Sad Saigon Departure

Tomorrow, Sunday, November 16th, I will be leaving Saigon for Phuket, Thailand. This was a very difficult decision for me to make because of the wonderful people I have met during the almost 3 months I've used Saigon as the "base camp" for my Southeast Asia travels.

It is indeed ironic and strange that the Vietnamese Communist bureaucracy has both helped and hindered my Southeast Asia travels. It has helped because it is the only Southeast Asian country that I know of that does NOT require a an airline ticket to leave country as a prerequisite for getting a visa. This fact has allowed me considerable flexibility re scheduling to suit my whims and desires. However, current circumstances beyond my control give me few options. Specifically, I entered Vietnam with a 5-month, multi-entry visa that I got last June at the Vietnamese Embassy Consulate in Washington DC. It expires on November 18th and specifically states that it "Cannot be renewed or extended". I thought that all I had to do was leave Vietnam before the visa expiration and I could get another visa to return. Evidently that is not the case. Immigration authorities here in HCM City say that "back-to-back" visas cannot be issued. Problem is that the authorities can or will not be specific about what constitutes "back-to-back" - 1 day, week, month, or year!? It appears that decision is up to the Vietnamese visa issuing consulate (outside of Vietnam) where I apply for the visa. So, I am left with no alternative other than to leave Vietnam and apply for another entry visa outside the country - which I will probably attempt to do in Bangkok, Thailand.
As I said above, I have met some wonderful people in Vietnam. These have resulted in life-fullfilling and what will also be life-long memories.

My most memorable Vietnam experience will undoubtedly be the first person I befriended in Saigon - Linh Pham whom, at her request, I fondly call Shine. I will forever remember and be inspired by her intelligence, dreams, tenacity, humor, and infectious, beautiful smile. This is a pic taken at the farewell dinner that she and her family invited me to the night before I left Vietnam. My immense respect and strong feelings for Shine will always be with me. I can only hope that someday I will be able to make many of her dreams come true. I love her very much in many ways.

Hoang "adopted me" as "his American tourist" soon after I first arrived in Saigon. As such, he has been my motorbike driver for almost 3 months. I have met his entire family including his father who worked for and showed me pictures of him with US Army forces in Saigon - while simultaneously his wife was, unknown to him at the time, supporting the Viet Cong! Only because of her support of the VC during the war (for which she has a certificate), they were able to maintain ownership of their house after Saigon fell. Because of Hoang's considerably strong street-learned-English skills, incredible knowledge of Saigon's ins/outs, I have saved considerable $s, and learned much about Vietnamese culture and intimate details about both war and post-war history. This is a pic of Hoang and I with his wife Doa at her street coffee-cig stand - where I have had many, many Vietnamese iced coffees and heart-to-heart conversations with Hoang and others while sitting on miniature stools at a miniature table. I consider Hoang a brother and would recommend his services to anyone visiting Saigon!

Giao Nguyen is an American/Vietnamese who was one of the Vietnamese exodus boat people who, after months in an Indonesian refugee camp, made his way to the US. Last May he returned to Saigon where his very sick mother and sister have owned and operated a successful styrofoam manufacturing company. He hoped to convince his mother to return with him to the US for medical care - which leaves much to be desired here in Vietnam. Thus far, although she is confined to a wheelchair and in very poor health,, she has only recently agreed to leave Saigon - a city she has seldom left. This is a pic of me, Giao and his girlfriend at a farewell Peiking duck dinner in Saigon's Cholon District (Chinatown). Giao's girlfriend is the ONLY formal. Communist Party member I have met since being in Vietnam - Vietnam population is just over 100 million of which only 2M (2%) are formal party members. In her early 20s, born and raised in Saigon, she has an English degree from Hanoi University and is a Vietnamese to English translator for the "leading communist party newspaper" in Saigon. She is the only Vietnamese person I have met whose feelings towards the US are luke warm at best - she would very much like to visit Beijing but has no interest in visiting US!? Conversely, Giao is very much an American, fanatical Obama supporter, and politically the total opposite of her. Strange bed fellows!?

At my farewell meeting with Hoang and his family, they staged a good-humored, elaborate as well as sad ceremony during which they honored me by giving me an honorary Saigon citizenship. The ceremony concluded with me receiving proof of my Saigon citizenship as shown in this picture!