April 30

April 30, 2009, 7:37 am
Filed under: vietnam

April 30 marks Independence Day in Vietnam, when the North officially
defeated the South and the country became one again. Of course,
overseas Vietnamese call it Ngay Mat Nuoc, or The Day We Lost Our
Country. I wonder why the government just doesn’t call it
Reunification Day, which seems a lot more neutral to me. Can’t really
argue with reunification.

Anyway, the great thing about long holidays in Vietnam (tomorrow is
May Day ) is that every Saigonese leaves Saigon! Oh what heaven! The
streets are empty. The air is a bit cleaner. And the Saigonese who
stay in town seem to relax a little more. What a pleasant and livable
city Saigon would be, if oh, about 4 million people moved out!

I was talking to my roommate about this, and he reminded me that
Saigon was like this 10 years ago. Though I disagreed, since I was
here at that time, I do remember the streets being a lot emptier. For
goodness sakes, I used to be able to bike about 3 km from the city
center to my family’s house. These days? Are you kidding? Riding a
bicycle in Saigon is like a death wish. If you’re not clobbered by a
truck or bus, you’d just slowly die from carbon monoxide inhalation.

Anyway, my roommate moved out today – heading home to Wisconsin after
a year and a half in Saigon with me. I also began the packing process
today. I took some pictures of my neighborhood, to mark the occassion
of April 30 and my final days in Saigon.