Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Different Perspectives Newsletter August 20, 2008

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Dear Patrons, Welcome to our news letter. The Staff at Different Perspectives try to bring a clearer picture of current events effecting China and Asia. Although we believe the international media driven primarily by the western world's interests, is bringing the public events as they happen, we at Different Perspectives are independent and non biased without an agenda for prestige or monetary profit.

We simply feel the western world may be somewhat isolated from news that is local to our office here in Beijing, China. We hope you enjoy the news from a different perspective.

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Wednesday August 20, 2008
Hoang Yen Hotel Rm. 102
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The bus ride from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City took about 4 hours including a lengthy delay at the border.

The bus left Capital Bus station in Phnom Penh about 9 am. Most of the passengers were westerners. The bus traveled for about 1 1/2 hour. We then boarded a ferry with the bus and crossed the Mekong River.

From there it took about another 1 1/2 hours to get to the border crossing. Unfortunately the border crossing brought for me some un-expected stress. I waited in line for about 1/2 hours chatting with my European friends as we had our passports processed.

I was the only American on the bus. When it came my turn to be processed, the immigration/customs officer had some questions for our guide (he worked for the bus company and rode with us from Phnom Penh). I knew there was a problem right away regarding my passport.

My passport had been damaged over the years and had a rip of about 1 inch long in the binding.

The customs officer refused to except a damaged passport. This and an entry into the United States was the only time border police had an issue with my passport. China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia I had no problem with my damaged passport.

The bus guide and I ran around to at least two different official offices to seek help in getting my passport approved for entry.

The offices were closed for lunch or there just wasn't anybody there. I was nervous because, first I could see in the eyes of our Cambodian bus guide that there was definitely a problem. He was nervous.

Secondly I felt bad that my traveling friends were waiting on the bus to enter Vietnam for at least 1/2 hour.
The customs guide was not budging on his decision to deny me entry.

He would not look at either myself or the bus guide. He was very stern. Was it that I was American, or was it my passport. Either way his stern look with a sense of pent up ager ready to explode made us both nervous.

Finally after at least 40 minutes the customs officer gave in to my guide and approved my passport for entry. I'm sure slipping the guard $5 USD on the suggestion of the bus guide didn't hurt either.

We arrived on the bus from Phnom Penh about 4pm and collected myself inside the bus/travel agent in the heart of tourist heaven. A few generic questions for the agency I hoped for something other than the usual.

I finally set out on foot away from the hustle and bustle of Dalue Street southeast to check out 2 Guest houses off the beaten path. The first one was mentioned in L.P. and had no vacancy.

That was OK the proprietor spoke and carried on more like she was from New York City than Vietnam. And it was expensive. As I made a quick decision to do an about face and look else where, I noticed that there was many western tourists staying there.

Across the street was another guest house that had western guests also, and was expensive, and not that nice
very busy and loud.

Trucking down the same street for no more than a minute I came across a nice Guest House owned and operated by a widow, her daughter and here daughters friend. The older woman had lost her American husband in the Vietnam war.

Well appointed, clean, quiet, friendly and less expensive, I stayed at the Hoang Yen for my duration in Ho Chi Minh City.

I didn't see any tourists is this part of the city for my entire stay. Nice. If I wanted to hang out with westerners I would have stayed in the states. It's amazing how centrally located the tourist masses keep.

My guest house was no more than 10 minute walk from the major tourist neighborhood and yet I sat out front of my G.H. every morning for a week having coffee with the locals and saw absolutely no westerners!


Thursday August 21, 2008
Hoang Yen Hotel Rm. 102
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

My first day in Vietnam turned out just fine. With fewer expectations, things always seem to work. I found coffee nearby and met the local folks. Scoped out my day via maps and my guide.

I decided to see 3 museums in the city in the next few days.

But first I needed to find a motorbike to rent. After an hour + with no luck I finally found a motorbike service that would rent me a bike with 2 mirrors and a front basket to carry my shoulder bag, map and water.

Nice people here, I lucked out since the first 5 rentals that I went to didn't seem to want to help me.

