JACK BERNARD'S TRAVELS

This photo is pretty typical of the sidewalks of Saigon. They are crowded, chaotic, torn up, obstructed, and messy. They are also orderly, organized, and surprisingly clean. Like a lot of other things in Saigon they are paradoxical. For an outsider they take a little getting used to.

I like to learn a city by walking it, but it’s close to impossible to do here. Except for Dong Khoi, the main shopping street in the tourist center, there are almost no walking streets in Saigon – and for practical reasons almost no one walks anyway. It’s hot. It’s humid. And, except for Sunday, there is almost never enough room to negotiate the narrow spaces between storefronts and the streets.

My view of sidewalks was formed in urban America where they are pedestrian zones that provide a safe path, off the street, for strolling, exercise, or neighborhood shopping. In Saigon they are extensions of the streets, restaurants, living rooms, showrooms, bedrooms, parking lots or playing fields. At any time of the day or night they are teeming with activity. At 3:30AM families are setting up their food stands or sidewalk retail operations. As the day emerges they expand into motorbike parking lots, alternative motorbike roadways, communal living rooms, cottage industries, social centers, and classrooms of this energetic country.

If I had seen the future I would have invested in children’s furniture 15 years ago. Every Vietnamese sidewalk is crowded with the tiny tables and chairs that characterize the entrepreneurial spirit and energy of this city of 8 million. At first I thought they were comical, but they are just another practical solution to the space problem – and they are surprisingly comfortable.

The sidewalks of Saigon are an interesting challenge for Westerners but they are also the business hubs and venture projects of an emerging economy that cannot be contained by its architecture. So, grab a tiny chair, order a ca phe sua da (Vietnames iced coffee), and enjoy the show. This is where it’s all happening.

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This is one view of Vietnam, but Vietnam is a country of contrasts, and last week Marilynn and I saw some of the extremes that exist in this amazing country.

On Friday we flew to Danang where we spent 11 hours visiting East Meets West projects with Bob Greenwood, one of the organization’s strongest and most articulate advocates. Bob is helping us adjust to changing times and develop new funding strategies for the projects that are the lifeblood of the organization. That’s his business and he’s very good at it; but EMW is in a different category than his other clients. Bob loves Vietnam. He was here in the Navy during the war and he’s been back a number of times since the country opened up to tourism in 1995. It is no exaggeration to say that people who visit this incredible country come away transformed. Bob is a classic example. This time he came to see EMW projects up close in order to better understand them. I’m inspired every time I visit the programs and traveling with Bob gave us both another chance to see them and the people they serve.

We left our apartment in Saigon at 3:45AM, flew to Danang, and 13 hours later Marilynn and I were dropped off at the Furama Resort just outside the city. We started out at the Village of Hope orphanage, one of the signature EMW projects, where we support 150 orphans, 35 of whom are hearing or speech impaired, and help prepare them for life as adults. Then it was on to the EMW dental clinic where last year 3 staff dentists, supported by volunteer dentists from all over the world, performed more than 40,000 procedures on more than 10,000 children, most of whom had never seen a dentist. After a quick lunch we drove out to the countryside to visit a school and 30 of the more than 6000 students from the poorest families in Vietnam who receive EMW scholarships from the 3rd grade through high school. But the school itself is only part of the story. You have to visit the kids’ homes to really understand the program. We visited two homes; both families with a single mother and 3 siblings. The houses themselves, sturdier than most in this impoverished area, were “compassion homes” donated by another NGO. Each had 2 small rooms, cement floors, corrugated tin roofs, and small add-on outside kitchens made of materials left over from the homes they replaced. On Friday it was about 90 degrees. This is the coolest time of year. Imagine what that hut feels like in summer. Yet, the mothers were smiling, and the kids stood proudly in uniforms with white shirts, orange kerchiefs and baseball caps embroidered with the name SPELL, the scholarship program that supports them. SPELL is designed to show them the way to a better life through education. By providing scholarships to the poorest of the poor, parents are encouraged to keep their kids in school instead of sending them out to work and contribute to the household income. It will either break your heart or make a true believer out of you. These kids get tuition, fees, books, uniforms, and tutoring twice a week. In high school they get a bicycle if they live more than a mile from school.

At the end of this long day Marilynn and I were dropped off at the Furama Resort (picture above) on China Beach just outside the city of Danang. From a sweltering afternoon in huts with tin roofs to a 5 star luxury resort with Italian sheets and pool boys; this is the kind of contrast Vietnam offers – from abject poverty to absolute luxury. It’s jarring.

We loved our weekend at Furama. It was one of total indulgence – but in the end we’ve talked more about the kids we saw on Friday than the luxurious comfort of the hotel. Vietnam has a long way to go, but it is going to get there. It’s a privilege to be part of process.

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A Vietnamese-American friend told me recently how much the Vietnamese hate having their country regarded as Third World, an emerging market, or a developing economy. They are a proud people with an impressive culture and a history of upsetting expectations. The Chinese, the French, and the Americans have all been beaten here, and now it’s economic warfare in a global economy.

It’s an exciting place to be these days, but the truth is that Vietnam is a Third World country. In 1994 much of the population was starving and the economy was in the tank. It was at that moment that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam decided to take the pragmatic step of subordinating ideology to experiment with a market driven economy. It was a good decision for the people who energetically have worked their way back to prosperity (of sorts).

But, the new economy, like those in other Third World countries, is not benefiting everyone. There are the have’s and the have-not’s, the nouveau riche and the homeless, and an emerging middle class.

