Vietnam

"We've realized that we're having a very difficult time finding the enemy. It isn't easy to find a Vietnamese man named "Charlie." They're all named Nguyen, or Tran, or..."

This past weekend I traveled down to Saigon to see the sights and catch up with my cousin who is spending a year in Vietnam teaching english. Four of us flew into Vietnam on Thursday night Andrew, Rodrigo, Josh and myself. We got through customs, showed our visas and headed for a cab into the city. We got into the cab around 11:30 at night and drove through what seemed to a relatively empty wasteland with the occasional motorbike passing us buy or a rare group of people looking up from the lawn chairs they were conversing from. I would later come to realize that this is not some washed up wasteland it is a vibrant city where people just happen to go to bed early. We got to bed at decent time after watching Misery the suspense thriller with Kathy Bates and James Caan. I know this point means little to most readers but I have a hard time resisting the chance to mention a movie.
We got moving Friday morning around 8 and met up with my cousin John who had taken the bus down from Dalat, a city in the hills north of Saigon. We headed out to look for a tailor for some inexpensive Vietnamese clothing, we wandered the streets searching for a good spot but were unable to find anything that fit our needs. It would later become apparent that we just happened to miss the tailors by a block or two. Since the suits were a no go we decided to head outside the city to see the Củ Chi tunnels. For those who don't know these tunnels are just a small part in the vast network that the VC used in their war against us back in the sixties and seventies. If anyone wishes to know more about how these tunnels worked and how they were used feel free to ask me with a comment or an email and would be happy to ramble on about history. Upon seeing these tunnels in person after only seeing them on TV I was amazed. These tunnels are small. I cannot reiterate this enough, if you ever see them for yourself and you climb in be prepared for a tight squeeze. We got to the tunnels and were given a tour of the grounds and given the chance to go into the tunnels for ourselves. I unfortunately was to big to fit into these tunnels, the North Vietnamese Army did not design their tunnels to accommodate a six foot two American. While I did not get into the main tunnel some of my friends did and after hearing their reactions a part is thankful to VC for making them too small for me. Upon entering the tunnel first Andrew was handed a small flashlight and told to just forward and the exit would be straight ahead. Rodrigo and John followed close behind and the lid tot the tunnel was sealed. As the tunnel lid was dropped the worker giving the tour jokingly told them to watch out for bats. As I waited at the exit yells quickly came questioning which way to go, it seems there was not just one easy way out of the tunnel but in fact two diverging paths. After finally emerging from the tunnels Andrew stated that the guide was in fact not joking about the bats and that there was a rather large population of them below the surface. Upon hearing about the bats those in the back of the pack were thankful for the pitch black that prevented them form seeing the winged beasts. After seeing the tunnels, some recreations of a VC camp and some impact craters from American bombers we were taken to the firing range. Now Mom don't be scared but I did fire my first gun, and I am 99% sure it will be the last time I fire a gun. I have never found the desire to go fire a gun strong before but when presented with the opportunity to fire an AK-47 or an M-60 I figured I would take a shot or twenty. I decided to take twenty shots from an AK-47, this being the only place in the world where I believe one can legally fire this gun which has played such a large role in the military history of the past sixty years. Upon hearing how loud a gun shot is, it leaves your ears ringing, I don't think I can imagine how loud a battle field must be with hundreds of these machines being fired. The power that these weapons exert really makes one reflect on their life. We all took our shots and got our adrenaline rush for the day and headed back to central Saigon. We hung out that night and sat at a table in a bar and observed the nightlife passing by in the streets. It was one of the more relaxing, laid back nights I have had since arriving in Asia.
The next we decided to take the self guided walking tour of the city that our Lonely Planet guidebook suggested. The tour hit almost all the major sites of Saigon from the Reunification Palace to Notre Dame Cathedral to the War Remnants Museum. It was interesting to see the view of the War from the North Vietnamese point of view. Now I'm not going to get into my view of who did what to who, that is an answer for an in person conversation. I will however mention that it was a little troubling to see the dog tags of American Soldiers for sale. I'm not sure many Veterans of the war would be thrilled to see these pieces for sale. One thing that I found interesting on the tour was the Notre Dame Cathedral, seeing a massive Gothic building built with bricks of a bright almost pinkish hue was certainly an interesting juxtaposition. The Cathedral is an interesting site in the middle of Asia and churches are not something that standout usually in this part of the world. For more details on the sights and sounds of the tour email me or ask me in person when I get home, sorry to much to share in one blog. John headed back to Dalat that evening and the four of us headed to the Rex, a hotel down the street where during the war the military gave their press briefings and Walter Cronkite reported from at times. The place was now a touristy rooftop bar with a band playing sixties favorites like Tom Jone's "Delilah." After the Rex we went to the backpacker district and hung out at a bar and talked to an Irishman who was traveling through Asia. We ended up bumping into this guy 4 more times in the next day in the half.
The next day we decided to rent motorbikes the next day and test our prowess on the congested streets of Saigon. Within the first half hour all three us had wiped out, mine was the smallest and happened on an empty street with no one else around. The other two each had more hair raising crashes but we all survived no worse for the wear. After one gets the hang of the traffic here everything sort of falls into place and you begin to move around just as the locals do. The four hours spent on the motorbikes were some of the most exciting and interesting four hours of my life. It really lets you experience life. We left Vietnam tired and beat but feeling better than we have in our past few months, it was a great trip. For those curious the quote at the beginning is from "Good Morning Vietnam"