- First of all: why Saigon? Why not Ho Chi Minh City, the name given to the city in 1976? Wouldn't that be more accurate you ask? Sure, I agree. In the political sense of things, absolutely. But think about it for a moment, will you? Let the word linger on your tongue - Saigon. Let it reverberate on your lips - Saigon. Allow your ears to hear the exotic beauty of its sound - Saigon. Let your imagination whisk you away to a time of adventure and romance in far away lands only read about in scintillating stories of heroism, pirates and culturally insensitive stereotypes set in the Far East - Saigon. Now tell me, where would you rather go?
Photographs from the Reunification Palace
- Sadly, Saigon is neither exotic, particularly beautiful, nor romantic. There is definitely a lack of adventure, culturally insensitive stereotypes and pirates (unless you count the taxi drivers who will go out of their way to squeeze every last dollar out of your wallet despite the thin veneer of legitimacy they attempt to cloak themselves in). In this sense, Ho Chi Minh City as a current nom-de-plume for the city is slightly more accurate, not that I'm making a sleight at the man, and I'm sure that for many Vietnamese the city's namesake is an inspiring one. It just lacks a certain flair that the name 'Saigon' just has. But back to the point: Saigon as a city comes across as purely utilitarian. People live there, work there, eat there, sleep there, well, you get the picture. What I want to see is something more. A little bang for my buck (I should be careful with expressions like that when talking about Saigon). What I mean is that I prefer to see and experience something that is unique, that provides me with a sense of culture and history that sets a city in a foreign country apart from the rest of the world. I suppose that's the problem inherent in visiting solely cities (as is the case with this trip); it offers one a very limited window into the very essence of culture, which as an outsider, is difficult to do to begin with.
Views from above
- Saigon isn't without it's charms, however. Consider the fact that more than half the population of 10 million owns a motorbike or scooter. Consider also that very few traffic lights actually function to direct the flow of traffic. Consider further the fact that there are no crosswalks for pedestrians to traverse from one side of the street to the other. Ultimately, consider what it must be like to blindly place the fate of your very survival in the hands of speeding motorists as you beeline through traffic at a brisk pace without wavering or hesitating or looking around you to ensure that the next step you take won't result in your body being rendered to a bloody pulp by an armada of 49cc two-wheeled chariots. Luckily, the Vietnamese are some of the kindest and apparently most coordinated people you'll meet.
The ideal form of transportation (photo courtesy of L.L.)
-The Cu Chi Tunnels are located a few hours outside of Saigon and have been converted into an outdoor museum for tourists to see and experience what life was like for the Viet Cong during the American War. Determined to survive and succeed in their objective of freeing Vietnam from foreign occupation, the Viet Cong established an elaborate maze of tunnels and living quarters deep inside the earth in order to establish a base of command close to South Vietnam's capital. The lengths these people went in order to earn their independence and the sacrifices they made in order to survive commands respect. I lasted about 100 meters underground before having to climb out of the escape hatch, while Laura and Dave aborted at the 50 meter mark; and these were tunnels that had been rebuilt for the size and girth of your standard Westerner. I can't imagine what it must really have been for the Vietnamese who actually called these tunnels home. In retrospect, the Americans had no chance against a people willing to live in perpetual subterranean darkness on a staple of rat and rice while the good ol' boys of the USA had their keggers and beach parties during R&R.
Cu Chi Tunnel Museum (Photo of tunnel courtesy of L.L.)
-The tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels was capped off with an excellent artifact in the art of propaganda: a Vietnamese documentary from 1968 that depicted the lives of those living and operating from the Cu Chi Tunnels. The film opens with a montage of idyllic pastoral scenes, each celebrating the simple and wholesome life of the common peasant, complete with the bounty that nature provides in the form of live-giving rivers and streams, flowers, fruit and livestock. It was a veritable land of rainbows and leprechauns, of gum-drop trees and candy cane lanes and cute little bunnies who wear bow-ties and sing cheerful yet asinine show tunes. That is until those maniacal, savage, bloodthirsty demon-spawn from America visited holy terror unto this peaceful land, wreaking carnage and devastation in their wake and forcing even the lowliest of innocent peasant girl to take up arms and rid the world of this insidious force of evil. The documentary focuses on a number of villagers cum freedom fighters and the ingenuity they employ in killing as many Americans as possible (to which they were awarded a medal for each). As the film reached its patriotic crescendo I felt a tear forming in my eye and was ready to jump up and immediately volunteer my services, limited as they are, to the cause. Sadly, they weren't recruiting.
-Sometimes it's just easier to cheat when you're traveling and to simply sign up for an organized tour. This is an example of an idea looking better on paper than it does in execution. Like Communism, for instance. Or a new Guns 'n Roses album. Preferring rather to do things on my own while traveling, I was ill prepared for the excruciatingly slow pace of being shuttled from one place of local industry to the next like a group of over-fed Texans being herded along to the front counter of a McDonald's restaurant (has anyone else noticed that those rails bear an uncanny resemblance to cattle pens?). This did provide Laura with an opportunity to scour around for things that she's always wanted but could never find (although I can't totally complain - we did walk away with an 8x10 lacquered print of "Le Lotus Bleu" featuring Tintin dressed in culturally insensitive stereotypical Manchu garb - hey, I got to experience this after all! God bless Herge and his antiquated colonial values!). We also visited a coconut candy making "factory" that produced what could easily have been the most delectable creations that the hands of man have ever had a part in creating.
Exploring the canals of the Mekong Delta (Photos of "Peasant Dave" and the coconut candy factory courtesy of L.L.)
Next: Notes on Phnom Penh
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