Day 42-43, August 27-28, 2008 (No Malaria)
After the ridiculous day that brought me to Ho Chi Minh City and as long as I didn’t have 18 people cramped into it, I didn’t care if I had reserved space in a tent in a Vietnamese park. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked into a nice, if not Spartan, hotel off of a scary looking ally in the backpacker district of Saigon.
While, since the fall of Saigon in 1975, the official name of the city is Ho Chi Minh City, many Vietnamese still call it Saigon especially the downtown area near the Saigon River. I tried to use the proper name as much as possible in conversation, though, so my new Vietnamese friends would not think I was an imperialistic American white devil. Never mind, they already did.
I have intentionally put off writing about Vietnam until I left. Though it is a stunningly beautiful country, with interesting people, tons to do, wonderful food, and modern in many ways, it still creeps me out a little bit. There is a massive amount of propaganda and people are always a little too interested in what you are doing and thinking about their country. I wanted to present a very fair balanced view of what I observed and I didn’t know if my little corner of cyberspace would be noticed and cause me any problems. It is probably incredibly arrogant to think that anybody in Vietnam would care about what I wrote but I was discussing this point with a few friends over dinner the other night while we were comparing observations about Vietnam and they all agreed that it was probably better to wait.
Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam after the Vietnamese independence from the French in 1954. Also at this time, the country was divided into the communist north and the capitalist south. The Cold War desire to both spread and blunt communism inevitably led to the US war there that we now learn about in the history books. Today’s Vietnamese refer to the Saigon of that era as the location of the American “puppet” government.
Saigon is a very big, busy city. One of the more interesting experiences in Saigon, or anywhere else in Vietnam for that matter, is crossing the street. It is more interesting in Saigon due to the massive amounts of cars, buses, motorbikes, cyclos (little peddle taxis), bicycles, etc. In Vietnam, you can’t wait for traffic to clear in order to cross the street or you will never get across the street. Even if there is a traffic light, most drivers do not follow the rules of the road like we do and there is always something crossing your path from some direction. As one of my tour guides in Saigon said, “In some of your countries, you drive on the right. In some of your countries, you drive on the left. In Vietnam, we drive on both.” So in order to cross the street, you just start walking into traffic. The key is to walk slowly and keep you head up to try and make eye contact with as many drivers as possible. Drivers are so used to pedestrians crossing the road everywhere that, if they can judge your pace, they will always get out of the way. The result is feeling like you’re in a real-life Frogger game every time you cross the road. The first few times you watch someone cross, you think there is no way they can survive. The first few times you cross on your own, you think that there is no way you will survive. Before long, you just start walking into traffic with confidence that traffic will open like Moses parting the Red Sea. Walking around a big city in Vietnam is putting yourself in a situation multiple times a day that would result in death on the streets of New York or Chicago. It is wild.
I had spent two days in Saigon seeing the city and visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels outside of town. Saigon, in my opinion, is an entire city designed to show the virtue of Ho Chi Minh, tout the advantages of communism and disparage capitalism and American “Imperialism.” Any tourist spot in the city is one giant piece of propaganda. I am not naïve enough to think that, even with a free press, we don’t get our share of propaganda but this was so over the top and so anti-American, it wore on me very quickly. The highlights of Saigon are the American War Crimes Museum, the Ho Chi Minh City museum featuring American war crimes and The Reunification Palace with some American war crimes thrown in for good measure. Also, anytime the American war effort is discussed, they make it sound more like a Three Stooges clip than a war. You get the picture.
