Good Morning, Vietnam!

Before leaving the Hong Kong harbor, the captain announced that a huge storm was moving into the South China Sea and our ship had to delay sailing for 24 hours, resulting in our arrival into Vietnam 1 day later than planned.  The delay caused our previously scheduled hiking and caving adventure trip to be cancelled and forced us to come us with an alternative plan for our four days in Vietnam.  After looking at a huge array of options, including visiting other countries, we decided that we would focus our third visit to Vietnam doing something we hadn’t done before – exploring Vietnam, specifically Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City and the surrounding areas. 

We visited Vietnam during the New Year’s celebration (Tet), which is a weeklong event equivalent to combining the US holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years.  Many shops and businesses close and families spend time together at their homes and on the festive streets filled with flowers and decorations during Tet.  We had been told that it would be difficult to travel then and it might be hard to find things to do.  In fact, we would say the opposite.  It was a great time to be there and we would highly recommend it.  It’s not quite as raucous as the Water Festival during Lao’s New Year, but we had no trouble getting around or finding things to do amidst all the celebration.  One bonus was that hotels were cheap.  For $100 we got a room at the five star Nikko Hotel since it was pretty much empty!  An extra bonus was that traffic was (apparently) much lighter than usual.

The Mekong Delta:

For one of our days, we decided to head two hours outside HCM City to visit a section of the Mekong Delta.  Amidst a maze of small canals and rivers, people live their lives in villages, simple manufacturing sites, shops and floating markets.  It’s easy to imagine this place not so long ago when all travel would have been by boat, but now there are some places that are accessible by car.  We traveled in a small, rickety, wooden boat to visit a basic but extensive brick-making operation, an open-air family candy-maker and two women making woven items.  In a subtle sign of a developing country, one of the women weaving turned out to be a daughter who had come back from HCM City for the holidays – she wasn’t nearly as proficient and it seems that these type of handicraft skills will decline as Vietnam develops. It felt like we were stepping back in time and we were amazed at the simple (but effective) techniques used in these family businesses.  We decided not to buy any bricks, but we did end up with a bag of candy and some placemats!

A highlight was walking through the charming neighborhoods and taking even smaller boats through narrow channels in the delta on the way to and from lunch.  During our walk through the picturesque, quiet neighborhoods, Luke stated that this was one his favorite places that we have visited.  When we return to Vietnam, we plan to stay overnight in the Mekong to experience more of its magic.

The War:

When most Americans think of Vietnam, they think of the “Vietnam” War.   Leading up to our visit, our classes and discussions added a great deal to our understanding of the war and America’s role.   On our arrival day, we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Viet Cong based their operations in a complex spider web covering 250 miles of underground tunnels.  During the day, many VC soldiers lived their usual lives in the local villages and at night, they used the tunnels for surprise attacks or to hide from their enemies.  We also visited the American War Museum (which is how the Vietnamese refer to the war) and were overwhelmed by the horrific photos showing the effects of the war on all participants, particularly civilians.  

It is challenging to rationalize the reasons for the US involvement, even if the war had ended the other way.  We tried to put ourselves back into the 1960’s, with the spectre of communism spreading through South East Asia, concerns about the Soviet Union and the chill of the Cold War, but all we could do was empathize with the Vietnamese people and how 3M of them died.  And with the soldiers drafted to go over there - 59,000 Americans died a long way from home for a war that our leaders couldn’t sufficiently explain or justify.  The worst part is that those who lived through the period (ie Bush and Cheney with his 5 draft deferments) didn’t even learn what can (will) happen when the US goes it alone in a war far from its shores. 

Despite the evils inflicted upon Vietnam in the 1960’s and 70’s, the Vietnamese we spoke with viewed America as their friend and looked positively on our country.  Most Vietnamese dreamed of visiting America and commented on the close ties between our people.  Our hypothesis is twofold:  first, Americans in the US protested so vociferously that the Vietnamese understand that the government, not the people, were behind the war; and second, that a strong Vietnam-US relationship will help temper China’s influence over Vietnam (China has invaded Vietnam numerous times over its history, most recently in 1979).  

We met numerous friendly and enthusiastic people, including Hieu, our fabulous guide for the Mekong trip. As a result, we had a great time in Vietnam despite our cancelled caving trip.  Next time we come to Vietnam, we hope to do our caving adventure and explore the beauty of the north.  Or maybe the guided biking adventure Hieu runs in the western part of Vietnam!