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| Port of call-Danang,Vietnam-May 11th and 12th |
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| Local kids from an orphanage we visited on our first day |
Vietnam, our second stop on the 37th World Cruise, is a hot, hot place. That was inevitably the impression of us all as we disembarked at the port in Danang, and boarded busses with 200 youth who would be our hosts for the next two days activities. For those of us new to the country, the introduction was intense. At once began the introductions and questions from our hosts about ourselves and vise-versa, while outside under the beating midday sun the dusty swarm of honking scooters and vintage diesel trucks let off their thick exhaust and children, people on bikes, chickens and others turned to watch our convoy of busses pass. This was the beginning of two days cultural exchange between 170 Peace Boat participants and 200 Vietnamese youth, in what has become the consistently most popular course of Peace Boat's World Cruises. |
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| Authentic flavor and hospitality |
One of the first things one hears when asking these Vietnamese youth about the history of foreign incursion into their country, whether French, Japanese or American is that as bad as that history is, more important is to look towards the future and focus on building new relations. Instead of an intense study tour being the focus of Peace Boats visit, it is on this grassroots relations building that we focus, with the philosophy in mind that strong relations between people will lead to strong relations between countries, not the other way around. So, for two days we were able to know Vietnam personally, each participant paired up with a Vietnamese youth. After a day of cultural exchange, food, music and dance at the Youth Union Hall, we proceeded to a great beach bonfire and camp trip which left us sleepless, sandy and satisfied. Running around a fire at 1am to thumping techno sounds, a midnight or sunrise swim in the warm ocean, sleeping on the sand and looking up at the stars, this is not what we imagined a 'Vietnam experience' to be. |
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| After a couple of hard laps around the fire, a good swim was in order |
Yet for all the new sounds, flavors, sights and experiences one has when in the company of 200 super-energized young people, many said it was the chance to talk about life here with a willing partner that left the biggest impression. Plenty of time was left for people to explore the market or ride through town on a scooter with their host, and talk about what they saw, or how people lived day by day. What was a surprise was the extent to which our hosts would discuss issues probably deemed unsavory by authorities. Hearing Vu, an English major at a local university, talk about how occupation, war and reunification has left a lingering, bitter and painful divide between the people of North and South Vietnam or conflicting versions of history over rich Vietnamese coffee, Mi Quang noodles (a Danang specialty I was told) and sweet, fresh-pressed sugar cane juice left a deep and personal impression of the life in people here and how close they are to us. |
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| Departing Vietnam, looking forward to a good rest and Singapore, our next stop |
The impressions left on Peace Boat International Student Sonja, from Yugoslavia, illustrated the kind of understanding we all could hope to bring away from our visit. In particular, she saw a kind of stubborn willingness to live, common among people living in difficult situations, and especially a perspective appreciating what one did have and how to make this better, rather than dwell on what they didn't and feel sorry for their less than luxurious conditions. For these youth to be so wonderfully suited at making the best of two days with us, in starting friendships, showing us their life and culture and getting us up to play and dance if we happened to be feeling a little sluggish, they must be doing something right. We left with great memories, beautiful Ao Zai dresses in hand and tired but satisfied bodies the next evening, sent off by hundreds of our new friends, tears flowing on both sides. |
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| Peace Boat's
37th Voyage |
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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