I'm guessing business was good in Ho Chi Minh City from the all the tourists that will pay top dollar without a blink of the eye. I just wanted a bike for a few days.

I wasn't handing out 100 US$ or euros without thought. I would ignore me too if I could make easy cash off some poor tourist that doesn't know any better.

After having coffee at the motorbike rental office with Tran, an older Vietnam/ American with a lot to say about America's involvement in the War, I rode off into the streets of Ho Chi Minh City on my 50cc Honda motorbike into a swath of motorbikes the likes I'd never seen before.

A typical seen on a Ho Chi Minh City boulevard would be 10 rows of motorbikes spanning the boulevard packed tightly to the tune of 100 at each stop light. Whoops did I bite off too much this time? Phnom Penh was a challenge enough to ride in.


I could see this was going to push me to the limits of my driving coordination, patience and faith. Surprisingly with my bit of experience in Phnom Penh at entering, and going with the traffic flow and just slightly slower than the pack I seemed to fit my bike into the streets of Ho Chi Minh City just fine.

After waiting through some rain and getting comfortable with my accommodations of course including off street secure parking for my bike, before heading to the War Remnants Museum with 1 1/2 hours to go before they closed.

My task, navigate through Ho Chi Minh City on motorbike, find the museum, and a secure place to park my bike.

Can it get any more exciting? Believe me not to much more exciting. I had my work cut out for me but felt confident as I had throughout SE Asia.

Task completed safely, I entered the court yard of the museum into a robust environment of Vietnam Nationals and Foreign visitors mingling from display to display as the late afternoon sun retreated slowly.

In the courtyard I was perplexed to see fully intact US military aircraft on display. I thought at least the aircraft would be displayed decimated by the Vietcong in victory as the final act occurred.

Further on as I poked around for the correct path to take to see as much as I could in the short time that I had. Each display inside and outside had a number.


There were about 9 displays numbered clearly 1 through 9. It was therefore easy to navigate through all the displays. An organized process I didn't see much of in Cambodia.

As I entered the main museum building, in bold print above me the museum showed it's original name of "The War Crimes Museum". As an American I was immediately intimidated, scared and embarrassed.

The exhibits continually had wordage condemning the French and American aggressors for trying to destroy Vietnam. I was moved.

There was an abundance of file pictures from the war showing the atrocities of the American Military on the Vietnam people for more than 15 years. I was overwhelmed to see it from the Vietnam peoples perspective.


How the United States ever convinced other countries to join them in years of brutal slaughter is beyond my comprehension. Arrogant I guess is a good word do use. I met an Australian man that was humbled as I was with the exhibit.

Australia also played a major roll in the aggression toward the Vietnam people during the war. All for not. I enjoyed the presentation. It was nice to be in an environment where there was total lack of fear to conclude that there was a lot wrong with the way America and it's western friends behaved over the last 60 years.

My feeling was the Vietnam people have no fear of the west, least America.

Friday August 22, 2008
Hoang Yen Hotel Rm. 102
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I made my way to the local coffee shop to read, watch the locals and interact. A German man by the name of Martin passed by and we struck up conversation over a few cups of coffee.

Martin was teaching here in Ho Chi Minh City for a few months and has traveled a fair amount in Asia, so our conversations were somewhat perpetual since I had been on the road for nearly 7 weeks.

Before too long I was back at the Hoang Yen to regroup for my moto-bike trip across town to the Ho Chi Minh Museum. The museum was east a few km toward the Mekong delta.

It would take me about 20 minutes to drive. By this time I was somewhat use to the city, at least I knew how to get to the main boulevard, although that took some navigating through streets that were busting with market activity, lots of motorbikes people and carts.

Surprisingly I didn't feel threatened at all and felt I was being treated as a local. I would stop for water and a snack on the road.

The city is typical Asian. Wide boulevards jammed with motor bikes, people, bicycles and cars, with side streets filled with food and clothing markets. The smells and sites enough to make you stop, smell and people watch all day long.

And snack! Asking people as I pointed to my map and used hand gestures to find out exactly where I was in the city.

