HCMC June 4-8th

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After a couple of relaxing days in Mui Ne we jumped on a bus and headed further south to Ho Chi Minh City, the artist formerly known as Saigon. I wasn't sure what to expect to be honest, after the hustle and noise of the capital Hanoi, part of me expected more of the same (HCMC is bigger than Hanoi) yet somewhere in the recesses of my head there is a romantic image of Colonial Saigon - all riverfront cafes, verandas and Charles Aznavour songs. The reality is a mix of both, but firmly in favour of the former. HCMC is busy, of that there is no doubt, even on a weekend when supposedly traffic is quieter it takes a brave person to cross a road. There are also a lot more cars on the road, thanks in part to the higher number of foreigners working and living here, which makes road crossing even more fraught. Bikes can swerve quickly, cars are not quite so nimble. Yet for all the traffic and people on the streets, the overriding feeling isn't quite as oppressively busy or loud as in Hanoi. For a start the streets are wider, due in part to the French influence. Secondly, after almost 5 weeks in the country we are probably just a bit more accustomed to the pace of life in Vietnam. Hanoi was a bit of a shock to the system, even after China, whereas HCMC felt much more comfortable.


The city, as with much of Vietnam, is rich in history, although much of what is on offer relates to a small 30 year period up to 1975 and the end of the Vietnam War. But it is to the future that the city is firmly looking; skyscrapers and shopping malls are dotted all over town, every street corner has a new construction project underway, land is being cleared elsewhere for yet more building, and the brand names and billboards of the West are much more visible here than elsewhere. In fact, you can easily forget that this city is named after the Communist Revolutionary who reunified (albeit with force) the country. This is communism with benefits, much like in Shanghai.


But, as is often the case, I am getting ahead of myself. It hasn't always been McDonalds and Gucci lining the streets of Saigon; for much of the 60's and half of the 70's it was American GIs, tanks and the so called "puppet" army of South Vietnam who roamed free. I only knew the basics about the Vietnam War before coming here, it isn't exactly high on the syllabus in the British Education System - we prefer to stick firmly to our own colonial history and imperial failures. I knew that it started as a civil war between north and south, with the aim being essentially to rid the country of its French rulers. I knew that it was in many ways an ideological war between communism and capitalism, and I knew that the Americans decided to join forces with the South in order to stop what they believed would be a domino effect within South East Asia. The thinking at the time was that if Vietnam fell to the Communists, the rest of South East Asia would soon follow. To the Americans, with their inherent and enduring fear of Socialism (if you don't believe me see how hard it is to convince people that universal state funded health care is a good idea), this idea was simply unacceptable, and would impinge on their ability to trade in the area, as well as robbing them of “strategic allies” - for that, read “military bases”.

Now, there is a risk of me sounding slighly anti-American in the next paragraph or three. I mean no harm obviously, and a lot of what I write is based on my own feelings and the aftermath of a visit to a couple of museums in HCMC, and not, I understand, necessarily on 100% imperical fact. The side of the story told in HCMC, in particular in the Remnants of War Museum, is obviously slanted, and understandably so. In any conflict the victor gains not only the spoils of war, but also the ability to write history as they see it – we are no different in Britain. Go back to the latter part of the 19th century and ask the Indian Sepoys what they thought about the handling of the Indian Mutiny, I dare say their opinion differs somewhat to the history books I read at school. So, what, you might ask, am I on about? Well obviously the war, but more specifically the conduct of the American forces and the aftermath of the war for the Vietnamese people.


Firstly, I am no apologist for Ho Chi Minh and his armed struggle to reunite Vietnam. As with many occupied countries (Vietnam was ruled by the French either side of the Second World War), I understand the desire to overthrow the rulers, and whilst not advocating a violent struggle, I can at least begin to fathom why it may be necessary. Secondly, having thrown out the French Ho Chi Minh set his sights on the South, beginning a bloody civil war that again will win no favour in my house. However, and this is where I may lose some of you I’m sure, whatever the crimes of the Vietnamese army under Ho Chi Minh, and the Viet Cong in the south, I cannot begin to justify the treatment they received at the hands of the American lead forces.


