You just never know what a day will bring. Last Sunday I went on a tour of several pagodas in District 5. My nice xe om (motorbike taxi ) driver, Mr Nanh, took me on a tour of 5 pagodas mentioned in one of my guide books and I saw a lot. 
Today I thought I would visit the Jade Emperor’s Pagoda in District 1. It looked very interesting, and I thought I would go on the city bus, since I had just a single destination. I have mentioned the #34 bus before and sure enough one came by as I was crossing Nguyen Van Linh, the main street bisecting Phu My Hung. The bus driver and I had a conversation in sign language and he waited for me... so nice! I got a window seat in the back row, which was ideal for gawking. This bus is the slow bus and meanders through lots of (somewhat seedy) parts of District 7 and then through District 4 until finishing up near Cho Binh Than Market in District 1. I should say eventually, because the bus broke down once and stalled at least half a dozen times, much to the disgust of the majority of the passengers. So the slow bus was reeeeeaaaaaaly slow today. I knew I had to change to another bus or take a xe om, but I inquired in the office and they told me I could take the #18. I checked with the driver and he agreed that I was on the right bus. I followed along the streets on my map to make sure I knew where I was, but at some point a very nice lady, by the name of Co Sang came and started speaking French to me. When I established that my French was a little rusty (oh, so you don’t come from Quebec), we switched to English and she told me she was a midwife working at FV hospital (the Franco-Viet Hospital – the best hospital in HCMC ... just down the street from my house). She asked me where I was going and when I showed her, she said I was on the wrong bus but then changed her mind. She was very friendly and wanted to give me her card and take mine. She asked me to call her and set up a time to practice her English ... all this is to let you know that I was not fully following on the map and kind of lost my place in the guidebook, which I was tightly holding in my hands. She gave me quite a lecture about all the ways bad people could steal my money and rip my purse off and how and where I should keep my money and just a photocopy of my passport ... leave the original at home. Finally she and the fee collector said I should get off and pointed me to the pagoda and so off I got.
I was a little dazed by the rush of humanity I experienced when I got off the bus. So many people. The sidewalks here are so full of people selling everything from orchids to jeans to gas to wallets to mangoes to masks to cigarettes to motorbike tires. These are folks who have set up in front of shops selling the same things and so much more more more. So, pedestrians are forced to walk on the streets which are full of motorbikes. Millions of them. It can be quite overwhelming at times. But, as in China, I believe the key is to show no fear.
I went down the street and found the entrance to the pagoda. I was instantly in a little oasis of calm and quiet. There were several old people doing stretching or sitting and smoking or reading. A lovely fountain and large shade trees created a lovely respite from the craziness of the streets on all sides of the pagoda.
Today I thought I would visit the Jade Emperor’s Pagoda in District 1. It looked very interesting, and I thought I would go on the city bus, since I had just a single destination. I have mentioned the #34 bus before and sure enough one came by as I was crossing Nguyen Van Linh, the main street bisecting Phu My Hung. The bus driver and I had a conversation in sign language and he waited for me... so nice! I got a window seat in the back row, which was ideal for gawking. This bus is the slow bus and meanders through lots of (somewhat seedy) parts of District 7 and then through District 4 until finishing up near Cho Binh Than Market in District 1. I should say eventually, because the bus broke down once and stalled at least half a dozen times, much to the disgust of the majority of the passengers. So the slow bus was reeeeeaaaaaaly slow today. I knew I had to change to another bus or take a xe om, but I inquired in the office and they told me I could take the #18. I checked with the driver and he agreed that I was on the right bus. I followed along the streets on my map to make sure I knew where I was, but at some point a very nice lady, by the name of Co Sang came and started speaking French to me. When I established that my French was a little rusty (oh, so you don’t come from Quebec), we switched to English and she told me she was a midwife working at FV hospital (the Franco-Viet Hospital – the best hospital in HCMC ... just down the street from my house). She asked me where I was going and when I showed her, she said I was on the wrong bus but then changed her mind. She was very friendly and wanted to give me her card and take mine. She asked me to call her and set up a time to practice her English ... all this is to let you know that I was not fully following on the map and kind of lost my place in the guidebook, which I was tightly holding in my hands. She gave me quite a lecture about all the ways bad people could steal my money and rip my purse off and how and where I should keep my money and just a photocopy of my passport ... leave the original at home. Finally she and the fee collector said I should get off and pointed me to the pagoda and so off I got.I was a little dazed by the rush of humanity I experienced when I got off the bus. So many people. The sidewalks here are so full of people selling everything from orchids to jeans to gas to wallets to mangoes to masks to cigarettes to motorbike tires. These are folks who have set up in front of shops selling the same things and so much more more more. So, pedestrians are forced to walk on the streets which are full of motorbikes. Millions of them. It can be quite overwhelming at times. But, as in China, I believe the key is to show no fear.
I went down the street and found the entrance to the pagoda. I was instantly in a little oasis of calm and quiet. There were several old people doing stretching or sitting and smoking or reading. A lovely fountain and large shade trees created a lovely respite from the craziness of the streets on all sides of the pagoda.
