Attack of the Animatronic Viet Cong.

Asia » Vietnam » Southeast » Ho Chi Minh City
July 14th 2007

Published: July 14th 2007

Attack of the Animatronic Viet Cong.

With my health making a recovery yesterday, I hit the road early for a little Cu Chi tunnel action. The Tunnels as it turned out were touristy, and bit of a novelty, but still informative. The true highlight of the day was Mr.Binh (Mr... Bean, as he liked to be called). Putting this guy into words won't due justice to his eccentric nature. A quick run down on Mr. Binh. His name is Billy Michael Binh, born and raised in Vietnam to a Pilipino father and Vietnamese mother. His father divorced and went to NYC to work for the UN in the early 60’s. Growing up in the southern end of Vietnam, he was kind forced into a hard position. He ended up going to the US and training with the Coast Guard, and eventually working in the US Navy as a rescue officer (as well as translator) in the outer Saigon area, beginning in the middle of ‘68, part of the biggest troop surge the US made.

Billy is very charismatic. He stands at the front of the bus, mic in hand, sharing his 40 year struggle in a country he wasn’t willing to leave. His ability to throw in the off color remark about foreigners having big asses (from McDonald's) and getting stuck in the tunnels, was always amusing. Despite all the horror this man had seen he seemed still carry a smile. I struck up a conversation with him immediately. Even though I was careful with some subject matter, he was open to share, even going into some of the worst parts; having to put the dog tags into the dead US soldier’s mouth, and the dreams that continue to haunt him till this day. “The mouths, the mouths,” he would say.

I was fortunate enough sit across from him during the bus ride, so that when the Mic was put to rest, I was able to mount a full on Q&A assault, while trying to avoid the hard and heavy personal issues that one may carry with them from such an experience.

Mr. Binh served for the US in Vietnam until the US pulled out. He claims that he never killed anyone, and that at times, wouldn’t even give position of VC - as he said these were his people, and he was just a kid. Although he was just a kid, he was very aware of the history of Vietnam and its allies and foes over the past hundreds of years, which is when they consider the beginning of the WAR (the end being 1979, with Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge). Even talked about the CIA’s involvement pre and post WAR period, while he made a casual hint in the possibility of the involvement of the Kennedy assination. He claims that had Kennedy held office, the War would have never have started. Oh, man, I get to talk conspiracy theory with a “commie” in Vietnam - this is GREAT.

When the War was wrapping up (the American involvement) he was given an offer by his Commanding officer for a one way ticket out of Vietnam, and a chance to continue to live in the US. Although he knew what was most likely to come if he stayed , he declined the offer, opting to stay with his mother and his homeland. (he tells me that there is a famous photo of a young Vietnamese Navy man handing over a US flag to a American officer in a US war museum - I guess that’s him.)

Two weeks after Saigon fell, he was hauled off to “Reeducation” camp, where he was fortunate enough to be feed Communism propaganda, little food, and long days of picking mines out fields. In the North’s eyes, he was the Enemy; he supported the puppet regime, and needed to be fixed. Billy was no fool to what was going on, and as much as he liked the American people he knew that the American government screwed him and his fellow Southerns, and countrymen for that matter. After 4.5 years of mines and propaganda, he graduated from Commie camp, fortunalty with all his limbs still in tacked. Things at this point still weren’t easy, as the Government wouldn’t give him a job, which is kind of the point of the Communist country. Many Doctors, lawyers, and highly educated people (from the South) were left with nothing, having to live and work by the Cyclo (tuk tuk bicycle). Mr. Binh was forced in cigarette smuggling to support himself, until in the mid 80’s, when the government kind of lessened the noose a bit on the “Enemy.”

This lead to a discussion on the post war period and what Vietnam has seen in the years that followed the war. He explained how the government that was once 90% communist, is now about 50%. The signs of this aren’t that clear - to me it feels as if it’s the epitome of Capitalism. Saigon is booming as can be. Comparing it Cambodia’s PP, its like comparing Fresno with SF. I think that also speaks volumes about Vietnam as a whole, and how quickly its been able to recover, especially considering that the US only lifted its embargo 12 years ago, thanks to Clinton. He loved Clinton, which seems to be a general trend for every country I go to. Where did “we” go wrong?

I can only imagine what Vietnam(Saigon) will be like in 10 years. With its booming economy, its already been called the next Thailand. I just hope that its able to keep some of its culture over the years to come.

Before we visited the Tunnels, we stopped off at a handcrafts work shop, operated by young handicap people, who for the most part were victims of Agent Orange; American’s long term gift to the people of Vietnam. The workshop was set up by the government, as a way to get the beggars out of the city, and actually having them working for a living, and various charities (Clinton & Gates) sponsored wheel chairs, and other forms of transportation.