Last night, we were invited to the Grand Opening of the Hard Rock Cafe in Saigon. The event said a lot about the new Vietnam. The venue, in the equally new Intercontinental Hotel, is beautifully done – well designed and appointed with all the bells and whistles. But the Hard Rock Cafe is a tired brand where the clientèle worldwide is more about T-shirts than celebrities and glam. I remember the Hard Rock in London in the ’80’s, but in 2010 I have a hard time with the $15 burger. Nevertheless, for the moment, it works here where nouveau riche is not part of the vocabulary and understatement is not in style.

The inexperienced management, drawn from a local coffee company, put on a terrific event though the stress in the days leading up to it was tangible and not very attractive. Running a coffee business and opening an upscale internationally branded nightspot require different skills. Just because you’re young and know something about the musical tastes of your target audience does not mean you know how to work with the corporate management of an international brand or have the diplomatic skills to deal with vendors, entertainers, wait staff, government regulation, media, publicity, and public relations. The PR guy is in way over his head and the GM is a good guy and a good manager but doesn’t have the right support at the moment.

Still, as I said, the grand opening was a well attended high profile Hollywood preview-style extravaganza complete with red-carpet, beautiful models, young and old hipsters, corporate execs and diplomats. The food and drink was delicious and in abundance. There was never a moment when someone wasn’t offering you something. After the red carpet preview on the mall outside, the vetted and invited crowd was ushered down into the cafe where the entertainment took over. There was a 1980’s US cover band called the American Hitmen, a sensational Vietnamese rocker named Kasim(the best thing on the bill) and American hip-hopper Run DMC, specially imported for the GO.

There is a new no smoking law in Vietnam, but “public places” has not been defined, so restaurants and bars continue to allow it, and I woke up this morning with a scratchy cough and clothes that smelled like an ashtray. I think I’m too old for the hardcore nightclub scene. Maybe next year when “public places” has been expanded to include the Hard Rock.

Vietnam will not be a Third World country for long, but the presence of a Hard Rock Cafe won’t be the reason. We’ll see where both of them are in 10 years. I’m betting on Vietnam.

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Headlines in today’s Vietnam News, the local English language newspaper:

WILD ELEPHANTS HAVE DESTROYED MANY HOUSES AND CROPS

TOAD EGGS DEADLY FOR CHILDREN (Story on page 4)

ONE HORNED RHINOS ON VERGE OF EXTINCTION (Story on page 6)

FOUR JAILED FOR TRYING TO OVERTHROW THE STATE (Page 1)

I had no idea toad eggs were deadly, so that was good information. The article went on to say that not only were the eggs deadly but that “toad flesh does not contain many highly nutritious elements that are good for children.” I didn’t know that either. Without treatment both toad elements “could lead to death.” Well, it wasn’t on my diet anyway.

Living in Saigon it is also easy to lose sight of the fact that there are still elephants, rhinos, and tigers out and about in the countryside. I just finished a Vietnam war novel by Karl Marlantes in which a Marine at a forward listening post is carried off in the night and eaten by a tiger. Personally, I think crossing the street in Saigon is dangerous, so I’m going to ignore the tiger menace, let the kids deal with the toad eggs and give myself over to focusing on traffic safety.

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Sometimes you think you know how things work. Sometimes you do. But, sometimes you really don’t.

We live in a fairly nice apartment. The view, as you can see, is not scenic but we have a maid and 24 hour security. We have a one year lease on a 2 bedroom flat. Occasionally, we have an overnight guest and twice we have let friends or co-workers stay in the second bedroom when we were away. No problem normally, but we didn’t understand how things really work until we returned after Christmas and “heard” that there was a big flap about some of our guests. In fact, it turns out that 3 of them, traveling together were turned away. But to this day the only people who have talked to us are the rejected guests. To be fair, there is a law that says guests need to be registered with the police. Depending on where you are in Europe or Asia you may have to surrender your passport when you check into a hotel. We have all come to accept that. In Vietnam it extends one rung lower and individuals have to register guests staying in their homes. Practically speaking it doesn’t happen if it’s a one or two night gig, but they are serious about longer stays.

Here’s the way it generally works: the tenant is obligated to notify the security guy, who is obligated to notify the landlord, who is obligated to notify the police. Not only that, there are “watchers” in the neighborhood who inform when someone, like our landlord, doesn’t comply. It’s a kind of coconut telegraph. Word gets around.

But, there’s more. Saigon looks like a happening place – lots of bars, lots of bar girls, busy streets any hour of the day or night. But, the truth is it’s a sleepy little place with 8 million residents where you’re supposed to be in bed by 11pm. Yep, that’s right, 11pm and some apartments and houses lock the door and won’t let ANYONE in or out after that, not even the people who live there. It sounds crazy, but our gorgeous French-Mexican neighbor told us that her first apartment here was just like that and she got locked out more than once. I can understand that the security guys aren’t crazy about getting up at 3am to let our little French fox in or to let us out at 4 because all the flights to the US leave at 6. Still, it is their job isn’t it? And, we’re paying the rent and them, right? Well, apparently not totally right. They squeal to the landlord and we hear about it.

And though you could argue that it’s a safety issue guarding the old homestead, it’s not just at home that there are extra eyes. On Monday, we had an office visit from one of the local security police (the guys in the bilious green uni’s). He said “different” people than normal had been seen coming and going from our office. He wanted to know about them, and he wanted to know why our office assistant left and who we were interviewing for the job. This is totally weird and off-putting. I lived in Berlin before the wall came down, but the Stasi were on the other side of the wall. Now they’re in our courtyard and somewhere on the street where we live. This is an amazing country. We love it, but sometimes we have to suspend our disbelief and focus on how great it really is to be here, watch it grow, and follow the law no matter how strange it seems to us.

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