Vietnam

Upon entering Vietnam we headed straight to Hanoi, in the north of the country. It's a big busy city, but doesn't have all that much to offer tourists. We went to the water puppet theater, enjoyed some great food, and visited the prison where captured American pilots were held during the Vietnam war (which, they refer to as the American war).

This prison was sarcastically dubbed the “Hanoi Hilton”. In fact, former USA presidential candidate John McCain was held here after his bomber was shot down during his attempt to take out an electrical power station. Here is his flight suit...supposedly...

It was almost humorous to read the biased description of the treatment of the American prisoners. Apparently they received better medical care and food than Vietnamese citizens, and spent much of their time playing volleyball and doing crafts. And when they were released they all received a gift bag and they thanked their captors for teaching them the best of Vietnamese culture. Hmm - ya - I'm sure that's exactly how it happened.

Next was the World Heritage Site of Halong Bay:

We did some trekking around the larger islands and even did a little gentle kayaking around some smaller islands.

Of course there's also the caves in the bay. And to improve upon nature's artistry, some government official thought it best to add colored lights inside.

Ahh - yes - that's much better with the colors.

Further south we went to Hue, and did a day trip in the area known as the DeMilitiarized Zone (DMZ) which marked the 1960's ear border between the separate countries of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Once the Americans sent soldiers into active fighting, this area became the theater of intense fighting.

Here's a few remnants of those days...

To defend against the superior American technology the civilians and North Vietnamese army made extensive use of tunnels. In fact, they credit the tunnels as a key element in their victory. Entire villages lived much of their lives below ground – only coming up to farm the fields. We visited the tunnel system known as Vinh Moc

Families were each assigned a tiny room in the tunnel network to live in.

Imagine having such a tiny place for your family. They even had schools, maternity rooms, kitchens, etc. underground. Some children born here spent the first five years of their lives living underground.

And Hue had more than reminders of the war to offer. Such as these gardens from an ancient royal burial grounds.

A little further south we stopped at the fantastic town of Hoi An. What a great atmosphere in the area known as “old town”. Great restaurants, fantastic looking buildings, no cars allowed, and inexpensive tailor shops - yup – I got myself a suit. Custom fitted and made in just one day.

Ya - I didn't buy any socks.

But that's not all – there are, of course, the ubiquitous massage shops. Now this is sort of strange, but I remember when I was in Taiwan seeing people having some sort of treatment where small warmed glass jars were put onto the skin of people's backs. When the air in the jars cooled, the jar was sucked onto the skin. Anyway, I was suffering from a cold (congested, coughing, etc.) so the massage lady recommended I try this as it's supposed to be therapeutic. Well, part of what this trip is all about is trying new things, so I gave it a shot.

She lit a small fire and used its heat to warm small jars one at a time. Once a jar was heated a little she put it directly onto my back. Within a few minutes my back was completely covered with 30 of these jars.

And sure enough, as the air inside each jar cools a suction is formed – a really strong (read: painful) suction. After about half an hour she removed them and, well, now I have a polka-dot back.

The verdict is still out as to whether this particular eastern medicine works, but I don't think I'll be trying it again any time soon.

We also made a day trip out of Hoi An to see the oldest temples in all of Asia – the My Son ruins. Tragically, many of them were heavily damaged by American bombs during the Vietnam war, but a small number remain. These even pre-date the Khmer temples of Angkor.

Our final destination in Vietnam was Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh city). For us the two big things to visit were the Reunification Palace, and the War museum. The first of these two - the Reunification Palace - can be said to be the place where America lost the Vietnam war. It was from the roof of this building that helicopters began to evacuate diplomats, etc. while three stories below Vietnamese soldiers had stormed the doors and were taking the palace, and indeed the whole city by force.

We also visited the War museum, and found it to be a very biased propaganda tool. The museum exists to highlight the many atrocities committed by the American solders during the war. And there were many examples - the worst (if such things can be measured) might be the legacy of terrible disfigurements of developing fetuses caused by Agent Orange, Agent Purple, and other dioxins that were sprayed over populated areas. I thought the pictures were a little too extreme to post here.

Also mentioned were American attacks on civilians and the habit of destroying entire villages suspected of sympathizing with the VC. Here is one of the most famous images from the war showing terrorized children fleeing the remains of their homes.




There were many other pictures showing the most grizzly and violent scenes. Again, I didn't think it appropriate to post them here as they really were extreme. They are among the most gruesome things I've seen in my life.

The museum presentation was entirely one sided, but that does not change the fact that war is a terrible thing. I'm very fortunate to have lived while my country is at peace - something I have never taken for granted.

We finished our time in Saigon with a reunion with a British couple we met months ago in India. We first met them in Amritsar, and then later in Goa. And now our paths crossed again in Vietnam, so we arranged to see them for dinner.

Ahh - what a fun night. Hopefully this won't be the last time we meet up!