When we arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels we were given an opportunity for enlightment with a large Flat Screen full of info, with the obvious propaganda embedded in it. Hearing about the intricacy of the Tunnel system, it was no wonder Vietnam “won” the war. 3 levels, that stretched 130 miles, all of which were right under US bases. Its pretty remarkable, considering it was all dug by hand, by both men and women. Not only were they good diggers, but incredible smart with the guerilla warfare tactics. When the US, tried to use dogs to sniff them out, they’d collect US American trash, and hid that in the tunnel door, throwing the scent off. They also had an impressive, yet medieval-like assortment of booby traps, which were used for both Human and dog. During the first month they lost 1/3 of the dogs. BBQ Dog anyone?

As I said before the tunnels and the actual area were a bit staged, which I can imagine, after the amounts of Napalm that fell on the area. It was cool to see the sniper holes, and the various tunnels, and the tactics used. We even got to see the Viet Cong in action, well sort of. One of the bunkers had 4 manikin VC soldiers doing various tasks (working with explosives, making booby traps, cooking, cleaning guns). It was then that I felt like I was 9 again and at Chucky Cheese for a birthday party. The manikins started to move, doing their various tasks, in the same sort of Animatronics fashion as Chucky would do when I was nine.

From there we actually got to go into a tunnel, which wasn’t really a true tunnel, but one that had been renovated, as the “real” ones, aren’t the safest, with the Cobra snakes, scorpions, and potential for collapse. This had supports, and a would see about 1,000 tourist a day. It was only 300 feet long, and I made it about half way. I’m a small guy, and I have no idea how these people would be able to crawl for miles and miles, with weapons in hand, and the threat of death looming. Like I said, its no wonder we “lost.”

From there we visited the ever so famous shooting gallery. It was similar to Cambodia, but when Korean tourist committed suicide with one of the guns last year, they were forced to clamp down a bit. So they literally clamped the end of the guns to a mount, to prevent another incident. I have to say this kind of took the fun out of it, I mean not being able to hold it and feel the recoil. Since I had been there and done that, I decided that I’d pass. I was really surprised with the amount of girls that wanted to shoot the guns, but then again they were mostly English, so go figure.

When I was in Cambodia I wanted to fire the M16, so that I could compare it to the AK47; it would only be fair, right? Well, at the time the Cambodian army was out of bullets for the M16, so I wasn’t able to compare the two. Vietnam, however, had a full stock off bullets, and the little boy syndrome won me over, and I fired the M16.

On the way home Mr. Binh I continued to talk. We got into books somehow, and the name Robert McNamara came up. I mentioned the documentary, The Fog of War, which he hadn’t seen. I fortunately was able to pick up an “unofficial” copy in Cambodia to replace my “official” one I had given my Cuban friend Andros, who was born and raised in Cuba, and still resides - against his own will. Andors just recently gave me a great a review of it from a Cuban perspective as well as film maker. Its always nice to hear another perspective of history, as there are always at least two sides to as story, and unfortunately we usually only hear one side. I was happy to give this DVD to Binh, in exchange for a email review, which he was honored to do.

I know I have said this before, but its moments like this that draw me to travel, not the old spoons, carved cats, Wats, rocks, and Animatronics Viet Cong. Without being a pretentious dick, it’s the moments like I had with Mr. Binh, hearing first hand about culture and history. Ok, enough of that…off the soapbox I will go.

Yesterday, after the Tunnels, I decided I'd head to the beach the following day (today) to for a little RR, thinking that I need break from the city life and motorbikes. For Saigon’s 8 million people, they have around 5 million motorbikes, which can make crossing streets a bit tough at times. Kind of like what I said about Cairo, but Cairo and its cars are kind of like someone shooting a machine gun at you; the bullets are larger, and more deadly, while the streets of Saigon are alike shotgun packed with motorbikes, which are smaller and less likely for death, but because they are smaller (and more of them) the chance of collision are higher.

The beep beep also gets old. Its almost its own language. Constant beep beep, and after hours you can make out what they, are saying.

I was told yesterday that my plane was late, then today I’m told that it’s early (they called the hotel), and needless to say I missed it, so I'm on a later one this afternoon. What a system, but once again, all part of the process.

-d.

PS. Some people said that hey have had issues getting into the picture gallery. Here is the direct link.

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/dylan1313/Gallery/

PSS. I typed this in some weird font that wont let me spell-check, so deal -I have been doing pretty well up until this point, and I need to run, so i wasn't really able to read it through before posting

Attack of the Animatronic Viet Cong.

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