The Japanese New Year had already been rung in by the time we ported in Kobe, but we hit the height of the New Year’s holiday in China and came in on the tail end of Tet in Vietnam. Saigon (as it is still called by locals) is very colorful at any time of year, but it was decked out to the extreme for this holiday. All of the main thoroughfares were adorned with banners draped in stars, flowers, and other auspicious symbols. Lanterns graced the courtyards of temples, which were all bustling with visiting parishioners and tourists. Every doorway had some sort of ornament, even the entry to port security across from our ship (I have included a photo in which you can see the ship reflected in the window).

My husband Jeff and I visited Vietnam in 2002 on the way home from our first joint stint in Kyoto (when I was working on my doctorate). We found it much changed—many more skyscrapers and Starbucks. (Jeff and son Blake escaped from the city for 3 days in the Mekong Delta, which was lush yet at the same time very industrious, producing bricks, coconut candies, and a lot of good vegetables, including edible morning glories—delish!).

This visit was special for me and my contemporary art seminar students onboard as we were able to visit with artist Dinh Q. Lê (thanks, Pierre and Garth, for putting me in touch with him!). He welcomed us at his studio on the outskirts of Saigon, where we spent the better part of 2 hours discussing his work and viewing his phenomenal art collection of Vietnamese ceramics, Buddhist sculpture, and furniture. Students had read an article by the recent Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen about Dinh’s attempt through his work to complicate memories of the “American War,” as it is called here, so we had a lively session with students asking a lot of questions. We also heard about some of his more recent projects, such as one revolving around remembrances of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. We followed up that visit with a lavish lunch at a restaurant downtown (appropriately named “delicious” or Ngon) and art galleries in the afternoon (the entrance to the Craig Thomas Gallery pictured here). The food here was divine! See the Food Folder for more on those experiences. Ciao for now—more from Myanmar.