We left Saigon by bus early in the morning to head toward the Cambodian border. The bus was luckily air conditioned, as the weather here is not just hot, it's unbearable. Walking outside is somewhat like walking through a sponge...the further you walk, the more water sticks to you and won't evaporate. Add to the humidity the repressive heat and you have a very uncomfortable outdoor situation. The worst part about all this is that the Vietnamese themselves seem impervious to the heat and never, ever sweat. They wear long pants and often long sleeved shirts as well and never seem to look uncomfortable. They don't use hand-held fans or electric ones, as far as I could see, making me feel very out of place when fanning myself and panting in the hot sun. My goals while in Vietnam were basically to move from one air conditioned place to the next at the fastest speed possible.
We made a quick stop at a Caodist Temple, about an hour outside the city. The Cao Dai religion is basically an eclectic mix of the main world religions, with the best aspects of each taken and meshed with the rest. Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Vietnamese Spiritualism, Christianity, and Islam all have parts in the religion. Wordly figures are quoted in the murals inside the temple, including words from Shakespeare and Victor Hugo. The inside looked much like the other temples we had seen, complete with smaller alters surrounding a large one, and incense sticks were burned at each alter. The colors were brighter than other temples, however, and the building had many more carvings and statues inside. I like the idea of creating an ideal religion, but it seems a bit confusing to take elements from so many different religions and also toss in a bit of western literature.
The bus ride lasted 8 hours. The countryside was fun to watch pass by, but often looked mostly the same. It's amazing how much water is in this country; at times it seems like everything is in water. I wondered how the sidewalks, roads, and houses all managed to not sink while surrounded constantly by rain and muck.
We stopped for lunch, which was simple but delicious. I ate noodles with vegetables, paying only around $1.40. A small kitten was in the restaurant, which actually purred and rubbed on my leg. None of the cats I'd seen so far had been friendly, so I petted this one and picked it up to cuddle. The women in the restaurant looked at me like I was insane and motioned for me to put the cat down. Our tour leader, Richard, translated what they said: "cats are not for cuddling!" I told him to tell them that they are too for cuddling.
The city of Chao Doc is very small and extremely wet. Situated in the heart of the Mekong Delta, it rains around three times a day and most of the fields are completely flooded. All the houses along the rivers are on stilts and are almost underwater; as this is the rainy season, the rivers are at their highest. Trees and telephone poles are almost completely submerged in some places, which is interesting to see. I wondered what would happen to the electric lines if a flood occured and they were covered by water.
Our hotel was right on the water, with a gorgeous patio built out on the river where we sat for hours later that night watching the boats go by. After getting settled in our rooms, Natalie, Phill, Catherine, and I all decided to take a motorbike ride up to the top of a nearby mountain to watch the sun set. This was of course more of a figure of time than sight; it was so cloudy here that we never really saw the sun come out, rise, or set, at all. My driver didn't speak a word of English, and kept motioning for me to hold onto his waist as we rode. I found it more comfortable to reach behind and hold a bar there, but he didn't like that. We compromised and I held each with one arm. The road up the mountaing was full of huge potholes, loose gravel, and uneven pavement, which made for a bumpy and somewhat nerve-racking ride. We passed many people walking along the street who would stop and stare, sometimes smiling and waving. Little children would yell "hello!" at us, waiting excitedly for us to yell it back to them. It took around twenty minutes to get to the top.
From our view at the top of the mountain we could see where Vietnam and Cambodia bordered. The two countries, at this point, are seperated by water (what else?), Vietnam ending at the end of a rice paddy and Cambodia starting at what seemed like a lake. There are no border guards here at all. We took some pictures, climbed some rocks, and then decided to head back.
Phill's driver took off quickly, then stopped abruptly. He had accidently run over a long nail and punctured the tire, so the bike was unable to be ridden. Phill climbed onto the back of my bike, squeezing me between him and my driver, and we rode as a trio back down the mountain. The extra weight slowed the bike down and made us sway uncomfortable back and forth, making us worry a bit that we'd turn a corner and just fall to one side. The drivers dropped us off at a temple while the other bike was being fixed. We wandered around a bit, watching some of the monks who sat watching the horizon, and soon Phil's driver came back with a fixed tire and we continued on. They took us home the long way, passing next to the Cambodian border once again, and it was well past dark when we got home. We saw how many families lived on a tiny boat which only had one room for cooking, sleeping, and living; others had built small houses on stilts near the shores. All were very simple and very poor. The people seemed to be very happy in contrast, however.
We all ate dinner outside the hotel on the patio, and afterward a few of us stayed behind and drank beer and just talked. We watched the tiny geckos as they ran up the walls and ate mosquitos. I hadn't known before, but geckos made loud chirping noises that sound somewhat like a bird. If you made a chirping noise at them, they will often "talk" back to you. They're very cute but scare me when I see them dart out of the corner of my eye because I think I'm seeing enormous insects moving across the walls instead of cute geckos.
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