ruminations from this corner: August 2014

Even before having set foot in it, I have already decided that Vietnam is one damn cool place. Anthony Bourdain made that decision for me long time ago when he declared in No Reservations his love for Vietnam (particularly Saigon) and how he feels so connected to the place. And I’m the one who believes everything Anthony says because he’s the coolest traveler in my book.

So you could say that the main reason why I wanted to visit Vietnam was to see for myself how a tiny Southeast Asian country found a special place in Anthony’s Ramones-loving heart. Well, I have some theories. For one, the Vietnamese, I think, are one of the world’s most kick-ass people (Anthony loves kick-ass). They’re fighters and survivors. Just look at how they’re standing up against Chinese intimidation in the West Phil Sea! And they’re so spunky they require visa for their colonial masters of yore (Americans and French).

Then of course there’s the FOOD! The food is sooo right in every way (the coffee though was, surprisingly, a disappointment). You realize just by walking the city streets dotted with ambulant vendors that there’s infinitely more to Vietnamese food than the more well-known exports banh mi and pho. The food culture is unapologetic and authentic. It doesn’t try to suit your western preferences and expectations. It is what it is, so grab a stool in some suspicious looking alley and eat your pho.

Authenticity. That’s the vibe of this city. You feel it even in those parts that have been gentrified. It’s Quiapo and Greenbelt co-existing in District 1. There are kids in house clothes playing right along the frontage of some posh boutique (I think it was in Rex Hotel?) while their father sells kitsch nearby. In fact, right beside that posh store is a general merchandise stall, the kind you see in Divi. I can’t imagine that happening in Ayala 6750.

One of the things that usually strike me in most foreign cities is that you don’t see a lot of policemen and store guards around, sometimes not even one. In Saigon, I didn’t notice guards in the stores but I saw a few policemen (or were they military?) who all seemed to look not older than 25. They also slouched. And so even if they wore a stern communist uniform, they looked like they can’t even intimidate a kitten (what more a city mouse Pinoy?).

Marvin badgered me to rent a motorbike to see more parts of the city. I wasn’t really up to it at first because I felt that that was too much of an adventure for parents with kids waiting back home. You can’t blame me because in Manila, riding a motorbike in the city feels like a rogue adventure. But I’m glad I gave in to Marvin’s badgering because the motorbike was the best part of the trip. It wasn’t as scary as I imagined it would be because the streets were filled with mostly just motorbikes. The streets are not like EDSA brimming with bully buses, egotistic cars and rascal jeepneys. And, the concept of lurking traffic officers and traffic violations seems lost on this city. Might be wrong but that’s how it felt. So it was fun!

Then there’s the seeming Vietnamese penchant for the narrow and tight: the traditional dress (Ao dai) is long and tight; the houses in the city are tall and skinny (I later learned that this design was tax-induced); vendors can do their stuff (cook and sell) in a space no bigger than a circle with a diameter the length of an outstretched arm. I mean, those Cu Chi tunnels weren’t made by claustrophobics! And look at the shape of Vietnam on the map -it’s long and narrow (They got shabby and took away some coastal parts from Cambodia).

For someone who doesn’t get Anthony, it’s probably hard to see what makes Vietnam so endearing to him. It’s not culturally glamorous, hygiene is questionable in some foodie spots, people are not really as warm as Pinoys… But I’ve seen enough of Anthony’s shows to understand what he likes about a place or an experience. Vietnam doesn’t play bull. The Vietnamese know who they are as a people and don’t apologize for it. And it shows. Spunk is cool.