Dick McKenzie is now married. The ending, though, won’t spoil the events leading up to that special day in February.
Here they are in McKenzie’s own words.
''On the morning of the 18th we set out for Saigon in a 16-passenger Mercedes diesel van which was assembled here in Vietnam. We were on our way to pick up my wedding guests who were arriving at 10:30 that night. There are several distinct types of drivers among Vietnamese tourist chauffeurs. We had one that
combined the worst traits of all of them. He was afraid of getting a speeding ticket so what should
have been a 7-hour trip, took 10 hours. He constantly blew the horn at everything in front of him, even
though he had no intention of passing. Every bus and most of the trucks on the road passed us. But we made it in one piece and our guests were all on time and we found them in the crush of post-Tet travelers.
''They included my older daughter, Jeannie, her daughter April, April's godmother Blythe, and my roommate frommy Thailand trip last winter, Pete Davies. We went to our hotel, turned in, got an early start and had the same miserable, crawling trip back to Nha Trang. We also had picked up Dung's foster-daughter Sean, a Vietnamese girl who was born and raised in Cambodia and was making her first trip to Vietnam, and some other family. You don't drive anywhere in Vietnam without a car full of family and friends. Perhaps this communal lifestyle helps explain why Communism was able to take hold here and in so many other Asian countries.
''The 20th came on time and everything was beyond wonderful. Our western guests were delighted by the whole experience. I had already been a participant in a number of weddings and engagements and I immodestly think ours was the best. The church service was impressive even though all but a few words was in
Vietnamese. Then we went over to the Sunrise Resort, which is on the Bay. The dining room was half inside and half out and it was cool enough to have the all the doors and windows open. We had about 250 guests. The band was excellent and Jeannie played her violin with them on several songs and was a big hit. She is a great entertainer. The only thing that was displeasing was an abrupt end to the festivities. I'll explain. They do not dance at Vietnamese weddings but I told Dung we were going to. After the obligatory visits to take pictures at all the tables, I took Dung on to the open floor and we waltzed, then the band played a lively tune and people, including many Vietnamese, started dancing.
''Now Vietnamese weddings usually follow a pattern. After the table visits and eating, usually two hours,
everybody gets up and goes home. But we were just warming up when the band played ''Good Night Ladies'' and the wait staff started cleaning up. It was 7 p.m. on the dot. I should have stopped them but I sort of forgot that it was my party and I was paying them. The next day I stopped in to see Patrick, the hotel manager, and told him what had happened. He had taken a couple of the guests at his table up to see the view from the 10th floor and when they came back down everyone was gone. He apologized profusely but didn't cut the price any. Everyone we saw the next day told us what a wonderful time they had and how disappointed they were that the band quit so abruptly.
''We had planned to take Jeannie and April and Blythe for a sightseeing trip around Vietnam after the wedding but they were having such a great time with Dung's family in Nha Trang that they decided to stay here for their whole vacation. Monday we loaded up two 16-passenger vans and a car with family and friends and drove up the coast to a beach resort that I'd been to before where we swam, ate, played tennis and got massages. Tuesday we took one van and went to Yang Bay Falls for swimming and a picnic. Wednesday we took a small boat into the Bay to visit islands, the new aquarium, which was impressive, and to swim and picnic. All in all a full week. In the evening we went to a couple of different night club/ coffee houses where Tuyet had made arrangements for Jeannie to play her violin. She was very popular and had a chance to play with several people from the band that played at our wedding.
''My granddaughter, April, hadn't been to the dentist for a couple of years so Dung took her to one of the best dentists in Nha Trang. She had an exam and a cavity filled for $15. We took the night train to
Saigon on Thursday, "sleeping" on hard berths and getting in at 5 a.m. We went to our hotel and slept for a couple more hours and then Dung took the girls to her niece's restaurant to meet some more of
our family. Both sides were delighted with one another. The three American girls were a huge hit wherever they went and they loved everybody they met.
“April and Blythe both got involved teaching Hoa some salads which she added to the menu. In the afternoon we went out to the tunnels of Cu Chi, which are a famous memorial site from the American war. Beginning in the 1940's, the southern rebels began constructing an elaborate network of tunnel works outside of Saigon that included hospitals, armories, communication centers, barracks and firing positions. After the French were defeated, the Americans, to their regret, built a major airbase right on top of this complex. It was a long time before they figured out how Viet Cong were getting into their base at night. It is now a major tourist destination.
''At night we went to a jazz club that is owned by a Vietnamese saxophonist and listened to some fine music for the price of a soft drink. The next day we took a tour to the Megong Delta for a riverboat ride and visits to local examples of Delta living. Jeanne and Blythe were leaving on Saturday and April on Sunday at 11 p.m. Jeanne got sick just before she left and April mimicked her mom. April was sick enough to require treatment at a European clinic. They both got home safely and recovered.
''Dung and I moved from our hotel to our niece's house to stay in Saigon to call on some more family and friends before we left for a short "Honeymoon" trip to Singapore. We went out to a Vietnamese nightclub with some family and friends. It was colorful and lively. The music was all contemporary Vietnamese and the performers were very good. Vietnamese can be a very harsh sounding language but they make it very melodious and smooth. There was a famous songwriter in the audience that night because his daughter was the headliner. He was 70 years old and very smooth. Kind of a combination of Sinatra and Tony Bennet. He sang one song with his son who is his co-writer and several alone and with his daughter. A great performance.
''We left on our Singapore trip in March so I'll tell you about it in the March postcard; but it was an
interesting place to see ONCE.''
***
''My seventieth birthday was February 15. I got cards and gifts and flowers from family and friends and then that evening Dung surprised me with a party on the beach. The only mishap was when she put a blindfold on me (which was a bit of a give away) and then proceeded in her excitement to walk me over some shallow steps where I nearly broke my neck, leg or whatever just as I got to where the guests were seated. Fortunately, I got my footing in time and broke my fall – however, for a second there, the wedding and my neck were in serious jeopardy.''