The Americans believed initially that the war in Vietnam would be short, how could a small counrty torn apart by civil war and colonial collapse possibly show resistance to the might of the US Army. I am not being ironic in my comments, at the time I would undoubtedly have thought along the same lines. But resist they did. What should have been a short war of shock and awe turned into a war of attrition with no positive outcome possible for the US. Win after years of fighting and there can be no glory, lose a war against a small country and the air of invincibility as a super power is diminished – not a great move in the height of the cold war with the USSR watching for any weakness. However, even if the possibility of a positive outcome is remote at best, it should at least be the aim of the war. It seems that instead the USA decided that they were so far entrenched in the war with both domestic and overseas sentiment turning against them, that they should do their utmost to ensure that nobody came out of the war on two legs, let alone in a positive light. I exaggerate of course, if only to make a valid point. I am sure that the intention was to achieve a positive outcome, at least for the majority of the decade or more that the US Army was on Vietnamese soil, it is the methodology, if I can call it that, that was really at fault.


After much close quarter fighting in the cities, where the strength of the US Army became apparent, the Vietnamese forces fled to the country, constructing their famous tunnels and generally disappearing into the jungle. Rather than follow them, the US Army decided that in most instances the best course of action was to “Carpet Bomb” huge swathes of land, reducing jungle to ash, forest to mud and villages to dust. In the words of one US Colonel the intention was “to bomb the enemy back into the Stone Age.” A noble objective if ever I heard one.


Still the resistance continued. By now, internationally the war had little support, the War Remnants museum has a whole wing devoted to the international press who spoke out against the War. Think of a country, any country, and I will find you the article calling for an end to the war. Even Finland, and when do you ever here of the Finns being for or against anything? In fact, this particular article provided a moment of light relief in an otherwise sombre morning – the journalist whose name appeared on the article was called J Koukkoukokou. I hope his nickname was Eggman, but I doubt it.


So, in the face of mounting international criticism, waves of domestic discontent and fierce resistance from the enemy, the US Army upped their game, introducing Agent Orange to the mix. Agent Orange was a herbicide, used to kill crops and any form of vegetative cover that the Viet Cong might be using. This particular herbicide contained a lethal Dioxin, a poison, that claimed 400,000 lives during the war. The US Govt claims to have been unaware of this, as do somewhat remarkably, the companies who produced it on their behalf. Now, here is not the place to suggest otherwise, but I think it is pertinent to point out that on top of the 400,000 killed as a direct result of this chemical, a further 500,000 people, all born since 1975 – after the war – suffer from varying degrees of disability as a result. If that is not enough, these disabled people risk passing on their afflictions to their own children, as Agent Orange is now embedded in their DNA. And so on, ad infinitum.

Most of the War Remnants museum is dedicated to these people, in the form of photographs, letters and health reports. Needless to say, it is quite a powerful exhibition. The most shocking fact though, to me at least, is that when a lawsuit was brought against the US Government on behalf of the victims, it was dismissed. The reason given was that at the time of its use, Agent Orange was not classed as a poison, and was thus not intended to cause harm to humans. On Appeal, it was rejected again, as was a claim against the manufacturers of the chemical. The US Government is protected by Sovereign Immunity (the ultimate Get out of Jail Free card) and unbelievably this immunity is extended to the companies who manufactured the chemicals.

Like I said, I am not apologising for the conduct of the Vietnamese forces under Ho Chi Minh, nor am I condoning what they did. But can anyone honestly say that their actions merited such a savage and long lasting reaction?

Right, rant over!
Although not the average travel blog material, it is important to understand the history of a place where despite the trauma of the last half century everybody greets you with a smile, and a genuine one at that. Everywhere we have been in Vietnam, from Hanoi in the north to Phu Quoc island in the south we have been greeted with a genuine warmth, which is all the more amazing given what they have been through.
We spent 4 days in HCMC in total, visiting museums, avoiding the thunde
rstorms and doing lots of walking. It is fair to say that we liked it. It may not have the photogenic qualities of other places in Vietnam, but it has a friendly, easy going atmosphere that is hard not to like. So, emotionally drained but culturally enriched, we headed south into the heart of the Mekong Delta to a place called Can Tho, the subject of my next blog.
I think that is enough for today, don’t you?!

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