The Cu Chi tunnels were very interesting and disturbing. They are the chain of hand dug tunnels stretching for several hundred kilometers outside of Saigon in which the Vietcong ran supplies, hid and moved throughout their wars against the French and Americans. The effort that went into these tunnels and the terrible conditions inside is actually quite amazing and it is unimaginable to think of spending more than a few seconds underground like this. We actually got to descend into a portion of original tunnel and move through it 100 meters. I’m not usually very claustrophobic but it was tight, very hot, difficult to breath and overall, a little unnerving. Most of the people on the tour couldn’t make it through the entrance. I had to exit early after only about 80 meters because it was just a little too much for me. My legs still hurt. Despite being interesting, the propaganda here is over the top. The first thing that you have to do when you arrive is watch a video detailing the struggle of the “sleepy, quiet, peace-loving villagers against the “American monsters.” One part of the video is roughly as follows, “The Americans descended on the peaceful village like a crazed bunch of devils shooting their guns at everything they saw. They shot man, woman, and child. They shot chicken and duck. They shot pot and pan, the ground, and even Buddha statue.” One of the guys on the bus recorded the video on his camera. I’ll post it if he sends me the link. Also in the video, we also got to see a “sweet and gentle” 12 year old girl who won the award of “American Killer Hero” after she “traded her school books for a rifle.” It was bizarre. The most disturbing part of the day was the demonstration of the booby traps used to capture and kill Americans. Our guide took a little too much pleasure in demonstrating how each trap could maim an American soldier. I know that war is brutal on both sides but this was a little too much for me thinking of how many Americans were killed or injured on traps just like these. I was never pro-war and think that in extreme situations, war can be justifiable but seeing the carnage here and in Cambodia makes me more of a pacifist than ever.
Saigon wasn’t my favorite city. The propaganda got to me after a while. Sometimes it is so over the top that it is actually funny but that soon fades when it just doesn’t end. Also, many of the people here are not overly friendly. For a communist country, I have never seen such a capitalistic spirit. I am pretty sure that at one point, someone wanted to charge me for crossing the street next to them. The drivers (taxi, motorbike, etc) are extremely aggressive trying to get fares more so than any other city I’ve visited. Every second there is someone in your face trying to get you to do or buy something. This happens everywhere but here it was really out of control. Very few people would offer help or directions when asked and the amount of begging is out of control. Call me crazy, but also being in a communist country, I thought that everyone should be provided for...must not be working out like they planned.
Saigon represented the halfway point in my trip. From this point on, I will always have more of my journey behind me than in front. That makes me a little sad, and happy, depending on what else is going on at the moment.
After the ridiculous day that brought me to Ho Chi Minh City and as long as I didn’t have 18 people cramped into it, I didn’t care if I had reserved space in a tent in a Vietnamese park. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked into a nice, if not Spartan, hotel off of a scary looking ally in the backpacker district of Saigon.
While, since the fall of Saigon in 1975, the official name of the city is Ho Chi Minh City, many Vietnamese still call it Saigon especially the downtown area near the Saigon River. I tried to use the proper name as much as possible in conversation, though, so my new Vietnamese friends would not think I was an imperialistic American white devil. Never mind, they already did.
I have intentionally put off writing about Vietnam until I left. Though it is a stunningly beautiful country, with interesting people, tons to do, wonderful food, and modern in many ways, it still creeps me out a little bit. There is a massive amount of propaganda and people are always a little too interested in what you are doing and thinking about their country. I wanted to present a very fair balanced view of what I observed and I didn’t know if my little corner of cyberspace would be noticed and cause me any problems. It is probably incredibly arrogant to think that anybody in Vietnam would care about what I wrote but I was discussing this point with a few friends over dinner the other night while we were comparing observations about Vietnam and they all agreed that it was probably better to wait.
Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam after the Vietnamese independence from the French in 1954. Also at this time, the country was divided into the communist north and the capitalist south. The Cold War desire to both spread and blunt communism inevitably led to the US war there that we now learn about in the history books. Today’s Vietnamese refer to the Saigon of that era as the location of the American “puppet” government.
Saigon is a very big, busy city. One of the more interesting experiences in Saigon, or anywhere else in Vietnam for that matter, is crossing the street. It is more interesting in Saigon due to the massive amounts of cars, buses, motorbikes, cyclos (little peddle taxis), bicycles, etc. In Vietnam, you can’t wait for traffic to clear in order to cross the street or you will never get across the street. Even if there is a traffic light, most drivers do not follow the rules of the road like we do and there is always something crossing your path from some direction. As one of my tour guides in Saigon said, “In some of your countries, you drive on the right. In some of your countries, you drive on the left. In Vietnam, we drive on both.” So in order to cross the street, you just start walking into traffic. The key is to walk slowly and keep you head up to try and make eye contact with as many drivers as possible. Drivers are so used to pedestrians crossing the road everywhere that, if they can judge your pace, they will always get out of the way. The result is feeling like you’re in a real-life Frogger game every time you cross the road. The first few times you watch someone cross, you think there is no way they can survive. The first few times you cross on your own, you think that there is no way you will survive. Before long, you just start walking into traffic with confidence that traffic will open like Moses parting the Red Sea. Walking around a big city in Vietnam is putting yourself in a situation multiple times a day that would result in death on the streets of New York or Chicago. It is wild.