For the most part I was allowed to point my bike in the same direction with everyone else and didn't feel intentionally intimidated. I arrived at the Ho Chi Minh Museum after making u-turns and talking with whomever looked like they could help me find it.

The museum was located on the banks on I think the western side Mekong River.

A pleasant park like setting with monuments of The General. The Museum Building itself was square with sides of about 50 meters and at least 2 stories high.

Built of a sand stone light brown/yellow colored stucco, the building reflected the mid afternoon sun well. I first wandered around the grounds a bit taking pictures, and found one monument of Ho particularly attractive.

A tall monument of Ho as a young man facing outward on the north side of the museum. The statue was carved from a rock that had a maroon color. Very attractive.

Walking inside I spent about an hour looking at the extensive collection of artifacts recording Ho's life and his commitment to see the revolution through to free the south from aggressor infiltration primarily the French and American armies.


I spoke briefly with a local Vietnam Army Reserve group that where there to pay their respects. They asked me to take a picture of them.

Myself and the reserve group were the only visitors in the large museum that afternoon.

On the way out I bought some souvenirs pictures and buttons of Ho. The afternoon was quite interesting for me since I am an American and I grew up hearing about the Americans involvement in the Vietnam war everyday.

Vietnam is bringing back many memories of the 1970's for me. By the time I left the Museum it was evening so i got some good pictures of the sun setting along the busy Mekong river, had some dinner at a street vendor and checked in with my brother Owen on Internet chat.

Saturday August 23, 2008 11:55 pm
Hoang Yen Hotel Rm. 102
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I rolled my motorbike into the foyer of the Hoang Yen Hotel about 11:30 PM after a not so pleasant trip back from the Cu Chi Tunnels. The day started out well.

Earlier than usual I made my way for some coffee and met some local men. One was a former Vietcong Soldier.

An interesting encounter, he showed me his wounds that he received from US army bullets during the Vietnam War. I was moved. I said, "I was sorry". His friends said "don't worry about it". The man didn't say anything.

He shook my hand. Once he had left I found out that he had bought me coffee. A great experience to start my day in Vietnam.

I regrouped at my the Guest House and motor biked to Independence Hall Museum. The building that U.S Citizens living in the then Saigon and military personal where airlifted from on April 15th? 1975, when Ho Chi Minh finally secured his dream of freedom of Vietnam unification and the fall of US occupation.

This building was where the US puppet government ran the war from.

This building is where 2 North Vietnam tanks crashed through the gates to liberate the south take over the building and hence raise the North Vietnam flag, while the American Military and civilians ran for their lives.

Very interesting I really enjoyed it. McNamara, Johnson, Nixon, Kennedy, Ho Chi Minh and many more memories.

I have a picture of exactly where one of the tank soldiers on the second floor in the front over looking the huge circular entry drive climbed over a wooden railing to rip down the South Vietnam flag and raise the North Vietnam flag.

Another I took of exactly where the American Military and civilians were spared their lives with the US helicopter airlift.

I remember seeing this chaos on television in 1975. At the time I was proud in a way of how the American's were trying to help each other and take Vietnam civilians out with them. But now I see it from a different perspective and except that the way Vietnam is today is the way it should have always been.

It's amazing how the truth can be so clouded over by an imperialistic agenda such as the French and America agenda.

And how innocent children of a society can be influenced to believe in that agenda.

Following a day at Independence Hall I had planned on returning my motorbike, since I was not completely satisfied with it's operating safety, and I had planned to take the long ride out to Cu Chi Tunnels this afternoon.

After searching around for about an hour I found another motorbike that I was comfortable with and had a place to put my water and my map.

I gave up looking for a bike that had mirrors, since in Vietnam unlike Cambodia they simply don't use mirrors! I had a great ride out to the tunnels about 70 km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City.

Directions from my guide book where pretty good although I had to stop a number of times to consult. I lucked out finding an American from California who was living in Ho Chi Minh City to help me.

That was complete luck. I don't think I could have made my way without help form him and his Vietnamese wife.

Ho Chi Minh City is huge.

15 km from the center the city was still densely packed and crowded. I traveled through remote area's that were completely demolished by US B52 bombing during the war.

