Reflections on Vietnam

Just as I needed to meet my family in Cambodia to feel related to them, I needed to come to Vietnam to understand its part in my heritage. Ma’s mom was born in Chinatown in Saigon. She was adopted at the age of six by a Chinese family living in Cambodia. Up until the age of six, she only spoke Vietnamese and Chinese. After arriving to Cambodia, she dropped the Vietnamese exchanging it for Cambodian instead. A Vietnamese neighbourhood has sprung up in Santa Ana, California. When grandma shops there now, some of her Vietnamese comes back to her. It’s like Vietnam never really left her. It was just asked to be forgotten, but she still remembers her birthplace. And now we do too.

While grandma was born in Saigon, she is only 50% of Vietnamese descent; her mother was Vietnamese while her father was Chinese. Since grandma married grandpa whose ancestors were all Chinese, ma is 25% Vietnamese. Since ma married pa whose parents were born in China, Van and I are 12.5% Vietnamese.

That said, according to locals, ma looks one hundred percent Vietnamese. The locals enjoy conversing with ma (or attempting to anyway). When they hear me call her “mommy”, they call her “mom”. “Mom, it only cost 4 dollar US, that very good price.” Exhausted by the negotiation process, ma has actually become quite good at demanding prices. “Four dollar too expensive; two dollar I take it.” For the first time, I actually feel like a part of me comes from here…

Mar. 19 – Saigon, Last night

We arrive at 3pm, zip to a custom tailor in Saigon, get a couple business skirts I had ordered there (before we left for Hue / Hoi An), then eat at our favourite $7 dollar dinner place: the street vendor outside Ben Thanh Market. We tried expensive food; we tried cheap food. The cheaper stuff was better! Of course, there may be a correlation with street food and how much I’ve gotten sick on this trip… I pick up a cold just before leaving. It is now time to go.

Mar. 18 – Hue to Hoi An, Culture of shopping?

This morning, we drive three hours from Hue to Hoi An. Hoi An is a small, walkable town, with 80,000 inhabitants and who knows how many tourists, but there are a lot of us. Ma and I had been slated to do a cultural walk around town. Hoi An is the only surviving town from the country’s middle ages. This town, however, is also famous for its custom tailoring. You can get clothes, purses, shoes, rugs, seemingly whatever you want suited to your preferences for at least half the cost of what we would pay back home. Since we are here for only 24 hours, we ask our guide to make “Yaly” our first stop. Many back home recommended this place for custom tailoring. It is the biggest sop, with three stores in the small town. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, we are at this store for what seems like almost the entire 24 hours, with only a sprint through town to visit heritage sites and eat. We have to do many fittings before the clothes come out close to what we had imagined / hoped. With time constraints, we accept the third attempt to alter / perfect the clothing, then jump on a plane to head back to Saigon.

Mar. 17 – Saigon to Hue, The Kings and the French

Today we take a 45 min. flight to Hue, located in the middle of Vietnam, on the east side, near the Pacific Ocean. In this town, we visit the historically restricted royal grounds: the royal palace, royal tombs, etc. We also visit the temples where monks live, learn, and exercise their spirituality.

The royal palace looks like a miniature version of the Forbidden City in Beijing. It is engaging to walk down the hall showcasing the former kings and have our tour guide share with us the stories of each king’s ascent to the throne then fall to his death. Some of the kings were murdered by the “next in line”. If I recall correctly, one lasted less than a week, another four months, another right months, etc. There is one pic that looks to me like he is a she. I ask, “Is that a picture of the queen?” The guide replies, “No, but he has been known to be referred to as Madame”.

The royal tombs are just as grand as the palace. By one of the tombs, we see that half the tiles are one shade and the other half another shade. According to our guide, the French had tried to dig up the corpse for jewelry, but found nothing, not even the King. The King had himself buried at a secret location. Two hundred men carried his tomb underground. All of them were buried alive with the King to keep the location secret. Of course, who buried them alive is still a question.

Following our palatial tour, we climb aboard a boat and head to our restored colonial French hotel. The French did contribute some great architecture.

Mar. 16 - Ho Chi Minh City, The Mekong

The Mekong River which snakes through, China, Thailand, Laos (?), Cambodia, and Vietnam, is important to the development and economy of these regions. Many of the inhabitants in these countries rely on the Mekong for various reasons, from transportation to housing (i.e. floating communities) to bathing to fishing to trading and selling, etc. We take a boat ride on the Mekong to visit a couple islands.

