Ferry ride to Saigon

It was a heavy heart that I left the tranquility of Vung Tau and the wonderful company I had there.

The ferry was jam-packed but my foresight in buying a first class ticket helped me have an even more comfortable ride. The ride, which was less than 2 hours, is scenic particularly after the ferry crosses the mangrove and enters the river.

The serenity of the riverine villages reminded me so much of the backwaters of Kerala. How I envy those with simplier rural lives in places like those villages. Of course, the Vietnamese in these parts have had anything but an easy life.Almost everyone lost a loved one in the war of independence. The Americans used chemical weapons and agent orange, which still causes cancer in the country!

Yet, with over 60 percent of the population being born after the war, those days seem like a distant memory. Vietnam looks forward and ahead and the country is poised to be a major economic regional powerhouse in the years to come.

 

Familiarity breeds contempt in Vietnam

I have been told that it's the novelty of being in the charming boomtown of Vung Tau that has made me like it so much. Yes, it's clean, green and well laid out and the service culture is undoubtedly very good. I can easily tolerate the weather and language barriers have never come in my way.. BUT

My friends who live in Vung Tau have a laundry list of complaints. The locals never show courtesy for women, even pregnant ones... People don't respect queues...They lack civic sense...

My rose-coloured glasses largely prevented me from noticing any of those things, but yes, I do have to admit that I did see similarities between Vietnamese and my compatriots.

For starters, the "airport fair" mentality. To see off or receive relatives, it looks like entire villages make the trip to the airport in Ho Chi Minh. People also neatly lay down their food and have picnics outside the departure gate.

I did notice the littering although it is nothing compared to India.

Since the Communists are particular about cleanliness and the municipal authorities do their job, unlike in India, Vietnamese cities, at least the ones I have seen are very clean. This is exactly why I keep calling the country a "Civilized India." 

Vung Tau- similarities with Tamil Nadu

The oil and gas boomtown of Vung Tau did remind me a lot of towns in coastal Tamil Nadu. For a large part, the architecture is similar. Even the small shops, tiny restaurants and the barren pre-monsoon hills look the same. There is one big difference and that is the infrastructure and cleanliness.

The pavements are well laid out in Vung Tau. The streets are broad and of course the town is almost spotlessly clean.

This small restaurant (left) could easily be in a small Tamil Nadu town. We had our favourite Pho soup here.

Some argue that the cleanliness is on account of a large expat population. But then with India teeming with foreigners these days, I see no similar stories.

The cool breeze from the South China Sea can easily make the warmest and most humid of days feel pleasant. This town is located at a strategic cross-roads and if Vietnam plays its cards right, it could become the kind of trade and logistics hub that could give Singapore nightmares.                                                       

My article on China's Russian heritage

On a late-winter morning, the snow flurries fall gently on the giant green onion dome of a Russian Orthodox Church. A voice or two can be heard in Russian but as the city wakes up, the dominant language on the street is Chinese. In terms of architecture and heritage, Harbin, in the north-eastern Heilongjiang province, is probably the most Russian city outside the former Soviet Union.

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Lost in translation in Vung Tau

Foreign langauges aren't vogue in Vietnam and the beautiful Vietnamese seem to be in no hurry to want to learn any. Vung Tau has a few locals who can speak a smattering of Russian and some who speak fairly good English but the communication gap woth foreigners in Vietnam is much larger than in any country in the ASEAN grouping.

At a so-called French cafe we asked for a cappuccino and a couple of omelettes. My experienced friend asked the waitress to repeat the order and she wrote it down as expresso and baguettes! We ended up eating what we wanted but I was honestly shocked with how this whole situation transpired until the stories started pouring in.

A Russian housewife once ordered french fries for her daughter and was delivered a plate ful of burnt potatoes and chillies. The aggressive waitress said "you Russians don't know what french fries are!!"

I find these Vung Tau situations odd since Vietnam is known for an excellent service culture

Moscow and Beijing

Here's my take on what the two former communist capitals on Russia Beyond the Headlines' Asia edition.

Powerless in Vung Tau

Once every few months, the authorities in Vung Tau shut down power for an entire day. They put notices in Vietnamese and expect all the foreigners in the buildings to understand. So, off goes the electricity on a warm morning when I have a bucket-load of things to do.

The owner of my favourite cafe asks me to come back the next day. I have deadlines to meet but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. Calmly I enjoy the cool breeze from the South China Sea. This is a good day to appreciate the serenity and peace of the southern Vietnamese boomtown.

The sea is always blue and life seems even slower than normal with most businesses not having a generator to carry on.