again.

In about 10 minutes he's back with three glasses....All frosted and ice cold. "Okay. Deal." So, I pay him off.
"How 'bout money for me? I do alot of driving. I talk to friend for you."
"Xin loi, Charlie. That was the deal. You get your friend to pay you your part," and I go into the hotel. I gave one to my son-in-law, kept one for myself, and gave the other to a member of this site who enjoys a Guinness and other good beers.




The picture at the end of this post is of a girl named Ha. She said that she is 14, but I didn't believe her. She's one of the small army of kids that sells post cards to tourists. She was a very street-smart kid, who spoke excellent English. She visited with us for several blocks. We bought a 10 pack of post cards from her.

[frisco-kid]

the picture didn't post, so here it is now.