Disappointment and hope ...

....sometimes lie close together.

I am just back from a visit to Mr. Dang Vinh Hue. He is the president of the German-Vietnamese-Friendship-Comitee here in Nha Trang.

He studied in Moritzburg, so he speaks a good German. After I explained the situation to him and he has read the files and information he understood the situation perfectly well. He even phoned the house of Madame Doan Di Duc's son here in Nha Trang and spoke to a woman there.

Later he told me: The son of Madame Doan Di Duc just died a month ago. He was born in 1946, so he might  have had remembered my father and his family.

This was disappointing - I have had so much confidence to be able to speak with him.

But the hope is: We will go to the families house tomorrow and the grand daughter of Madame Doan Di Duc will see us. There are still five children of this man living in the area of the farm, which is only some 10 to 15 km away from Nha Trang.

There were some informations in that phonecall that they even be a chance that they remember the wife and child. But this has to be clarified during the visit tomorrow.

Mr. Dang Vinh Hue

From Paris to Nizza

Many people say, that Saigon is the Paris of South-East Asia. And if so: Nha Trang is Vietnam's Nizza.

The Beach at Nha Trang

Wonderful

The promenade at the beach

I arrived yesterday afternoon.
I decided to go by plane because the train needs app. 8 hours for the 400 km from Saigon to Nha Trang.
I stay now in the Diva Guesthouse, 24/12a Huong Voung street, Nha Trang.

DIVA Guesthouse

The Hotel is owned by Helmut and his wife Trang. Helmut is from Germany but lives most of the year in Vietnam now.
In the book "Mein Vater der Mörder" the author Jürgen Pomorin mentioned Helmut and so I contacted him to stay in is Hotel.
Last night we went out for dinner and had some wonderful hours together. We drank some beer and spoke until midnight about Vietnam. He has made many positiv but also some negative experiences here. The country is wonderful but at the same time it can be terrible to live or even work here. Without serenity and a good understanding of Vietnames history and cultur you will never understand why the Vietnamse people act as they do.
This morning I slept very long, I really needed some hours to rest. I went to the beach and took some photos there, had breakfast in a nice restaurant next to the beach and of course I went to the adress 39 Hoang Van Thu Street, the adress my father had in 1960.

At 39 Hoang Van Thu they are building a now house

The area around that house

A view down the road

This afternoon we will meet an old Vietnamese man, he speaks good German because he lived in Moritzburg (in the former GDR - East Germany). He might have enough contacts here to help me or to give me some advice.

The Bishops house at the beach of Nha Trang

That is all I want to do for today. Tomorrow I will try to see Fr. Tien from the Bishops office in Nha Trang and Helmut told me that the Bishop is speaking German very good because he studied in Switzerland for some years. So hopefully I can see him also.
When I went to Nha Trang this morning, I thought to myself: If I were my father, I rather lived in Nha Trang then in Rach Goi. Nha Trang is really a nice place.
We will see, what I can find out in the next days.