Vietnam Concluded

I haven’t fallen off the edge of the world just yet, but I have fallen behind in reporting on my recent travels. To remedy that problem I have bought a laptop. I should now be able to write as and when inspiration strikes (perhaps maintain my photos).

Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City as it has been renamed since the 70’s but most people still refer to it as Saigon) is altogether more modern and much larger than Hanoi in the North. Western influences are much more prevalent - both in architecture and culture - the city has the appearance of any major city with its steel & glass skyscrapers. Saigon is a very busy place but the road systems have not been upgraded to accommodate the increased traffic volume. When there are road works, traffic can snarl up for kilometers. They use traffic lights at intersections though, so on the plus side crossing the street is a little easier.

I spent my time walking through the inner city, making small loops between major tourist attractions. There are several public gardens and parks in the city which provide a welcome relief from the congested streets and honking traffic. In fact is a mark of most major cities in Vietnam - I have noticed a great amount of effort and care is put into beautifying the cities by maintaining manicured gardens and parks. The parks are filled with neatly cut lawns, styled hedges and various flowering shrubs. There is also usually the essential monument to some communist icon along with more artistic sculpture. They make a good break from the heat of the city streets, although even here foreigners are not safe from touts or beggars.

I visited the War Memorial museum which documents the events leading up to and the aftermath the US-Vietnam War. It also houses some of the abandoned US military hardware - bombs, guns, tanks, jets, helicopters etc. left behind after the war. It provides a stark reality of the brutality and insanity of warfare with grisly pictures and even preserved fetuses, bodies grotesquely deformed due to the effects of the chemical weapons used in the war. I couldn’t spend long there, it made me feel ill, and I suppose that is the point. The designers of this museum have achieved their goal.

I guess the real test of the impression a country leaves with you is your desire to return and as I prepare to leave this country I have to say that I can’t wait to leave. My trip through Vietnam has left me feeling drained and weary. I can’t explain why but I leave Vietnam feeling depressed. I’ve heard Vietnam described as similar to Thailand but cheaper, but I can vouch that while it certainly is cheap, it’s nothing like Thailand. I have found my trip through Vietnam to be a lonely journey with infrequent encounters with other travelers and few local people speaking English. It’s not that there weren’t any other travelers around, but mostly people traveling in groups - my pathological shyness keeps me to myself. The world of the average Vietnamese person is incredibly small and those that I met, almost without exception, had not traveled beyond the city they were born in. While I didn’t ever feel unsafe in Vietnam, I was met with suspicious stares wherever I went. This is the first and only communist state that I’ve visited, but the government’s all powerful influence and control feels stifling. It feels a bit more relaxed the further south you go. Rice is the staple diet in this country and I saw it being grown everywhere but there are only so many rounds of rice + seafood, rice + pork, rice + beef or rice + chicken you can do before the meals become repetitive. Bread was limited to a crusty white roll which seemed to be served everywhere in Vietnam, even if you order eggs and “toast” in a restaurant.

Cambodia, I have decided, is off the cards for this trip. The cost of flights has risen sharply in recent months making a trip to Cambodia very expensive. To get in and out of Cambodia would have been $500 - 600. Things are little unsettled in that region at the moment with a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and on top of that Cambodia are holding their general elections this month too. Bus trips are notoriously long and difficult through Cambodia, something I cannot face now. The only thing I wanted to see in Cambodia were the Angkor Wat ruins, but just like Uhlaru rock in Australia … it’s a hell of a long way to go to see just one thing. It cost me $70 to fly into Vietnam and $300 to get out again, back to Bangkok.

So instead I’m heading back to Thailand in search of white sandy beaches and tropical palm trees. I’ve delayed my trip to India … hopefully I’ll be able to shake this mood before I enter the potential insanity of India.

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