Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh, my final destination in Vietnam, as you could imagine has a much more Western feel to it than Northern Vietnam. The local people still call it Saigon, so it’s hard for me not to do the same. The city has an expansive skyline, advertisements and billboards everywhere you look. If Hanoi reminds one of the West Village, Saigon feels like mid-Town. The pedestrian street crossings are a leap of faith or stupidity. But the prices are very un-Western … $8 guesthouse rooms with private shower. $1 bowls of pho. .75 spring rolls. I really only stayed in Saigon for 3 days, much of the time visiting museums and going on tours.

First museum was the Reunification Palace, which previously was the official residence of the Presidents of the former South Vietnam government. It is now open to the public and allows visitors to see the secret basement tunnels, the conference rooms, the Presidential Receiving Room, the telecommunications center and the war room. Just a few blocks away is the Vietnam War Museum. I had been prepared that this was not for the feint of heart, and it lived up to it’s billing. The museum had a very communist propaganda feel to it, with exhibit wings bearing names resembling titles like “Hall of Irrefutable War Truths Against Vietnamese People”. One entire wing was devoted to the work of a Japanese photographer who has taken horrific photographs of a new generation of Vietnamese children who are born with deformities and mutations due to the aftermath of the US dropping Agent Orange, dioxin and other defoliants on Vietnamese villages. This story really doesn’t get much coverage in the US, but it’s a huge issue in Vietnam. Walking the streets of Ho Chi Minh you will find many panhandlers and beggars suffering grotesque deformities due to the agent orange, dioxin and napalm. War atrocities committed by American GIs were also at the forefront at the museum, including pictures of American GIs gleefully holding up VC corpses for the cameras, the My Lai massacre and an entire exhibit dedicated to the Con Dao Island … a POW camp where VC prisoners were held in inhumane conditions, tortured and executed by the South Vietnamese Government (allegedly with help from US “advisors”). There were other wings of the museum that weren’t as accusatory in nature, such as a wing dedicated to American and western journalists who risked their lives and died while covering the war. Another day was spent taking a tour bus outside of Saigon to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, where VC and VC sympathizers dug an elaborate maze of tunnels to traffic troops and supplies and hide in safety from American bombing sorties. Included were depictions of what daily life was like for the VC guerrillas and demonstrations of the various homemade traps they employed.

I must also note, as an American, I was treated with nothing but respect and kindness by the Vietnamese people … even some who were veterans of the war who fought against Americans. Of course, a lot of this had to do with the fact that I was a rich Westerner tourist lining their pocket, but even still there is a feeling that the past is too horrific and painful to dwell upon, so it’s better to just look towards the future.

Not all my time was spent on such bleak and depressing subjects. Part of my Cu Chi tour involved attending a daily prayer ceremony of the Cao Dai religious sect. 80% of the Vietnamese people are Buddhists. A strong Catholic minority comprises the second most popular religious denomination in Vietnam. Cao Dai is a blend of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism. They believe Buddha and the Christian God were both heavenly deities. Their church and ceremony is extremely elaborate and very ornate. They also have an interesting assortment of Holy Saints of the church, including Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc and French author Victor Hugo.

---

---