Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Somewhere around the first of October....

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A bus ride into Communism
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We've stopped at the border now for almost an hour. The passports are stamped one time for exiting Cambodia, and now we're on line to get into Vietnam. Unfortunately, there's no express checkout. The local yells out my name, "EY-RAKE SHIRMAYN", yep that's me. Both Lisa and I pick up our passports from the window. We get our "Welcome to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" stamps, and hop back on the bus.

As many may know, Vietnam is a communist country, reunified by Ho Chi Minh in the mid-1970's. Ho has legendary heroic status, as he fended off the American Invasion and help bring peace to the country after 100-plus years of random millitary conflicts. But when you look closer at Vietnam, you see plenty of restaurants, plenty of hotels, and plenty of motor scooters from Japan. Education and medicine are taken care of by the government through hefty taxes, but after that the communism gets a bit harder to find.

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Some Good Advice
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We meet a local Australian gentleman on the bus ride into the capital of Ho Chi Minh city. He works in the tourist industry, and gives us some good advice about setting the pace when crossing the street. "Don't worry", he says, "You set the pace, and the motor scooters decide if they wish to go in front or behind you."

We check into a local hotel as we arrive in town feeling grateful of the advice. The first seven times we cross the street reminds me of the video game of "frogger". You begin to slowly cross the street and wait for the 95 scooters to pass, then continue crossing. If you're lucky, the local dump trucks and busses will have passed some time ago. If you're not, you get to stick out in the middle of the road watching vehicles of all shapes swerve around you at extremely close distances.

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Check Out, Check In
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We decide to leave the first hotel we stayed in Ho Chi Minh City due to Lisa's poignant observation of lack of windows and milldew walls. We decide to stay in the cheaper backpacker district at a budget accomodation. They provide cleaner sheets and semi-hot water at cheaper prices but lose about 10% of your laundary and blame you for it later.

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Breakfast of Champions
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9 AM, and we decide it's time for breakfast, and we've read that there's no better place to do breakfast than at a local Vietnamese market. A ten minute walk down the street puts us in the Tan Binh market. The smaller market in Ho Chi Minh city, but fantastic all the same. Ten different types of fishes are being dumped on tables, filleted and chopped right in front of you. Crab, tripe, mussels, trout, big fish, small fish, it doesn't matter. If there's a fish you want, there's a stall for it and it's most likely bloody at the moment.

We sit down at a particular stall on the plastic 15 inch benches. They're serving shrimp crepes and fried spring rolls this morning. The older lady will cook it right in front of you in her cast iron pot right over the wooden coals. Washed down with a sprite, the grand total comes to $1.50 for the both of us. And all that being said, the best meal we've eaten so far on the trip.

We pay the bill and walk around the rest of the market. We reach the wool and cotton fabric stalls in the next room over. There are two ladies who try to persuade us in broken english to buy a pair of pants. Not a pair that's hanging on the wall, but a pair they will tailor for you while you wait. All for the hefty total price of $5.

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War from a different perspective
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Just as the American Civil War was called different names such as 'The War Between the States' and 'The War of Northern Aggression', the Vietnam War in the mid-70's goes by a different name - the American War. In retrospect, it would be silly for Vietnamese to call the war the Vietnam War, since it would be like going to war against themselves. Well, that's partially true, but I digress. Here are some quick random history things I learned or relearned.

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BEGIN RANDOM AMERICAN-VIETNAM WAR TIMELINE, SKIP IF UNINTERESTED
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1850s ish: after a slew of dynasties and stands against various empires from Cambodia and Mongolia, the French take over Vietnam and annex it as a colony. They would be around the block for almost 100 years.

1940: France falls to Nazi Germany during World War II. The Japanese take over Vietnam.

1945: Ho Chi Minh gets excited and forms the National Liberation Committee of Vietnam and the Viet Minh party. Calls for a general uprising against the French. Tried to get some support money from President Truman and the US, but was denied.

1946: Power Struggle as French try to retain control of Vietnam. Fighting breaks out in Hanoi. The Franco-Viet Minh War Begins.

1954: To much Ho Chi as French begin losting control. Surrender on May 7 at the Geneva Conference. Vietnam gets split into North (Ho Chi Minh's communist) Vietnam, and South (Ngo Diem's Catholic) vietnam..

1959: The Ho Chi Minh trail gets expanded further south as Ho Chi Minh's army of the Viet Cong is formed. Over the next 5 years, the Viet Cong gets stronger and threatens the stability of the south.

1964: The US gets on another anticommunism war Kick as President Johnson implements the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which begins the course for the American-Vietnam war. The first troops reach Danang, central viet nam march of 65.

1968: After 3 years of fighting. The VietCong initialize the Tet Offensive, bombarding over 100 cities across VietNam and surprising the US and South Vietnamese armies. The US responds in kind, killing ten times the amount of Viet Cong troops. Gruesome Images of the US killings taken by local reporters get sent back to the US and public opinion heavily sways against the war.

1973: The US pulls its last forces out of Vietnam. Three million Vietnamese have been killed as well as 60,000 US soldiers.
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END RANDOM AMERICAN-VIETNAM WAR TIMELINE
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Most of the above information comes from books or from the War Remnants Museum we visited today. Besides the history, the museum provides gruesome pictures of the war. From a Vietnamese mother crossing the river with the kids to pictures of Vietnamese villagers at American gunpoint, the museum brings up the worst of the war.

And then there's Agent Orange, the US herbicidal weapon of choice. The millitary had been so frustrated about its ineffectiveness battling the VietCong that they sprayed 2 million acres of forest like it was the roach motel. The result has been amputated ligaments, birth defects, and other unpleasant symptoms.

There's much more to describe, but I think I'll stop here. The most fascinating thing about it all is how well people are doing in this country only thirty years after we left. Now the most conflict I see on the streets are the street vendors trying to sell me counterfeit sunglasses.

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Cu Chi Tunnel Vision
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We take in a day at the Cu Chi tunnels, an expansive network of underground passageways dug out by the Viet Cong in the early 50's, originally to battle the french. It turns out to be quite handy for the Americans, as the 3 foot wide, 4 foot tall passageways are only fit for the Petit Vietnamese variety.

The tunnel tour goes on for a half day, and is mostly interesting. Our tour guide unfortunately is a bit meniacal, as he keeps repeating information, demands that his father worked as a US ambassador, recites random books to read and movies to watch, and tells us that his new wife is quite ugly but cooks well. To add to the fanfare, our guide shows us the neighboring shooting range the tourists can partake in after the tunnel tour.

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Onward and Upward
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I think that's enough Ho Chi Minh City for you. There's still a discrepancy as to calling it Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City. Saigon just sounds more exotic to me, but I'll leave it for the locals to decide. We now go up the 1500 km coast for some small town beach life, our destination being the Northern Vietnamese enclave of Hanoi.

As web access is only one sweaty internet cafe away, I'll do my best to let you know how things are going. So until then, keep travelling, wherever you are.

Travelling Sherman