Hotel Art, Saigon

At Grumpy's request, some Hotel Art. I have to admit to being so taken with the sights and sounds of the day, that much of the hotel art has been overlooked. However, I did document it all, honest!

Danang was totally bereft of art. Totally bereft of quite a bit actually (including internet service, but that's another story!)

Saigon delivered the goods in the form of one framed picture on the side wall. Quite textile-y in a way - though it wasn't. But most certainly the kind of thing produced by the hundred for each room of the hotel. I didn't feel it did a great deal for the atmosphere, certainly didn't give any hint of time or place and could have been in any room in any part of the world.




Above the staircase was this huge ?painting ?print? Couldn't tell. The light was bad there but it was a strikingly large image - probably 5ft square. I feel it all is supposed to mean something but quite what, I have no idea!

My favourite was our bathroom installation. Beautifully posed, don't you think?

Seen in Saigon

Running a market stall is such a tiring occupation.

 
I loved this ceramic frieze along the roof of this temple.
 
  There were some great walls of prayer papers inside too.
 

More incense cones hanging from the ceiling.

I think this is the place to buy a hat.

The china ware all packed up in sets for wholesale.

Life on the Delta

Maggie's comments about the Mekong Delta were timely, for today the plan was to go there. We drove out from Saigon to My Tho, from where we took a boat on a well trodden tourist route, run by a state tourist organisation - but none the worse for that. All plans went seamlessly, one "experience" followed another, and there was no hard sell.

 

Here are some photos from the day.

 

On the way to My Tho, we stopped for a close look at a rice paddy and realised we knew little of how rice grows!

 

 

One of our visits was to a sweet making workshop, where they boiled up coconut milk with sugar and made a delicious caramelly toffee. We bought.

 

Paddling - or rather, being paddled - down the small canals was fascinating!

 

Our driver, an elderly lady with few or no teeth (coconut candy chewing?) wore a Valentino shirt. We suspect it was a copy.

At one point, we rode in a horse drawn truck, past this house where a normal Saturday afternoon was being spent in front of the telly.

Coconut is such a versatile material, and makes beautiful roof patterns!

All in all, another great day which we thoroughly enjoyed.

The reason why we came

Today is why we are here in Vietnam at all. It's the opening night of the Autumn Melodies season at the Saigon Opera House and the Piano Concerto by Joachim Raff is on the programme, played by a delightful and talented Vietnamese pianist, Nguyen Tra, who lives and works in London.

Perhaps you already know of Mark's involvement with the work of Joachim Raff? If so, it'll come as no surprise to find that's why we are here.
 
Anyway, we heard the rehearsal this morning and all sounds as though it's going to be a splendid evening across the road there at the opera house. Tra is a superb musician and is sure to do the work justice - it will be quite an occasion, for it's the first time it will have been heard live in over 100 years. Hopefully it won't be so long before it's played again though - Tra is going to do a recording in England, soon.

Well, since I wrote the first part of this blog entry, the concert has been and gone and it was a total triumph for both Tra and for Raff! The Opera House was full and the audience loved it - nearly as much as we did. Sitting with Tra's family was a privilege and we enjoyed sharing their delight in watching such an accomplished musician bring this forgotten piece of music to life again.

 

 
We smiled as the "no photography" sign was ignored as the cameras clicked away. At one point we counted seven movie cameras (it was broadcast live on Vietnam TV) and eleven people with cameras in the aisle or on the front row. At one point it seemed as though every person in the audience had a camera or videophone held high to capture the moment - the organisers are losing the battle to prevent such recordings, we think.

 

Tra well deserved the rapturous applause at the end of the evening - we enjoyed seeing the pride on her mother's face as one person after another came to share their praise of her daughters performance. It was quite an evening.

 

You can read a full review here

Arrived in Saigon

Leaving DaNang this morning

Approaching Ho Chi Minh City

Even though officially it's referred to as Ho Chi Minh City or HCMC, everyone calls it Saigon, much easier, we agree. We left DaNang around lunchtime and arrived an hour later, at the same time as three other flights - all on the same baggage carousel!

 
At least it shows that there's no preferential treatment, whether you're captain or customer, you all have to wait by the same carousel! 
We went shopping today and found some DVDs of old favourite TV series, including "The Golden Girls". Picture the scene....and all of that.
 
Saigon is a totally different ball game from Hanoi, though equally charming in its own way. Reminds us of how Hong Kong and Singapore used to be.....in "the old days"! Today we've been to two different markets, one of which was the wholesale market and boy, have we seen some stuff!
It's always nice to have a housekeeper with a sense of humour - look how we found our travelling companions dressed when we returned tonight!