Our last full day in Vietnam did not disappoint. After a few café su nongs (Hot coffee with
cream) we headed out of Saigon on our scooters.
We headed south with intentions of viewing the South China Sea. The 33 mile drive to the coast does not sound
like much but when your vehicle is a 50cc scooter and your travels include
getting through Saigon traffic and taking a ferry across the Saigon River your
travels can be difficult. We managed to make it all the way out of Saigon and
onto the ferry without one beer stop. But
once off the ferry our quest for beer was inevitable. Our
short ride across the Saigon River is unlike any ferry ride I have ever
taken. The chocolate color of the Saigon
River was accented with a large amount of green mangrove leaves floating in the
river’s current. The traffic rules that
dominate the Saigon streets appear to be no different on the waterways. With ships passing in close proximity to the
ferry with little or no reverence to personal space it is very reminiscent to
the streets of Saigon. The ferry
crossing was made memorable by the fact that we made our way past the barriers
and up to the deck where the captain let all of us take a stint at the wheel. And, just like navigating the streets, our ferry
crossing was completed without incident, but with much anxiety.
Once across we made the acquisition of beer
our primary goal. Accelerating down the
roads at speeds that were not intended for our scooters we came upon the
perfect spot. We crossed a narrow man
made dirt passage that brought us to our beer oasis that was elevated above the
swap lands that surrounded it. Once
across we enjoyed our beers on hammocks that were suspended above the swap with
only slits of bamboo below us. We
enjoyed only a few beers while a man and woman worked next to us vigorously
plucking the feathers from a duck that I assumed was going to be on the night’s
menu. A small puppy, who was wandering
the floors of the restaurant, became my new companion while I enjoyed lounging
in my hammock. We toasted our good
fortune as we pondered how the day, that had just started, could get any
better
.
After our short stop we continued on to the town of Can Gio
which is situated just past the exit of the Saigon River on the South China
Sea. We consulted our map and turned
right off the main road to what, according to our map, looked like a road that
paralleled the sea. Once we ran out of
road we discovered that the road on our map was in fact nothing more than a
dirt path. Undeterred by what some may
have determined was an inadequate road we follow the road with the South China
Sea on our right.
Some of our greatest adventures have begun in the pursuit of
beer.
At this time it was determined
that a beer was needed to adequately enjoy the views that the South China Sea
had to offer and, since it had been fifteen miles since our last beer stop, we
were thirsty. As we traveled along the
dirt path I noticed a hut to the left that had people inside sitting around a
table that had a copious amount of beer cans littering their table. Thinking it was a restaurant I waved down
Keith and Scott and told them that I found a place that had beer. What happened next could be deemed, without
exaggeration, as one of the greatest moments of our trip. We parked our scooters and realized that what
we thought was a restaurant was actually someone’s house. I use the term “house”, but most of my American
friends would have trouble defining this place as a house. This was a one room ten by fifteen foot wood
structure. We walked in the open door to
discover nine guys surrounding a table with pots of crab and numerous beers on
top of the table and remnants of both under the table littering the floor. We were immediately welcomed in and seconds
later cold beers occupied our hands. We
sat down with them as a pot of fresh baked clams made its way to the
table. It was quickly apparent that none
of us could understand a word the other was saying, but that we all spoke the
universal language of beer. “Yo,Yo,Yo!” Before we were able to finish the beer in our
hand another one was on the table waiting to be opened and enjoyed with the pot
of snails that suddenly appeared. I
enjoyed the clams and the crab but the snails, which I tried, were not my
thing. Despite the language barrier much
laughter was shared by all. I am not
sure that we were laughing at the same jokes, but we were all laughing at the same
time. After our third beer it became
obvious that this party had no end in sight.
If we so desired we could have imbibed until the water buffalos came
home, (Oh, he was grazing just outside the door) or until we fell down, which
every came first. Showing some
constraint, and not wanting to embarrass ourselves any further, we quickly
finished our beer on hand and stood up to thank our hosts before another
arrived. Since we just barged in on the
party, drank their beer, enjoyed their food and were so grateful for the
experience, we attempted to give them some compensation. We started to pull some dong out of our
pockets and we were met with a universal “No,No,No.”. Not wanting to offend any further we quickly
put our dong away and graciously shook everyone’s hands before we retreated
back onto our scooters.
We rode down the dirt road a ways and stopped at a wall
overlooking the South China Sea. We all
took a moment and reveled in the greatness of the moment that just
happened. This truly is a great country
filled with great people.
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