I had spent two days in Saigon seeing the city and visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels outside of town. Saigon, in my opinion, is an entire city designed to show the virtue of Ho Chi Minh, tout the advantages of communism and disparage capitalism and American “Imperialism.” Any tourist spot in the city is one giant piece of propaganda. I am not naïve enough to think that, even with a free press, we don’t get our share of propaganda but this was so over the top and so anti-American, it wore on me very quickly. The highlights of Saigon are the American War Crimes Museum, the Ho Chi Minh City museum featuring American war crimes and The Reunification Palace with some American war crimes thrown in for good measure. Also, anytime the American war effort is discussed, they make it sound more like a Three Stooges clip than a war. You get the picture.
The Cu Chi tunnels were very interesting and disturbing. They are the chain of hand dug tunnels stretching for several hundred kilometers outside of Saigon in which the Vietcong ran supplies, hid and moved throughout their wars against the French and Americans. The effort that went into these tunnels and the terrible conditions inside is actually quite amazing and it is unimaginable to think of spending more than a few seconds underground like this. We actually got to descend into a portion of original tunnel and move through it 100 meters. I’m not usually very claustrophobic but it was tight, very hot, difficult to breath and overall, a little unnerving. Most of the people on the tour couldn’t make it through the entrance. I had to exit early after only about 80 meters because it was just a little too much for me. My legs still hurt. Despite being interesting, the propaganda here is over the top. The first thing that you have to do when you arrive is watch a video detailing the struggle of the “sleepy, quiet, peace-loving villagers against the “American monsters.” One part of the video is roughly as follows, “The Americans descended on the peaceful village like a crazed bunch of devils shooting their guns at everything they saw. They shot man, woman, and child. They shot chicken and duck. They shot pot and pan, the ground, and even Buddha statue.” One of the guys on the bus recorded the video on his camera. I’ll post it if he sends me the link. Also in the video, we also got to see a “sweet and gentle” 12 year old girl who won the award of “American Killer Hero” after she “traded her school books for a rifle.” It was bizarre. The most disturbing part of the day was the demonstration of the booby traps used to capture and kill Americans. Our guide took a little too much pleasure in demonstrating how each trap could maim an American soldier. I know that war is brutal on both sides but this was a little too much for me thinking of how many Americans were killed or injured on traps just like these. I was never pro-war and think that in extreme situations, war can be justifiable but seeing the carnage here and in Cambodia makes me more of a pacifist than ever.
Saigon wasn’t my favorite city. The propaganda got to me after a while. Sometimes it is so over the top that it is actually funny but that soon fades when it just doesn’t end. Also, many of the people here are not overly friendly. For a communist country, I have never seen such a capitalistic spirit. I am pretty sure that at one point, someone wanted to charge me for crossing the street next to them. The drivers (taxi, motorbike, etc) are extremely aggressive trying to get fares more so than any other city I’ve visited. Every second there is someone in your face trying to get you to do or buy something. This happens everywhere but here it was really out of control. Very few people would offer help or directions when asked and the amount of begging is out of control. Call me crazy, but also being in a communist country, I thought that everyone should be provided for...must not be working out like they planned.
Saigon represented the halfway point in my trip. From this point on, I will always have more of my journey behind me than in front. That makes me a little sad, and happy, depending on what else is going on at the moment.
1 comment:
I've been reading your adventures aloud to Zack and my mom while we sit here in the hospital (no longer in the ICU!). Zack and I are impressed...and my mom is a little to a lot horrified!
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