On one of the islands, we stop by to pose with a giant boa constructor; that is, I attempt to hold the heavy snake while shrieking for ma to take the pic quickly so I can give back the snake to its owner. The owner asks if I would like to hold a screen from his bee hive. Remembering how much it hurt when I got bit by a bee, I quickly respond “no thanks”. Ma shudders, and moves onto enjoy honey tea. Afterwards, we walk through the tropical vegetation, seeing pineapple sprouts, logan trees, dragon fruit vines. Our tour includes a stop to enjoy the exotic fruits. We then canoe down a very narrow, winding river, with water coconut branches on either side arching way up over us. In our pics, it looks like this is a quiet, fairly isolated journey, but in actual fact there are tourists canoe to canoe in a long line here. Nevertheless, we enjoy the ride.

Next, we head to a very small outdoor coconut candy factory. Upon sampling the delicious treat, ma and I play the good tourist and buy a bag, but only one, politely refusing the “buy 4 get one free, make good gift for friends and family” offers. The day trip out to the Mekong is far; we hit rush hour traffic on the way home. We spend the rest of the day in this traffic. I shouldn’t have drank so much water…

Mar. 14 & 15 - Ho Chi Minh City, Warfare

Among Vietnam’s greatest tourist attractions are its war remnants. According to our guide, Vietnam fought approximately 1000 years against “imperialist” China, 100 years against the “colonist” French, and then 20 years in a civil war (which to North Vietnamese felt more like a war against the U.S.).

We hit the war museum, where we learn about Agent Orange – a toxic chemical used by the American’s during the Vietnam War that took place officially from 1965 to 1973. In two jars, we see preserved still birth babies who have been affected by Agent Orange. One jar has a baby with a head as large as his / her body while the other jar has two babies who look like aliens with skulls attached. This museum, although clearly from one point of view, is sad and informative. Next, we hit the history museum. This museum would not have been as enriching without our guide. She had these great stories, which had been told to her again and again during childhood then reaffirmed in school. In one picture, we see a Vietnamese fleet battle against a Mongolian one that looks ten times larger. Our guide asks, “How did we beat the Mongols?” Ma and I look at the picture again; sharpened bamboo in the water is tearing apart Mongol ships. “We lured the Mongols into this trap which dramatically reduced the size of their army and ensured our victory”, says our guide. Sadly, one need not even go into these museums to see the remnants of war. En route to dinner, we see some beggars with severed limbs others looking as though their skin had peeled off. The museums are helpful though, as they attempt to explain what happened.

The next day, we crawl through the Cu Chi tunnels—one of the most impressive war strategies. In the village of Cu Chi, the inhabitants banded together, took their lives underground, then created death traps (e.g. clipping arm pit trap, see-saw trap, roll-over trap, etc.) all over the grounds above. The tunnels they created to get down and move around the underground were so small that only the very short and slim Vietnamese could slide through them. (See pic, I am barely able to squeeze in and out of them!) At the Cu Chi tunnels, I also try shooting. The first gun I pick is a machine gun, because it is the biggest, but I am told it is too heavy for me to carry. Relenting, I pick up the AK47. Not knowing to put the butt of the gun tight against my shoulder, I fire, only to have the butt ricochet just below my collar bone and bruise me. I am pathetic! Give me a gun, and I will hurt myself even without aiming at myself. I am no better as a farmer. Next, I try to separate rice skins from harvested grains. I use my whole body to turn the lever, but our guide says to me, “You too slow. You would be a poor farmer.” Thank goodness I opted for a different occupation.

Mar. 13 - Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City, Differences & Similarities

We travel from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City. We exchange $100 US and get back over 1,500,000 Dong. We have never held a million of any currency! We take our wad of bills and head to our hotel. On the way, we see that cars in Vietnam drive in one direction on lanes. (In Cambodia, the rule was drive anyway you want just don’t hit anyone. It was surreal in Cambodia to drive into oncoming traffic only to see it part, in the nick of time, like Moses and the red sea, for us to drive through it). Ironically, we see more accidents in Vietnam than in Cambodia. In both countries, however, it is hair-raising to cross the street. You can tell who the foreigners are, because we’re the ones with panic-stricken faces, linking arms, laboriously trying to get across. We let out a sigh of relief as we pat ourselves alive on the other side. Then, we brace ourselves for the next street, (deep breathe in…) Thank goodness garbage is thrown in bins in Vietnam! (In Cambodia the bin was the ground—outdoors and indoors, except in homes. Ma and I refused to throw stuff down. In fact, at Uncle Meng’s wedding, ma went around picking up garbage worried people on the dance floor would slip on it. “Ewe ma”, I said, “stop”. She continued). While other differences exist between the two countries, sadly corruption exists in both. In Vietnam and Cambodia, we were asked for tips by official immigration officers. Enjoying SE Asia today requires relaxing your ethical standards, expecting poor environmental practices, and learning to navigate traffic. I can’t say I am good at any of these.