The Young Man Odyssey

I am not a synical man, or perhaps I am, but when I imagined such cities so far away I had a pretty rustic view of most of them, Saigon included. However the big ceramic figure that greeted me was not Ho Chi Minh, but in fact Colonel Sanders.

Yes, Vietnam has changed, fused with the cultures of the modern western world. There is a compacted travelers street with any amenitie you could wish, and we all seem to congregate here. The teenage book sellers, after being refused, perform taunting eyebrow acrobatics and quietly offer you drugs. Refused again, they walk away, thinking your crazy, or just boring.

It is the morning now, and I will go to museums that depict the evil Americans of the American War. I have read that there are brutal torture devices on display, perhaps with a tinge of blood still on the machinery.

One more night in Vietnam, and to be honest it will be a relief when I see it recede to the horizon. Hotel prices will literally be cut in half once I get to Cambodia, and it will be nice to read about a horrifying, brutal history that does not include my home country. That sounded odd, eh.

I am good spirits awaiting my arrival to Cambodia. To the museums!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 9:05 pm and is filed under Thailand, Laos, Vietnam 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.