I was checking my guidebook to kind of orient myself when a very nice older gentleman started speaking to me in French. I replied that I spoke some French but it was a little rusty and when I tried to speak French sentences they started in French and came out Spanish. He laughed, said I must not be from Quebec, and switched to English. Lovely Parisian-accented English. We had a lovely chat for quite a lot of minutes, as my British colleagues would say. He told me about Vietnam prior to WWII and his schooling in French during colonial times, the liberation by the Japanese, and his studies to be a civil engineer in Paris. He talked about working with American contractors on a $6 million USD water project ... in 1960! We estimated with inflation, it would be over $60 million by now. I think I learned more about Vietnamese history in those few minutes than I had ever learned before. He had lots of stories. 
I also learned that I was not at the Jade Emperor’s Pagoda! I had been let off at the wrong place! The pagoda where we were was a shrine to an important soldier from the ancient history of South Vietnam, and wasn’t in the guidebook. Mr. Bui Huu Lan, as he introduced himself, showed me on my map how to get to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. Before I went to see this shrine and then walk back across the bridge I shouldn’t have crossed, I asked him if I could take his picture. He said he would be honoured. I couldn’t help but think that sometimes being in the wrong place will often present the most interesting encounters. He was a charming man and he told me he was 79. Imagine, being able to speak 3 languages and communicate so clearly at his age. 
After seeing the pagoda, I walked a few blocks across a bridge and down a street and zigged and zagged and got loster and loster. Finally, I found the Jade Emperor Palace. Well, a xe om driver waiting in front saw me and beckoned to the gate. I should have just followed the cyclos (rickshaws). The Jade Emperor Palace is quite a draw and definitely on the city tour for some groups. I heard guides speaking in English, French, and German. I enjoyed walking around the grounds, and it was very interesting, but it was not as quiet or delightful as my meeting with Mr Bui. It did have a gorgeous ceramic tile roof, which you could get close up to when going to ghe Quan Am (Guangyin) chapel. It also had another interesting chapel. called the women's room which venerates Kim Hoa, Goddess of Mothers. There are several female figures who represent a lunar year juxtaposed with ones that represent vices. Very interesting!
Next Sunday should be equally interesting, as my Vietnamese teacher, Thuy, and I are going to the Cao Dai Holy See outside of HCMC. It is about a 1 1/2 or 2 hour bus ride. She has never been there. Cao Dai is a unique Vietnamese religion, although Thuy says it is Buddhism. My guidebook says its three saints are Sun Yat Sen, Victor Hugo and a Vietnamese poet called Nguyen Binh Khiem. I hope we can go there for the 12 o'clock service, which is supposed to be very spectacular.
I hope all of you did something interesting or had an unexpected delight this weekend. I put some pics on flickr of my pagoda tour from last week if you would like to see them. http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick/. Wishing all of you health and happiness. And for some of you, Happy Thanksgiving. I will miss American Thanksgiving for the second year in a row. Good thing I had 30 or more prior to going abroad to recall with the utmost fondness:-)
I also learned that I was not at the Jade Emperor’s Pagoda! I had been let off at the wrong place! The pagoda where we were was a shrine to an important soldier from the ancient history of South Vietnam, and wasn’t in the guidebook. Mr. Bui Huu Lan, as he introduced himself, showed me on my map how to get to the Jade Emperor Pagoda. Before I went to see this shrine and then walk back across the bridge I shouldn’t have crossed, I asked him if I could take his picture. He said he would be honoured. I couldn’t help but think that sometimes being in the wrong place will often present the most interesting encounters. He was a charming man and he told me he was 79. Imagine, being able to speak 3 languages and communicate so clearly at his age. After seeing the pagoda, I walked a few blocks across a bridge and down a street and zigged and zagged and got loster and loster. Finally, I found the Jade Emperor Palace. Well, a xe om driver waiting in front saw me and beckoned to the gate. I should have just followed the cyclos (rickshaws). The Jade Emperor Palace is quite a draw and definitely on the city tour for some groups. I heard guides speaking in English, French, and German. I enjoyed walking around the grounds, and it was very interesting, but it was not as quiet or delightful as my meeting with Mr Bui. It did have a gorgeous ceramic tile roof, which you could get close up to when going to ghe Quan Am (Guangyin) chapel. It also had another interesting chapel. called the women's room which venerates Kim Hoa, Goddess of Mothers. There are several female figures who represent a lunar year juxtaposed with ones that represent vices. Very interesting!Next Sunday should be equally interesting, as my Vietnamese teacher, Thuy, and I are going to the Cao Dai Holy See outside of HCMC. It is about a 1 1/2 or 2 hour bus ride. She has never been there. Cao Dai is a unique Vietnamese religion, although Thuy says it is Buddhism. My guidebook says its three saints are Sun Yat Sen, Victor Hugo and a Vietnamese poet called Nguyen Binh Khiem. I hope we can go there for the 12 o'clock service, which is supposed to be very spectacular.I hope all of you did something interesting or had an unexpected delight this weekend. I put some pics on flickr of my pagoda tour from last week if you would like to see them. http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick/. Wishing all of you health and happiness. And for some of you, Happy Thanksgiving. I will miss American Thanksgiving for the second year in a row. Good thing I had 30 or more prior to going abroad to recall with the utmost fondness:-)
2 comments:
I wonder what about you is giving off a Quebec vibe, my Mum. Perhaps if you went back to Quebec and New Brunswick now, people would speak French to you!
Well, Cait, you were with me when people disdained to parler avec moi in my second official language .... that was so funny. But you weren't with me the last time I was in Quebec. People were most gracious and tolerated my French and even asked me if I was from Switzerland ... my French had a je ne sais quoi quality about it^_^ hahaha. I am sure I will come home with better french that I left with, that's for sure!!
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