When I think of Vietnam, I think of the war with American choppers, the film Platoon and the soundtrack to Forrest Gump with Jimmy Hendrix.
So I was surprised when Jennifer from Dublin said Ho Chi Minh City was great for embroidered table-cloths. It didn't fit with my image of marines wading through paddy fields in the driving monsoon rains but I kept an open mind on the matter.
She was right, the shopping in Vietnam is fabulous. I bought oil painted copies of Van Gogh for less than 30 US dollars each, gorgeous embroidered table clothes for the Christmas table and lacquered table ware. We bought up everything we could carry and vowed to come back the next day.
On our first morning, while the group of us waited in the lobby of the hotel while Monty the super-organised went to get directions to the main shopping area, we witnessed the spectacle of an American woman barking at the concierge. She apparently had asked his recommendation for a good restaurant in Ho Chi Minh to bring her visitors. It seemed that whatever recommendation he gave she didn't trust it because she then bombarded him with,
"Is it better than the Lemongrass?"
"Yes."
"Is it better than the .....?"
"Yes."
"Is it better than the.....?"
On and on she went until she ran out of restaurants.
Monty returned and we left the lobby. As we stepped out onto the street, Monty said, "Turn right."
I said, "Is it better than going left?"
One evening, just as it was starting to get dark, I left our hotel to return to a shop I passed earlier to buy a stunning oil-painted copy of Klimt's The Kiss. As I hurried through the streets, a blonde woman overweight, sweaty and grumpy who also seemed to be in a hurry came towards me and passed without glancing in my direction.
'Ugh, how ugly and greedy she looks' I thought to myself. Then I spotted my reflection in a shop window. The shock. I was doing the exact same thing. I was also a hungry, greedy expat clawing for bargains. I stopped hurrying and returned to my hotel.
I bought Stanley Karnow's book, Vietnam: A History. I always thought the Americans lost the Vietnam War. They didn't; it was just they had lost enough lives lost and pulled out. Ho Chi Minh had warned the Americans that lives matter less in Vietnam and said the Vietnamese were like ants; they would keep coming at them and never give up. He was right.
What has all this has to do with spirituality? My judgemental nature and hypocrisy was revealed to me in spades. I'm working on it......
So I was surprised when Jennifer from Dublin said Ho Chi Minh City was great for embroidered table-cloths. It didn't fit with my image of marines wading through paddy fields in the driving monsoon rains but I kept an open mind on the matter.
She was right, the shopping in Vietnam is fabulous. I bought oil painted copies of Van Gogh for less than 30 US dollars each, gorgeous embroidered table clothes for the Christmas table and lacquered table ware. We bought up everything we could carry and vowed to come back the next day.
On our first morning, while the group of us waited in the lobby of the hotel while Monty the super-organised went to get directions to the main shopping area, we witnessed the spectacle of an American woman barking at the concierge. She apparently had asked his recommendation for a good restaurant in Ho Chi Minh to bring her visitors. It seemed that whatever recommendation he gave she didn't trust it because she then bombarded him with,
"Is it better than the Lemongrass?"
"Yes."
"Is it better than the .....?"
"Yes."
"Is it better than the.....?"
On and on she went until she ran out of restaurants.
Monty returned and we left the lobby. As we stepped out onto the street, Monty said, "Turn right."
I said, "Is it better than going left?"
One evening, just as it was starting to get dark, I left our hotel to return to a shop I passed earlier to buy a stunning oil-painted copy of Klimt's The Kiss. As I hurried through the streets, a blonde woman overweight, sweaty and grumpy who also seemed to be in a hurry came towards me and passed without glancing in my direction.
'Ugh, how ugly and greedy she looks' I thought to myself. Then I spotted my reflection in a shop window. The shock. I was doing the exact same thing. I was also a hungry, greedy expat clawing for bargains. I stopped hurrying and returned to my hotel.
I bought Stanley Karnow's book, Vietnam: A History. I always thought the Americans lost the Vietnam War. They didn't; it was just they had lost enough lives lost and pulled out. Ho Chi Minh had warned the Americans that lives matter less in Vietnam and said the Vietnamese were like ants; they would keep coming at them and never give up. He was right.
What has all this has to do with spirituality? My judgemental nature and hypocrisy was revealed to me in spades. I'm working on it......
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