Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

November 27, 2014

While the warm weather here is appreciated, I do miss the brisk chill of November, not to mention those beautiful floats and the tradition of popovers on Thanksgiving morning. And most of all, I miss spending Thanksgiving with my children, and those I love. But here we are, in Saigon.

During and after breakfast, the ship was engaged in a multi-hour serpentine-like weave through the rivers outside Saigon.

(I continue to use the word Saigon, as do most Vietnamese, even though the city has recently been renamed Ho Chi Minh City.) Once again, one could not help but think of all the US amphibious boats crawling up and down this river in the 1960s.

The river was not only filthy, full of sewage and floating garbage, but it was also a veritable floating wasteyard of branches, coconuts and parts of trees. And there were many, many small, slow boats all along the river.

Our ship possesses a very loud horn. The first time one hears it, one might even fall down, or at least drop whatever one is holding. Thankfully, when we are at sea, we don’t hear it more than once a week or so. Yesterday, we heard it at least twice an hour, as the small boats just didn’t understand the rules of the water and who had right-of-way. We were not going to slow down this 665 foot vessel because the pilot of a 90 foot barge wasn’t paying attention.

But some of the barges were nicely appointed, even to the point of having plants decorate their decks.

We were treated to see an open sewage pipe releasing its filth directly into the river.

We also saw Vietnam’s version of logging, not exactly the way it is done in Oregon.

We saw a ship, on its rails, being built,

 and ships being hauled our for dry dock work.

And the barracks where US servicemen lived during the Vietnam War.

I had a training session this morning before the ship docked, so I was beat by 9:00 AM! When the ship did stop and tied up, the breeze stopped too. Without any kind of a wind, the weather was brutal – over 92°, humid, and a driving sun. Even I - who anyone reading this blog knows loves the sun - could not bear even five minutes on the pool deck. Sweat was pouring out of every pore on my body.

So this is the view out our window for the next few days.

I went up to Tides for lunch and, in anticipation of the Thanksgiving feast we were to enjoy later in the day, we ate a relatively healthy lunch. As always, the soup did not disappoint.

We tried to watch an early afternoon movie, but the combination of workout and the sweltering sun, lead me to sleep, rather than cinema.

At 3:15 PM, I met the Residential Services Coordinator and walked through the apartment I was about to buy (my second on the ship), making lists and charts of all the work I want to have done before, and even after, I take occupancy. That includes painting, new carpeting, new blinds, new curtains, new beds, new terrace furniture, the rearranging of existing living room and dining room furniture, coordinating the on-loading of furniture from storage in New York, and lots more.

At last, Thanksgiving dinner, and what a dinner it was. For perhaps the first time in my life, there was no unlimited supply of turkey. That is, it was served by the plate and not as a buffet. Because of that, we did not walk away feeling bloated or sick – rather, it was a very filling and lovely dinner. It consisted of:

1. Chestnut cappuccino soup with duck foie gras;

2. Roasted pumpkin risotto with crushed amaretto biscuits and goat cheese;

3. The traditional Thanksgiving roast turkey with cornbread stuffing gravy and cranberry sauce;

4. Sides including maple sweet potatoes, marshmallow sautéed Brussels sprouts, orange and ginger braised carrots, and mashed potatoes;

5. Finally, a trio of pumpkin, pecan and apple pies (which we couldn’t finish so we had delivered to our apartment).

6. And we paired it all with a lovely 2004 Ackerman Vineyards cabernet sauvignon.

After dinner, exhausted, I called my kids and collapsed.