With only 30 minutes left before I need to grab a taxi to the airport I have just enough time for one last drink at Centro and a quick charge of the laptop. My visit to Vietnam this trip has been brief and was roughly split between Ho Chi Minh City and Mui Ne. However, Vietnam never fails to surprise me and, despite the limited time, this visit has still given me some great and new experiences. With each visit (this was my fourth), Ho Chi Minh City continues to establish itself as my most favorite place to be in the world. In short, I feel welcome here, I feel free here and most of all this place just makes me very happy.

But that’s not all I have to say about HCMC and Mui Ne! That’s just all I have time for right now.

For anyone who may have read my previous posts, Applying for Visa Exemption and Still Working on the Visa Exemption for Vietnam, I have good news for my latest update! I got the Certificate of Visa Exemption which is valid until 2014!

Kevin's US Naturalization Certificate (1979)

The problem the first time was that the Vietnamese Embassy wanted to see further proof that I was previously a Vietnamese citizen prior to becoming an American citizen. I have no official Vietnamese documents that prove that such as an old Vietnamese identity card or passport. However, once I sent in a copy of my US Naturalization Certificate they were able to see that the “Country of former nationality” was “Vietnam” and this was sufficient proof that I was previously a “Vietnamese citizen”. On a side note, one thing I love about this Certificate of Naturalization is that I weighed only 30 pounds and still they thought to indicate that my “marital status” was “single”.
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We love to write about all of the beautiful and interesting things we see in our travels around Asia. However, not everything in the world is so pretty and Asia is no exception. We wanted to share with you a sad article about the abduction and trafficking of women from Vietnam to other countries in the region like Cambodia.

Click here to read the NY Times article that was published just last month.

Reporter Nicholas D. Kristof has covered this issue as well as others extensively in several parts of the world and he has a page of video reports on YouTube.

This week is my last week in HCMC and the going away meals have already begun. Yesterday I went out with a few of my colleagues to have “Bun Ca Ro” for the first time. This north Vietnamese dish consists of noodle, fish broth, fish balls and vegetables. It is incredibly tasty and a good vegetarian alternative to Pho.

Tonight I saw my friend Atsushi (Zeus) for the first time in 6 years. Zeus and I have known each other since San Francisco days, 10 years ago when we both worked together at a little shop in Sausalito. Back then, we used to talk about all the fun places around the world we’d like to live in or visit one day. In the last few years, we both managed to move around a lot and had no idea that the other person had switched continents. A few months ago, Kevin and I discovered that Zeus had moved out to Vietnam of all places and knows a lot of our friends there (here). Turns out he had relocated to HCMC a year ago and started his own business. It was great to reconnect and catch up on the last few years. It’s a small small world!

When one thinks of V-Day we think of the good old days when the US was the undisputed victor of major wars, fought relatively quickly, and in multiple theaters around the world. For the Americans, The Vietnam War was the exact opposite.

At the same time that Tamar was on a business call with her client in Ho Chi Minh City, I was watching a documentary on National Geographic about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. The memorial was designed by Maya Lin and I saw another documentary about the preparation and construction of the monument several years ago. This documentary, however, was equally fascinating and in some ways even more touching to watch.
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As you’ve probably noticed, there hasn’t been a lot of writing going on here at AsiaSteps over the past several months. That’s not to say that nothing has been going on in our exploration of Asia or Asian culture. On the contrary, Tamar and I have experienced many blog-worthy events, tastings, art and the like but we’ve just been so busy with other things that it’s been hard to jump back into the blogging. It’s tough to find the perfect subject to write about when you’ve been away from the blog for so long.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the perfect subject to blog about will never be found so here is something that at least caught my attention and something that appealed to my love for animals…the hairy-nosed otter! A couple of these folks were just sighted in Vietnam after many years. Here’s a link with another hairy-nosed otter photo from the Phnom Tamau Wildlife Sanctuary where we visited last January

I’ve never written about otters before so it’s not a subject I’m prepared to expand on here. But the fact that these guys have particularly hairy noses definitely makes me question my previous views regarding the amount of hair normal otters have on their noses.

Tamar and I also like hearing about nature sanctuaries like U Minh Ha National Park and we’re curious about these places. Perhaps we’ll swing by on our next trip.

So, when is our next trip and where will we go? We’re working on that right now!

While driving along Long Beach on the west coast of Phu Quoc Island we encountered some very charming kids. Here’s a video clip from our motorbike trip that day.

Festive Ho Chi Minh City

Last night, while dancing at a stylish club to celebrate our last evening in HCMC, I heard from Philip why he loves this city so much, “Saigon just has magic, it draws you to it and you just can’t leave.” Like many other expats living here, Philip is enjoying the rapid changes and overwhelming modernism that has swept this city. Visiting here again after 6 years, I find that there are hardly any cyclos but double the amount of motorbikes and a lot of cars everywhere. Tall buildings are being erected in city center, featuring a gym, spa and other luxury amenities to a nouveau riche population. Fancy new malls have sprung up in addition to upscale stores scattered all around selling gourmet chocolate, haute couture and expensive jewelry. Countless new cafes and outdoor restaurants offer excellent meals, some of the best I have had in a while in a charming and laid back atmosphere.

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Phu My Hung Neighborhood

Today we decided to explore another residential neighborhood in the south of the city at District 7 called Phu My Hung. This fairly large, new area features newly built buildings atop stores, cafes and beauty salons. There are wide streets shaded by trees and an 8 lane highway leading to it. It reminded me a lot of “Ramat Aviv”, the affluent north Tel Aviv neighborhood where Tel Aviv University is, only missing a fancy mall (for now). After a fruit shake in one of the nice places at Phu My Hung, we drove back to the city and headed to Ben Thanh market. The large and colorful market has not changed a bit since the last time I was there 6 years ago. There are still lacquer souvenirs on top of clothes on top of shoes right next to food stands. The whole market is very crowded and after an hour of navigating the narrow alleys (and a close encounter with a huge cockroach) we got out to eat lunch elsewhere.

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Hotel Continental in HCMC

Today we woke up especially early to get the most out of our last morning on Phu Quoc Island. After eating breakfast and snapping some photos of the resort we had a last tan and swim on the beach at Mango Bay. The taxi to the airport was a welcome change from the dust of the road by motorbike and we boarded our plane back to HCMC.

We returned to the city very hungry and promptly ate a meal of delicious crab/asparagus (Tamar) and melon/pork (Kevin) soup and other goodies at Vietnam House, a restaurant in the Don Khoi area. In the evening we met up with our friends, Aryeh and Jesse, at Jesse’s house in District 1 where we enjoyed excellent Indian food take-out. It’s great to be back in Ho Chi Minh City!