I got very close to the area where the famous picture of the young Vietnamese girl running down the middle of road with no cloths on was taken. I was moved. Tears came to my eyes. This was the only Vietnam I had ever known.

On the way to the tunnels I stopped at a minority village that was set up with an historical park showing early Vietnamese culture. I drove my bike wherever I wanted never feeling like I was unwelcome.

I arrived at the tunnels after closing, however I new that there was that chance.

I took my time and saw other historical sites along the way, stopped to talk and say hello with people who have been through the hell of war. Arriving at Cu Chi although the park was closed, but Park Officer was nice enough to point out to me a few craters from US Air force B52 bombers.

These tunnels housed the Vietcong Army as they prepared to invade and ultimately take occupation of Ho Chi Minh City.

I didn't get into the tunnels but there were more north in central Vietnam that I planned on seeing in a week. This day was all about the motor-biked ride. I saw a lot of the Vietnam landscape. Went where I pleased and stopped and talked with whomever I pleased.

Motorbike is the best way to see Southeast Asia and for me it was without doubt best to travel alone. I loved it.

My ride back to the the city went well for about half the trip. Then there was the infamous fork in the road. I took the wrong way and embarked on a long and somewhat apprehensive evening cruising around the suburbs Ho Chi Minh City, trying to get back to my Guest House.

First I stopped for a bite to eat, and inquire as to which direction to go.

After eating it started to sprinkle so I knew rain was in the near future. I didn't have a poncho or rain jacket and I wasn't comfortable riding on rain soaked roads.

I was lost, it was starting to rain and I was on the outskirts of one of the biggest cities in S.E Asia after dark. In the case that you have not traveled in S.E, New York City by comparison is not a very big city.

I fired up my motor bike and headed out, in I thought might be the general direction I needed to go. Almost immediately it started to rain. After a few km I decided I'd wait it out.

I pulled my motorbike off the road in front of a retail store at a busy intersection and waited out the rain under an over hang with a couple of other Vietnamese locals.

I chatted with them and as they smoked their cigarettes the rain came down harder and harder.

The rain didn't seem to bother most of the travelers that night. The intersection remained jammed with motor bikes. Motor bike accidents happened almost as a common occurrence as I watched.

After the rain stopped I decided to try it again and point my bike in the general direction to where I thought my Guest House might be. After a few km of getting deeper and deeper into darker and darker neighborhoods, it wasn't looking good.

I had no idea where I was.

At this point I sheepishly stopped to talk with a group of younger people outside a restaurant in a neighborhood that reminded me of one that normally you would not be in unless you lived there.

In other words I think this group of people saw me coming. I asked for assistance but got the go away look. Eventually I got one of the group to speak and in broken English and Vietnamese.

He said "we don't know where your hotel is and we already told you that!

At that point I gave up trying to convince them that I needed help and it would be a good gesture if they tried to help me and felt it safer to quickly turn my bike around and leave the neighborhood.

As my wandering continued I got more nervous. Nearing a dark 10 PM I stopped at rotary in the street and struck up a conversation with a gentleman and woman friend.

I felt some comfort with these two, and after a short conversation we agreed on a price for him to guide me back to my Guest House.

During the 10 km ride back to my guest house I felt a little mad a myself for almost getting into a position that could of ended with me in trouble and threatening my safety.

But on the other hand I was grateful that I found someone that was trustworthy and willing to help me get back to my Guest House for a small fee of course

A good day started with my VietCong friend, and an English speaking guided tour of Independence Palace. Followed by a beautiful bike ride to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Save for my escapades in finding my way back an amazing day in an incredible country. __________________________________________________________________________________

Next time on Different Perspectives join me as I spend a few more days in Ho Chi Minh City with the Vietnamese people, while I prepare to travel north by train to the city of Quing Nhai Vietnam, to the site of the My Lai Massacre.


Please join me, until then……. “Those who accept that we all die someday settle their quarrels.”


From The Book Dhammapada. A gift given to me in Mandalay, Myanmar by my friend Hnin Hnin Yu


peace always


Edward


Different Perspectives

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