Ghosts of Vietnam

Apologies for not posting sooner-- traveling in Vietnam gave me a lot to think about, and I just haven't had the time or energy yet to express my thoughts. Today is a good day for writing though, so let's begin:

After a long bus ride to Singapore and then a short flight, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, on Friday the 7th. Peter and Fay picked us up at the airport bearing a sign with our names on it so we could find them:

I suppose you would have to be avid Sarah/Ezra blog readers in order to understand that, but luckily we were so we knew who they were looking for right away. It was great to see them, and so much fun to travel with them as we found out over the course of the week. We started our adventure off by exploring the streets of Saigon, most notable for the hoards of motoscooters that cover the streets and sometimes the sidewalks.

Driving there is the most insane thing I've ever seen. I thought it was bad in Malaysia where pedestrians just have to make a run for it before the car gets to them first, but in Vietnam you basically have to play frogger in order to get to the other side of the street. It definitely makes it exciting! The city itself was really cool. The streets are lined with food vendors selling pho (noodle soup) and baguettes, and more than half of the people you see wear the conical straw hat that you've often seen in movies. More so than any other country I've been to, just at first glance I really felt I was in a new place. The first thing we did was to visit Reunification Palace (formerly Independence Palace before the North won the war and reclaimed this South Vietnamese government building and turned it into a museum and tribute to Northern Victory). We had an excellent tour guide who kept making funny jokes, such as, "This is the former president's office. You see that he has two telephones, a pink one and a red one. The red one, of course, is for his wife. And, well the pink one is for his mistresses!" Then of course, she would poke fun at the men in our tour group ever so often, asking them how often they use their pink telephones.

Reunification Palace

Brief interlude: Although Saigon is a modern and bustling city, both Ez and I couldn't help but feel surrounded by ghosts. We couldn't stop thinking about the war, and how only 33 years ago this city was an entirely different place. How many people had died here? How many people had suffered? In the States, we learn about the Vietnam War as if it were ages ago, giving us the feeling that it has long been forgotten and forgiven. In Vietnam, however, the "American War," is fresh in the minds and hearts of the Vietnamese, and in some ways, is still going on. Before we even spoke to anyone about it or even went to a museum, we felt this to be true. While we had an amazing time there, we felt these ghosts wherever we went, making it a very humbling experience.

So, the next day, we visited a small town North of Saigon called Cu Chi, where the Viet Cong Guerillas built an underground tunnel system during the Vietnam War from which they hid from the Americans, as well as attacked them in the jungle. I had mixed feelings about being there. On the one hand, the tunnels were fascinating, and it was fun to watch Ez, Fay and Peter crawl into them and then out the other side looking traumatized after a dark 90 meters (I would have been too claustrophobic to do it).

Ez entering the tunnel

But, on the other hand, I started to feel the "ghosts" again pretty strongly, and couldn't help but think about how I was standing on the very ground where thousands of people had died, and brutally at that. At the Cu Chi tunnels, they told us about how Americans had dropped bombs and raided villages, indiscriminately killing innocent men, women, and children as they hunted the VC. Not surprisingly, this has left a legacy of bitterness towards Americans. Not towards us directly, as everyone was very kind to us, but to the past Americans who reminded them of darker times when everyone knew at least one person, usually more, killed by an American bomb or soldier. However, whether they meant to or not, the guides at the Cu Chi tunnels also made me realize just how terrible the war had been for American soldiers as well. After seeing the tunnels and traps the guerillas had set for them, we saw that they really never had a chance. The VC were ruthless, brutal warriors that rigged the jungle with spears and traps, and as the guide spoke about this, I couldn't help hearing a bit of pride in his voice that turned my stomach. He spoke about these death traps with a sense of triumph, and although I understood that this was a war, and that in war people kill, it was uncomfortable to hear. Ghosts and awkward comments about "the American enemy" aside, I learned a lot about perspective from going to Cu Chi, and that is something I am very grateful for.

