family affairs

We had a wonderful Sunday afternoon in the Dam Sen amusement park. If circumstances were not that difficult and complicated Thuy Hang, Be and me would make a nice family. I will miss them. The Dam Sen Park is something like the German ‘Phantasialand’. One could say the socialist version … with orientation towards market economy. Architecture expresses the typical Asian kitsch style and in an amusement park this style is even more high-flown.


Attractions are somewhat older already and this fact makes the atmosphere in the park feel like you exist ages ago. Again it feels not only like being at another place, but like in another world - experiencing another life.


We went around, ate soy bean ice cream, rented a pedal-boat and enjoyed fried spring rolls and fresh fruit on the lake until it got dark. Be made attempts to become a photographer … results aren’t that bad seen from the point of view of modern art.


Later in the evening we passed the ice house and went to an aquarium in order to admire huge fish in colourful tanks behind glass. I spent the last evening with the guys in front of my hotel and with Thuy Hang.


Today I left to the airport in order to meet the project team. All are very much sympathetic people. We have been driven to Tra Vinh in an air-conditioned Mercedes van. We had great food for free in a fancy outdoor restaurant, the world-famous Vietnamese “cà phê sữa đá” in a local coffee shop and I just checked into my three star hotel room with air-condition, bathtub, TV, mini-bar and internet access. My first “business” trip. And I have to admit I could get used to another life.

rude awakening

On Monday I will finally start my internship at a Wastewater Management project of German Technical Cooperation. It will begin with a one and a half weeks workshop at the provincial government in Tra Vinh in the Mekong Delta. Thereafter I will have my last three days in Saigon before getting on a flight to Hanoi. Somehow the invitation to the job was a rude awakening out of a state of being something like a sleeper – waiting and waiting several months for a deployment. I almost got used to doing nothing, but reading books and meeting people. Until now my office were decent cafes around the city, soon it will be a shared workplace in the Ministry of Construction. Guess which one sounds more sympathetic! The water sector is not my dream regarding a future occupation, but it will be an interesting view into development cooperation, the organization has a good reputation and the issue is very relevant in many countries. So it could be a good compromise to keep in mind. Hanoi will be cold these months, and conservative as always. No “đi chơi”, no girls in hot pants, no Thuy Hang, not those funny boys hanging out in front of my hotel. Saying goodbye to the people and leaving Saigon makes me sad. It is always the same when you have chosen to travel - you pay a high prize, but you pay for invaluable experiences. Giving and taking. Christian says the “thành phố” when he refers to “the city” in his ‘Generation on the Move’ blog. His post contains a wonderful video - have a look and see Vietnam. Today I can comprehend that his term is very much the epitome for Ho Chi Minh City and probably also for our Vietnam. The “thành phố” just says everything. The city has a very special and unique atmosphere with all its aspects of life.


Suddenly you want to do all the things you did not yet do; because you thought there would be enough time. So today, Tam and me, we went to the zoo. It was also a rude awakening for some of the apathetic animals when Tam woke them up with an empty plastic bottle. The animals are in poor condition and cages are small and dirty. Neither keepers nor visitors seem to care. Animals seem to be either hungry …


… or gone crazy. Like the monkey here. I just ask myself: which role did Tam play in this game?