A journey to Vietnam
Having just returned this week from a ten day tour of Vietnam with my family, stepmom, Betty, brother and sister in law, Tom and Diana, and my girlfriend, Chris I would like to share a bit of the experience in writing and photos.
Just the word, Vietnam, has alot of charge to those of my generation. It was a point of conflict, the east and the west, communism and capitalism, peacenicks and the establishment. It was a time when much of the United States was devided, old and young, families and friends, the draft and the dodgers, enlistees and defermets. For me it was a war that I never could understand, as many felt then and maybe more feel now. I listened to the dominoe theory, and really didn't want the world to be under the control of "communism". I was lead to believe therefore that a small Southeast Asian country the size of California was a threat to our country, our way of living, and that I owed it to my country to serve. We were left with little comparison, Hilter and Japan taking over the world forty years earlier. Our fathers and mothers sacrificed then, now it was our time. Many from our generation did make that sacrifice and served, including my older brother, Tom. He flew assault helicopters from 1969 to 1970. I stayed in college, marched in the peace parade in San Francisco's Golden Gate park, meditated to the tune of a mantra provided by the Transcendental Meditation Society (The Maharishi). Tom risked an article 15 by constructing a large peace symbol out of stones at the end of the airfield at Dong Tam at the same time I marched in San Francisco with 750,000 other people. We both wore black arm bands that day hoping for peace, half a world apart. Strangely enough, two brothers in very different situations shared many of the same opinions about the war in Vietnam. I supported him and other friends who were there at the same time, while trying to understand what it was all about.
Flash forward forty years, history rolls along, dominoes didn't fall anywhere, and where has the world ended up? Vietnam is still "reunited", north and south as a socialist republic with capitalist tendancies. The United States is a capitalistic democracy with socialist tendancies. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is gone, replaced with Russia and surrounding independent states. The "iron curtain" is down replaced with a flow of capitalistic trade and tourism that has raised the standard of living and freedom of choice in Berlin. The question still plagues me, what was the "net" effect of it all?
Vietnam is now a thriving economy, full of vitality and energy that we all found astounding. The population has doubled since the "American" war, there. They refer to it as such, they have had enough incursions in their history to include the "French" war, the Chinese invasions, the Japanese....ad infinitum. Construction is going on everywhere one looks, trade is booming. Tourism is becoming a large industry in their country, and Americans are received without the animosity that one might expect after our last "tour" in their country. Our tour group was nearly all Americans. I think that most found their experiences to be very thought provoking. The Vietnamese are very gentle people, very religious and deeply engrained in tradition. There are some distinctly different ways of dealing with each other. They do not appear to even approach anything similar to "road rage", quite the opposite, they flow like schools of fish on mopeds in and out of lanes, with and against traffic, around each other, busses and cars with just horns honking to inform others they are heading one way or another. They don't make driving a personal matter. Refer to the pictures below...note: there are over 40 million mopeds in Vietnam!
The moped turning directly in front of the minivan is a common sight
Our bus is turning left in front of this sea of mopeds, without hesitation, the mopeds flow ahead or behind and continue on....
Check out the helmet of the guy in the lower right hand side of our bus windshield, being 6 inches in front is no "big" deal to them.
Crossing the street as a pedestrian with a "western" mind was nearly impossible. One had to adopt a "faith based" attitude stepping in front of an oncoming flow of continous traffic, the caveat is not to hesitate or change your pace, flow like they do and you survive. After a few days it became easier, I don't think we "lost" anyone to traffic accidents while on the tour.
Vietnam is steeped in family traditions. Some habits are changing, marriages are no longer arranged, however must be "approved" by both sets of parents. The eldest male usually stays at home and lives with his wife. The second or third males move in with their wives families. It is not uncommon to have three or four generations under the same roof. After marrying, the woman takes complete control of family finances, only giving out some allowance to the husband for tea or coffee. Life is very different here.
We visited pagodas, temples, marketplaces, shrines, palaces and a variety of museums in those ten days. There are several major religions, Mahayana Buddhism, Cunfucianism, Catholicism and an intersting blend called Daoism or tam giao. The last worships a variety of dieties, including Joan of Arc, Sun Yat Sen, and oddly enough, Victor Hugo. Religion, whichever brand is very important to most all Vietnamese and is fundamental in their culture.
We visited the Cu Chi tunnels, used during the sixty's and seventy's to hide from the US soldiers. A very elaborate way of defense that enabled many Viet Cong and NVA to travel without detection from Cambodia to the Saigon River.
The tunnels were quite small, hot and certainly not a place that someone my size would want to spend much time in, especially hunting other people.
Many booby traps that reeked havoc on US soldiers were on display, including the pungy stick traps and others that could cause excruciating pain upon discovery. It was sobering to see.
Aside from a few leftover craters from B 52 bombings it was difficult to tell that there had been a war raging there for so many years. Most of Vietnam was tranquil rice paddies with water buffalo, fishermen in rivers, streams and the coast. The cities are a whole different life, as anywhere, the hustle and bustle of mopeds, street vendors and people coming and going at all times of the day and night. The natural beauty of Vietnam is captivating, especially in the north. I enjoyed the Ha Long Bay area the most for its natural beauty.
We took a full day tour aboard one of the many "junks" that are used to carry folks out to the limestone islands offshore, there are supposedly over one thousand of them. The islands have been listed as a world heritage site recently. The rustic vessels are made of heavy timbers, single engine diesels, rigged with sails that are mostly used for esthetics.
Their main salons and cabin berths are lavish hardwoods, varnished and unlike anything on the exterior.
Overnight accomodations are also quite nice, although we didn't stay the night. Word was that one could rent one of these vessels, with crew, food and fuel for around $100 per night...that would be fun with eight friends and kayaks!
Amazing limestone rock spires rise out of the ocean in spectacular formations.
One such formation appeared to me to be a sailing vessel frozen in stone
We stopped at one of the islands to hike into a large cave formation, one of many that are in the island chain. It was full of stalagtites and stalagmites all formed from years of water penetrating the rock and leaving the deposits in beautiful arrays.
After our spelunking into the limestone caves we returned to our vessel, a nearby fisherwoman had brought the catch of the day to our crew, who prepared a fabulous 7 course seafood lunch of fish, crab, octopus, and shrimp, Vietnamese style....We ate like royalty...
Notice her large octopus she is transferring to a different basket
To be continued....standby for other hightlights........
A peduncle arch as a humpback prepares to sound
The underside revealing the unique "fingerprint" of the individual whale. These are catalogued and are essential in tracking the individuals and their annual migrations to and from Hawaii and Alaska.
I felt like an ocean steward and homewrecker all at once, life's choices. I am sure they found one of the branches nearby and are still huddled underneath drifting thousands of more miles in the Pacific.
