Vietnam: More than just a war

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As I prepare to head out traveling again, I thought that I’d better get the blog from my last trip to Vietnam published!

Ho Chi Minh City
We flew into Ho Chi Minh City, and on our first full day, we took a tour of the Cao Dai Temple and the Chu Chi tunnels, which are located about three hours from the city itself. The Cao Dai religion is very interesting, and it attempts to form the perfect combination of many of the world’s religious and secular philosophies of the East and the West. It was first established in 1926, and it takes most of its ideas from Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Cao Dia believe in reincarnation and the possibility of communication with the dead, and according to the Cao Dai, many great Western thinkers have been in touch with its members. Due to the frequency in which Victor Hugo has appeared to the Cao Dai, he has been named chief spirit of foreign missionary works.

Next we visited the Chu Chi tunnels which were built by the Viet Cong in order to simplify communication between areas that had been isolated by Northern and American troops. The tunnels also aided the Viet Cong in launching surprise attacks. For many poor peasants, the tunnels provided a way to participate in a war that would have otherwise been technologically out of their reach. While in the United States we call the war the "Vietnam War," Vietnamese call it the "American War." Throughout our stay in Vietnam many of our tour guides would use phrases like "when the Americans invaded my country . . . ” It was definitely an interesting perspective of the war. Our guide in the Chu Chi tunnels actually fought in the Vietnam War - for the Viet Cong - and he knew all about the tunnels. Because food in the region was scarce during the war, the tunnels that were used during the war could be made incredibly small. We were able to climb through some of the old tunnels, but they had been widened to twice their original size so that "Western visitors would not become stuck." Even at twice their normal size, it was a tight squeeze at some points, and it was definitely not an adventure for the claustrophobic. Often we could not see anything in front of us, but we scooted on, hoping that there were not any possible wrong turns! I can't imagine living in such tunnels for months at a time. Interestingly, a side venture has also developed at the Chu Chi tunnels. Visitors can pay about $1 USD per bullet to shoot a variety big military guns such as M-14s and M-60s into a field of metal barrels.

The next day, we visited the War Remnants Museum. The museum used to be called the "Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes" until foreigners complained! The museum was actually more balanced in its portrayal of the war than I expected, and many of the displays that could be construed as "anti-American" were actually composed of pictures and stories that were first reported by the American media. The pictures of children affected by Agent Orange were especially hard to see, and the museum in general was a good reminder of the hardships and atrocities that are a reality during wartime. It was also interesting to read some of the stories and accounts of Vietnamese soldiers and villagers and how they perceived the war.

Hoi An
After two days in HCMC, I split from my two friends and made my way to central Vietnam to Hoi An alone. This was the first trip in which I spent part of it solo, and as you will see, I had a really great experience 😊 On the plane ride over, I met a young Vietnamese woman who just happened to live close to Hoi An, and the next night she came by my hotel on her motorbike (which everyone drives in Vietnam - hardly anyone owns a car) and took me to a truly local restaurant. Away from the tourist section of town, the food became even better and more interesting! We had flat, crispy rice pancakes that we smashed with our palms to break them into pieces, and then we dipped the pieces in all sorts of wonderful sauces. Along with many other wonderful things, we also had sweet corn icees! After dinner, we went on a ride on Vien's motorbike through Hoi An. It was a really beautiful ride because a lot of the town glowed with the light of many colorful lanterns. Hoi An has a lot of history as it was SE Asia's major trading port between 17 and 19th centuries, and it now a UNESCO World Heritage site. In addition its wonderful old-world feel, Hoi An has over 400 tailors that can make almost anything you could want. The tailors can copy designs from magazines or make copies of your favorite clothes. It was on the one hand my dream come true, and on the other, being the indecisive person that I am, my worst nightmare 😊 "Where do you want this sleeve to end?" "Do you want 2 inch cuffs or three inch cuffs?" Ahhh! It was really fun though, and I walked out with a whole new wardrobe (including a new suit) for about $100!

Hue
From Hoi An, I made my way to Hue (pronounced Hway). To get to Hue, I had to take a bus, and when we arrived in Hue, it looked like we were being dropped off in the middle of nowhere! However, as my luck would have it, an Italian woman who had been on the bus had already booked a hotel, and she invited me to share the room with her. It was great to have some company, and it turned out that she had booked a very nice room in the center of town (which she refused to let me help pay for!). The next day I took a wonderful tour of the city, and met more people from around the world - some from Japan, Korea, and various countries in Europe. Hue was the ancient capital of Vietnam, and it is home to many of the tombs of past emperors. We visited three beautiful tombs as part of our tour of the city. The tombs were composed of really huge areas complete with gardens and lakes. Even in their immensity, most were symmetrical to symbolize the balance between ying and yang. One tomb was up on a tall hill, and it had a beautiful view of the countryside. Interestingly, the exact location of an Emperor's body in the immense area of the tomb was usually not to be known to the public, and often all of the hundreds of servants who helped to bury the emperor were beheaded! We also visited the Imperial city, which was actually modeled after the Forbidden City in Beijing, and was the center of ancient life in Hue. The City is now in the process of being rebuilt as most of it was destroyed during the Vietnam war, and while it is possible to see some of its past splendor now, it would be great to come back in another 30 years when restoration should be complete!

That evening, I headed to the airport, and flew back to HCMC. Since I landed at HCMC at 11:30 pm, and my flight was at 6 the next morning, I decided it that didn't make sense to try to go back to a hotel, so I spent the night at the airport. I have to say, the person who left some month-old People magazines on the plane back to HCMC is wonderful. Even though I am not usually much of a fan of the tabloids, reading about Brittany's latest (well, fairly recent) shenanigans kept me entertained. I didn’t even mind too much when airport security kicked me out at 3am so that the airport could close for 2 hours!

Back in Hong Kong
After a wonderful trip to Vietnam, I arrived back in Hong Kong only to be greeted by final exams. We actually took our trip to Vietnam in the weeklong “dead day” that was supposed to be spent studying! In Hong Kong, most final exams are taken in rooms of up to 500 other people from a huge mixture of classes. We had assigned seat numbers, had to keep our student IDs visible at all times, and we could not leave the room for the first or last 30 minutes of the exam. I’m not really sure that such a system is more efficient though because all of the professors still had to be present during the exam, and it seemed that distributing and sorting all of those exams would be quite a task.

But now I am done with my exams, and on Tuesday I will head off to Mainland China. Sadly due to the expense and difficulty in obtaining a visa, it will be my first trip to the Mainland! I will fly to Xi'an, the home of the famous terracotta warriors and stay with one of my friends from the university. Then the following Sunday, I will meet my parents in Beijing, and we will travel around Beijing, to Thailand, hopefully Cambodia, and return to Hong Kong to fly back to the U.S. together on June 15. Whew!

I can't wait to see all of you again, and I hope that you are doing well! Send me an e-mail update if you get a chance 😊

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Photos

Woman in Ao Dai
Ao Dai is commonly worn by women in the office or as a school uniform.

Comments

[Guy Vig]

Vietnam trip blog entry
I'm so impressed with how confident you are in your travels, with such wonderful results! :-) The descriptions and pictures are also so good that you could put travel magazine writers to shame. Enjoy the rest of your time in Hong Kong and traveling with your parents!