touring Ho Chi Minh City with the group

Can I confess?  I wasn’t at my best on this day.  The day before - all three days before, in fact - had taken a lot out of me, and I found myself a little checked out, needing time to recharge more than I needed city touring.  No such luxury for me that day, alas.  Breakfast done, Starbucks sipped, and it was off in the shuttle bus around the city.

The first stop was the best stop.  The Ho Chi Minh History Museum had wonderful artifacts presented so well.  At a certain point I needed to break free from our group, though.  I thought our local guide, Anne, was fantastic, but I didn’t need her narrating at length.  I wanted to see things and read the accompanying text and move at my own speed.  So I did.  As did a few others.  And then I really enjoyed the museum.

Book Street came next, and I think we all would have liked at least fifteen more minutes to browse and shop.  Then we swung through the post office, which I hugely appreciated - postcard stamps!!  And on to lunch.

For all that I was checked out that day, you know I wasn’t that way about the food.  Lunch was at Hum, a vegetarian (and almost vegan) restaurant, and it was my favourite meal to that point.  We had all joked about the platter of steamed veggies at each dinner, one that evoked a bag of frozen mixed veggies and it fondly, and now here was a restaurant that was saying to us, “Vietnamese food offers so much better.”  It really came through, too.  The cocktail was only ok (fig and hibiscus but was there actually booze in it?), but the lotus chips were a hit when I passed them around, and I loved my young banana in a turmeric sauce/soup.  Really good, really what I wanted to experience.

After lunch came the war museum, and Conrad and I skipped that.  Not interested at all.  We had a vigorous walk over to a bank to get cash instead.  And that was the end of war memorial tourism for all of us, amen.

Anne and Shiv dropped us off at a market

and told us we could either meet up after a time for a shuttle back to the hotel, or we could walk back.  I think all of us may have opted for the latter.  The market was alright, and maybe on a different day I would have poked about.  We quickly left it and walked back, stopping at a Uniqlo (great prices, tiny - for me! - sizes, no cardigan I was looking for) and then a quilted goods shop Anne had recommended (some nice finds there).  In between that and dinner we had some time to ourselves, and although we did message everyone that they could join us, Conrad and I found ourselves alone at a bar for an hour and a half and too many drinks.

The Alley Cocktail Bar & Kitchen was in an alley pretty much next door to our hotel.  A very short walk.  We arrived shortly after it opened at 5:00, and the whole time were there, we were the only customers.  A later crowd for them usually.  The upshot is we had the undivided attention of all of the staff.  So delightful chatting with them, too.  And what great cocktails!  A well-stocked bar and a team who knew what they were doing.  Yay!  I had a Vesper.  Then another.  And then I idly asked if they had green chartreuse which led to them making us Last Words.  Three rounds of drinks before dinner.  Good thing they weren’t huge.  Even with a shared snack of tuna tataki, I was a bit loopy for dinner.

Dinner by the way?  Topped lunch.  A great day for dining and drinking!  We were at ST25 by KOTO, the same people whose place we had had lunch at in Hanoi.  This, though?  Very elevated.  And not inexpensive for Vietnam, base as it was in the Sofitel.  I loved the eggplant man prik, and I loved the lamb (first lamb of the trip that I can recall), but every dish was a winner.  

We had such a good time there all of us together, and we were excited for the group excursion the next day.

So yes, not at my best that day, but I rallied by the end and had a good day all in all.

visiting libraries in Vietnam, day three

Ok, this one is the biggie.  Ready for it?  Let’s do this and then get this blog moving on to group sightseeing and vacation!

Three library meetings plus a tour at a fourth library meant a long and very busy day ahead.  We started out with a public library, the General Sciences Library Ho Chi Minh City, which is under the direction of Mr. Vinh Quoc Bao.  

I really appreciated seeing a public library operation as a break from academic libraries.  It was encouraging to see how very well used the library was and to learn more about their relationships with other libraries.  What I liked even more was their effort to preserve culture and history, not just through collections but through their own preservation workshop that we got to visit.  Very cool.  Even better, though?  Their commitment to accessibility.  They make their own braille versions of books along with other tactile reading aids.  They record audiobooks in their studio either using volunteers or leveraging AI.  All of us on the group were buzzing about those things, and it was awesome to get the tour to see those parts of their library.

The second stop before lunch was at the Smart Library, University of Economic, Ho Chi Minh City.  

Not a large space, but the traditional library space is elsewhere on their campus.  What library Director Ms Hoang Tuyet Anh has achieved, though, is a series of library modernizations that has culminated in a facility for student research, study, and collaboration.  An information commons, but beyond what I have seen elsewhere with monitors for noise and more that the students can see themselves.  The whole team talked with us, and as with some of the previous visits, staff development was a big topic of conversation.  The director was a Simmons alum, I should add, and that made for a nice connection with our delegates from New England.  We had such an enjoyable visit there.

The group had lunch at Hoa Tuc, and although I liked it all, what really stood out for me was the beef wrapped in betel leaf (not pictured below).  My introduction to that leaf, and the flavour was intriguing and good.

We were running behind by this point, and the drive to the next library was considerable.  By the time we sat down with Dr. Bui Thu Hang and her team at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City,

we were at least a half hour behind schedule, and I felt terrible that we had so little time left for conversation with them.  Dr. Ngo Thi Huyen from the Department of Information and Management was also part of the meeting, and there was some robust conversation between her and Amy in particular given that Amy is at a university with an LIS program.  Milena, meanwhile, was able to speak to sabbaticals and professional development opportunities, which I was grateful for.  We didn’t see much of the library but we did get a short visit to their museum, and l know we would have loved more.

It was raining hard when we left, and I recall being slightly anxious about slipping on the stairs and wet surfaces outside.  The last stop was a brief one, stopping at the new Library Center at the University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City.  

And I really do mean new:  it had opened a few days earlier.  The second floor was not yet ready.  But there were students using the facility, and it had that new library smell.  A stark, spare space, it shunted the smallish collection to the side and emphasized student study and activity.  Kudos to their library team on opening the center!

It was 6:30 by the time we got back to the hotel, and I spent a while in the lobby writing some thank you notes for Dr. Hien to take back with her.  I was happy to do that.  It was important to me that each library receive thanks and appreciation for hosting us and sharing the good work that they do.

By the time I got to the room, I was worn down.  Rather than look for dinner, Conrad, Denelle, and I joined some of the others at the roof deck bar for bites and drinks.  

The drinks were ok at best.  The food was terrible.  But it was convenient, the views were great, and when the rain returned to pound down, we could retreat under cover and then head back to our rooms without getting wet.  The day was done, and I was glad to head to bed.