A Bygone Saigon

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So here's a little something I can tell you about my experience in Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon).

I have never seen more motorbikes than I did here. I thought the Philippines had pretty much converted to two wheels, but this was a whole new level of motorbike obsession. Apparently the government raised standard vehicle taxes in order to push citizens toward more space-conscious transportation like motorbikes. Taxis are most often motorbikes, and sometimes bicycles with a cart on front peddled by a local family-man on the back. He peddles, while you do the steering. Just looking at the thing makes me feel guilty, because it seems kind of dehumanizing. Why can't people peddle their own bikes? Regardless of the small transportation, the street is the most crowded place it seems. Picture a crowd of people, but on motorbikes. And there are no crosswalk lights, you just find a nice spot and walk accross slowly, and they'll do their best to not hit you. It's very much like that video game Frogger.

Structurally, this place seems to think it's losing space as well. The lot buildings are erected on are very small, and they build vertically. Apartment buildings typically appear to have 1 suite per level. In the touristy area we were confined to, each guesthouse had a business running out of the bottom, like restaurant, Internet cafe, clothing store, etc. Cruising through the city on a motorbike, it didn't seem this place was starved for space. Everywhere we went, there was new building projects to be seen. I don't doubt the stated fact that this country is listed amongst the "Next Eleven" economies to see great growth.
The sidewalks all have ramped curbs for bike access. Most motorbikes can be driven right into the family room or business.

I didn't see many begging here, and for any city, no matter how well-doing, that is a rarity. Perhaps this is the result of communist power. Tourists are not a new sight to people here, no matter how far you go into the older areas. In general, peole here seem unenthusiastic and unfestive, specifically in comparison to Philippines. But even when the amount of English spoken is intensely minimal, there are the few who are friendly beyond words (not overly, just literally unable to speak).

Foodwise, this place won my heart. Beef, chicken, noodles, and all sorts of vegetables and fresh herbs are common ingredients here. The top of the contendors for me were beef noodle soup, spring rolls, and noodle dishes, and "cafe da," all distinguished by their Vietnamese style. I think I'm gonna try to reconstruct some of these miracles when I hit the cold West again.

From the first day we were here, we noticed several physical disabilities and deformations here. It didn't seem so evident of why it was so until we visited a little museum known as the War Remnants museum. Because this was no small ordeal, please read my personal response to the experience:

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Saturday, March 01, 2008
HOW TO INVITE DESTRUCTION

"War Remnants, an appropriately named museum in the centre of Ho Chi Minh City was abittersweet experience today. In a side room, there was a large display of photography taken by an English photojournalist, which focused on landmines and other UXO materials and their effects on people to this day. Did you know that people are still losing limbs do to explosives from past wars? Take Laos, Cambodia, and Angola for example. I'm not sure why this exhibit was here specifically, but the photography skills and the scenes were intense and communicative, enough to make one choke up. The main area of the museum was 3 walls full of images and captions that clearly was one-side on behalf of Vietnam. I could tell pretty quickly that this was the case, yet there was no way I could deny the fact that it was the US that lost their self-control in this country. For the first time, I witnessed actual weapons used during this war. I saw pictures of the effects of various chemical weaponry used on this country, and even preserved fetuses with birth deffects. I fell depressed at the end of it all. Partially ashamed that such hatred could come from my corner of the globe, partially motivated to somehow stop wars (my imagination can go wild), and carefully considering "how?"

War has been happening for ages, and someone always plays the invader. It seems a fact of life by now, but it still amazes me how out of hand this one got. I know the US has regretted it's usage of chemical warfare, since the effects are still being conceived, but I really have to ask "what the hell were they thinking?" Are the effects of war not lasting enough when we use guns to shoot fathers and brothers, sisters and babies? It would have seemed obvious to me that dropping acidic and poisonous chemicals onto a nation would cause a disruption of nature. I'm convinced they knew it would be catastrophic for decades, but they wanted victory "now." After all, countries like to apologize for invasions of the past while invading a new country. There's a pattern here that speaks about counterfeit regret and general lack of sincerity.

Look at us. Yes, I'm going to say us, even thought I've never gone to war, because saying 'us' instead of 'them' always sounds less hypocritical, and in some way I have probably unconsciously encouraged the wars. For the sake of generalization, I group myself with the world. So, look at us. Look at the bloodshed we create for fuel, diamonds, land, power, etc. Look at the hunger that ravages and rapes those who possess our desires. How can we justify such purely evil deeds? Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting an inhuman face on the war, because I believe the media does a great job of that (which is a shame). In fact, wars are very very human. I can imagine some of the same US soldiers that were photographed gleefully holding the head of a decapitated Vietnamese soldier wrote home to Marry and Billy about how much he missed them and wanted to come home. The sad truth is that we're all human who somehow believe that our cause for fight is just. It seems that somehow, somewhere we learned to suppress morality in order to do things we think more beneficial for ourselves. But it's also no false fact that the war also effects the surviving soldiers, for example Timothy McVeigh, who was brainwashed into thinking killing of innocents could be justified. Where did he learn that shit from? The Gulf War. Seriously, there is no winner in war. There is only destruction of self and others. Will they ever realize this?

I feel like mankind is over-writing it's morals as a way to deal with guilt. We all have some sense of right and wrong, and though wrong is so much more self-pleasing (which can often feel wrong itself), we modify our moral structure. We've been warping further and further from 'upright' each year in history. This process of numbing is probably humanity's most sinister invention. Sometimes I feel like nobody in this world could be saved. To put my feelings into scenario, if I was the creator of the universe, I would have destroyed it many centuries ago. This world is sinister and greedy, and has turned love into selfishness, communities into cliques, technology into control. Is there any salvation for our world? Can we ever stop the vicious cannibalistic mass we've created? I'd like to thing that one voice could reach 10 ears, which could reach 10 more and yadda yadda, but today such thoughts are not with me. Tonight is a time of discouragement for me with this globe I wander on. Do I really want to see more of this world?"
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Religiously, this place is Buddhist. Pretty much every household a business had an assembly-line built Buddhist shrine sitting on the floor, which consists of a plastic box with a gold-painted plastic Buddha and some red Christmas lights. Very easy to spot. Even Western Union had a shrine in their office. At any good Buddhists place, you can see offerings in front of the shrine. That I can remember, I have seen various tropical fruits, bundles of simultaneously burning incense, candy, soda, coffee, green tea and even photocopied American money.

Everything is very cheap here, but the economy seems better than in the Philippines. Perhaps because I'm only seeing the city, not the countryside. But this city seems to be doing a lot better than I expected.

Here are some of the things we did during our stay: attend a youth service, base fellowship with other YWAMers, underground church on Sunday, visit the orphanage for mentally-handicapped children (amazing experience), scope out the "independence palace" where the ruler was staying during war times, and visit some various friends of our dear Che Minh.

Highlights: "Agent brown" in our guesthouse room, late night motorbike rides, eating minimal and cheap just to have a fruit shake at every meal without breaking budget, making friends to come back to, showing love at the orphanage, trying to tell a Vietnamese taxi driver where to draw us off without even knowing our own address or street name.

Lowlights: Leaving, not knowing more than 5 phrases in "ting Viet," and being shy of people.

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