"Gooooood Morning Vietnam"
Folks our age and others that have raided
archives to watch the 1970's movie or TV series MASH, will relate to the quote
above. It was from Armed Forces Radio disc jockey, Robin Williams whose manic
and hilarious delivery from a studio in 1965 Saigon gave U.S. troops a morale
boost.
MASH stood for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.
Of course some things have changed in the last 40 years. This morning, we
toured part of Saigon, now named Ho Chi Minh. During wartime, there
were helicopters in the air, infantry on the ground, rifles, Agent Orange, gas masks, MASH units and
jungle warfare chaos.
We found the street vendors particularly interesting. There was food, lottery tickets, motorcycle repair, goldfish for sale, to name a few, and much more. For the most part, these were not storefront operations, but set up daily on the sidewalk. They were everywhere, often several in a single block.
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| Restaurant Patio with Client Parking |
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| Lottery Ticket Stand |
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| Motorcycle Repair in the Shade |
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| Goldfish in a Bag |
In addition, there's still disregard for human life. We risked
our life every time we tried crossing the street, not only mid-block, but also at
intersections. It was recommended, we just walk out into traffic, and the motorcycles would just flow around us. Needless to say, we didn't have the nerve. A Walk signal at the intersection means nothing here.
As a result, the chaos in Saigon continues. The jungle warfare replaced by heavy traffic, no rules on the road or anywhere else.
But, that's just the way it is, and we had a
"Gooooood Morning (in) Vietnam".
Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.com/2017/03/snake-charming-on-mekong-delta.html