Fayette at a much smaller entrance

The highlight of our trip for me was going on a three-day tour of the Mekong Delta. We had a private tour-- just the fours of us, a driver, and a guide. The 3 days were filled with boat rides, tropical fruits, and plenty of noodle soup. It was a great way to get a feel for current life in Vietnam, as I felt the ghosts leave us as we toured the Delta. Our first stop was in My Tho, where we took a rowboat to a coconut candy factory, a fruit farm and a bee farm for tea and a traditional Vietnamese singing performance.

On the rowboat

The next day we visited Can Tho, where we had breakfast at a floating market and watched the vendors float by selling piles of mangoes and pineapples. We also visited a rice noodle factory, as well as a fish farm where hundreds of fish greeted us as we threw them handfuls of fishfood.

Mango vendor at the Can Tho Floating Market

On our last day, we went to Chau Doc and visited a place called Sam Mountain very close to the Cambodian border. We climbed to a hillside Buddhist temple called the Cavern Temple, where we could look out over the countryside and into Cambodia. It was gorgeous. The Delta area of South Vietnam felt very peaceful, and I was glad to see this "other side" of the country.

Looking out over Cambodia

Back in Saigon, we did one last stop at the War Remnants Museum, and as I expected, the ghosts returned. The museum basically affirmed what I had suspected about the war not really being over. It was a difficult experience, but I was glad that I could go through it and reflect on what I had seen. One exhibit was about land mines. All over SE Asia, and especially in Cambodia and Vietnam, land mines continue to affect people today. Whether they were planted by Americans or Vietnamese, the point is that innocent children who weren't even alive during the war are still being injured and sometimes killed by these horrendous contraptions. Also, something I have never even thought about; Agent Orange, although used over 30 years ago, is still causing deformities and disabilities in children being born today. This is something that I think the U.S. must acknowledge, if not apologize for. Everywhere we went in Vietnam, we saw people who were disabled and deformed, including children. Here is a caption from this exhibit:

Click on it to make it bigger

Basically, the museum helped me realize even more how terribly pointless and inhumane war is. I struggled throughout our trip with feeling angry at my country's history and guilty for being American, and also frustration for being blamed for atrocities that the Vietnamese also committed on American soldiers. But then, after the museum, I realized that it is all awful, and that it is all understandable. Nobody was right, and everybody was wrong to do what they did. Both sides have a right to blame the other side for what was done to them, and in my opinion, everyone deserves an apology. There is no excuse for dehumanizing our fellow human beings in order to massacre them guiltlessly, and that was done on both sides.

The museum also had an exhibit on international protests against the war, including those from the U.S. I was very glad to see this, and felt that Vietnam understood that it wasn't all Americans who condoned the war. So, to those of you in the 1960s and 70s who protested the Vietnam War, maybe you realize this already, but your efforts are perhaps the only reason why the Vietnamese can even look an American in the eye today. I think this region of the world would have been a very different place if you hadn't seen the injustices that were going on on both sides and done something about it. Thank you.

From the Protests Exhibit

On our last night in Saigon, the four of us celebrated our successful trip with cocktails atop a fancy hotel with a great view and then a five-course meal. We had a great time together, so much so that we made plans to travel again together for 10 days in May. We will be joining Fay and Peter in Hong Kong and then Mainland China! I'm pretty excited for that.

Fancy Farewells

As we left the Ho Chi Minh City Airport on Friday the 14th and flew back to Singapore, I felt the ghosts had left us, and had left me with a greater awareness of how the world really works. My trip to Vietnam gave me a wonderful opportunity to spend time with Ez, Fay and Peter, as well as an opportunity to understand history in a new way. Despite the horrors, the guilt, and the frustration, I am thankful for this new understanding.

I have posted new photos, and four new videos. Take a look! Also, I have a new section to the right called "Travel Maps." Click on the link Places We've Traveled in SE Asia to see where we've been so far.

Love,

Sarah

PS- I just found out that today is the 40th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre...how strange. This article (although it's CNN) kind of gives you the feeling I am also trying to express.