Vietnam

Waking up at 4 am I ran upstairs to watch us enter the Saigon River from the South China Sea. I soon realized that there was not much to see in the dark and went back to bed until 6 when the sun came up. Riding up the river was quite exciting- somewhat of a jungle cruise only we shared the water with dozens of smaller fishing boats. We docked in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) around 9 am and were greeted with a mound of mail to sort (one of our jobs as Life Long Learners). Once free of our duties, my friend Nichole and I set out to explore the city on our own.

We took a cab to the “backpacker” area of the 9 million person city (although there is debate as to where the city actually ends and some estimate the population to be as high as 20 million) in a country of 86 million. Also commonly called “motor bike city” there are 4 million registered scooters, mopeds, motorcycles, etc. in Saigon. We looked around at a couple hostels before choosing a suitable room with its own bathroom and a double bed- yes, we could have slept on the ship (which might have been my preference) but I do feel like I had a more authentic Vietnamese experience by staying there ($9 a night for each of us!) We left our things at the hotel and took off to explore the city on our own.

We first visited the War Remnants museum. Very cool, undoubtedly my favorite part of Ho Chi Minh City. Unfortunately it was under reconstruction while we were there, but the ground floor exhibit was still very impressive. I was surprised to learn from the students that they knew extremely little about the Vietnam War. After a few days, I came to the conclusion that we are just far apart enough in age that our parents are different generations. And while my dad and uncle had draft numbers, their parents were still in elementary or middle school. While I feel that I have always been aware of the Vietnam War (and its music J), most of my knowledge comes from a couple of classes in the Honors College at U of O that specifically studied the war, protests, and rhetoric of that time. The focal points of the museum for me were the many pictures depicting the consequences of war. Close ups, soldiers, aerial photos of forests wiped out, victims of chemical warfare, etc. They also had a number of US airplanes and tanks that had been shot down or bombed.

One very neat story I’d like to share I learned the next day from a local. Regarding one of the pictures in the museum- a quite famous picture of a woman running down a road naked after having been exposed to a napalm bomb. She was naked because the chemicals literally burned the clothing off of her body. She subsequently moved to Toronto and now works for the UN. The photographer of that picture actually won a Pulitzer prize for his photo and the local man also had a picture of the photographer and the woman meeting Queen Elizabeth! About ten years ago the US pilot who dropped the bomb in that specific area (a town close to the temple we went to the next day) learned about her and asked to meet her to ask for her forgiveness. She agreed and I got to see the picture of them reuniting for the first time as well.

We wandered down through the streets on our way to the market. On the way we passed a set of park blocks almost identical to Portland! I took a picture to document the similarity. The market ended up being strikingly similar to most of the markets we have seen before. Not really needing any trinkets, we did somewhat of a quick walk through. While it is cool to see all of the unique fish and meat available to buy, it is also quite smelly J. We stopped in a tailor store just to look around and walked back out with dresses ordered- ready to be picked up the next day-a tailored dress for $35! We carried on back to the “backpacker” district and found a place to sit outside for a drink. Truly great people watching- I think it was the most diverse group of nationalities I have seen on this trip yet. Travelers young and old wandered the streets, some with backpacks and other clearly staying in nicer places.

After a rather warm day, we showered and got ready for dinner. SAS had a list of suggested restaurants around the city and so we took a cab to a recommended establishment in a restored Vietnamese house. Soon we realized that though we were in a nice restaurant, it was in the center of the Japanese brothel district of town. We enjoyed a nice dinner before promptly returning back to our hostel in the “backpacker” district.

The next day we rose early and joined a driver and guide (arranged by our hotel for us) and took off on our three hour drive to the Cao Ming Temple. Our guide, Jimmy, about 50 years of age, was a hoot and loved telling us all about his homeland. The temple we went to was particularly interesting. It was built for the indigenous religion of Caodaism (the product of an attempt to create the ideal religion with aspects of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity and native Vietnamese spirits). Worshippers of Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism gather to pray there together at 6am, 12pm, 6pm and 12am daily. While most of the worshippers are dressed in all white, the officials wear one of three colors (red, blue, or yellow) depending on their specific religion. The temple was very colorful, lots of dragons, and we were there in time to observe the 12pm chanting/prayer. We had a fantastic lunch at a local’s place near the temple. High up in our own tree house we dined on sweet and sour tofu, steamed vegetables and rice. I’m finally getting good at chopsticks!

Our next stop was the famed Cu Chi Tunnels- a 200km long system of tunnels built underground and used in times of war. “From the mid-1940s onward, the tunnels were used as a base from which the Viet Cong could launch strategic attacks and then seemingly disappear into thin air. The tunnels had well-hidden entrances and thick roofs which were capable of withstanding the weight of tanks and the impact of bombs. Most of the tunnels are 2 feet wide and 4 feet high.” We first viewed a video about the tunnels with authentic footage from the war. It was particularly interesting to hear the narration that had a very anti-American point of view, but also a sense of very legitimate pride. The Cu Chi people were protecting their land and were able to fight off well trained and equipped armies with only their own hand made weapons and tunnel system. We had the opportunity to see a number of the original bamboo traps as well as climb through the tunnels. The main tunnel for tourists has four exits- I only made it to the first one until my claustrophobia set in and I raced up to daylight, however Nichole was a trooper and made it all the way through- you literally have to crawl through 2 by 2.5 foot openings 8 meters underground- no thank you! There is also the opportunity to shoot AK 47s and other guns at a shooting range, but it didn’t really seem appropriate to me so I skipped that opportunity (plus the targets were large bunny posters!) Before our drive back to town we sampled a local staple- tapioca root dipped in crushed peanuts with sugar and salt. This interesting treat reminded me of a sweet potato but slightly stringier.

That night we met a fellow American at dinner near our hostel who is a pilot, Joe, from LA. He went to Embry-Riddle and has been flying for Delta for the last few years, however with the economic slump pilots are being given as much unpaid leave as they like. So being able to fly all over the world for practically free, he is taking advantage of the recession and seeing as much of the world as possible. After dinner I picked up my dress and we hit the hay as we had to rise early to get back to the ship for our trip to Cambodia!