A woman I met travelling described visiting Vietnam as a trip rather than a vacation. It’s a perfect line.
The culture, the sights, the history are a fascinating experience. While I’m happy to share itinerary details
hotels, restaurants, etc. this post is meant to be more of some general/random thoughts than a travel guide.
The Rashomon effect refers to telling an event with contradictory interpretations, descriptions, and perspectives. It’s a common technique from the 1950 film to last month’s Fleishman is in Trouble.
Traveling through Vietnam from North to South with local guides is like living this in real time.
In the North the ‘American War’ ended with the unification of the country and the ability of the
Vietnamese people to move freely from North to South as they desired. In the central part of the country
and the South you hear stories of innocent farmers being shot, reeducation camps, and 1000s fleeing
on small boats to escape the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army. There are open elections but only
one party. It’s a country where Communism is held up as an ideal form of government but where the
streets are full of mansions and luxury European cars and neither college nor health care are free.
It’s also fascinating to see how a country presents its history. We toured the Hanoi Hilton, the prison
camp where John McCain and other American Pows were held. The first part illustrates the horrible
conditions and tortures used by the French under the colonial period. The 2nd part is comprised of photos
of the American POWs playing volleyball, eating delicious meals, reading mail from home and generally smiling and laughing. Obviously, we know that POWS were subjected to torture and solitary confinement from reports by McCain and others. But even without knowing that it is blatantly obvious that a country
in the middle of a civil war being bombed daily by American planes wouldn’t be able to provide hearty
meals and daily mail service to their own citizens much less prisoners.
In Saigon, we saw the Chi Chi tunnels where 1000s Viet Cong lived underground to fight and the War Remnants Museum where one room contains the photos from the international photojournalists who
covered the War. While both the black and white propaganda film filmed in 1967 at the tunnels and the museums aim was anti American propaganda no twisting was required to show both how devastating a
civil war is on a country itself and how horrendous an experience it must have been for the young
soldiers of both sides.
It has long been said that history is written by the victors, though in some cases the losers write their own version. So, before one gets righteously offended by the Vietnamese presentation, let me add that I have
toured Southern plantations where the antebellum costumed guide referred to the ‘servants’ who helped
at dinner. She was not pleased when my husband called out, ‘weren’t they slaves, not servants?
A few other thoughts….
No one can exaggerate the experience of traffic in Hanoi and Saigon. Both cities have approximately
8 million people and over 6 million motor scooters. There are no traffic lights so everyone drives all at
once weaving around each other and the pedestrians while constantly honking their horns. In many cases
the sidewalks are covered by tables so one is forced to walk in the street while they whiz by you. If the sidewalk is open the motorbikes will often cut onto the sidewalk. Crossing the street requires a mix of faith, bravery and insanity. I love cities but after a few days in both places the constant noise and terror wore me down and I was happy to decamp to smaller, quieter areas.
Cambodia…
Siem Reap is definitely the highlight of the trip. Even seeing pictures can’t prepare you for how out of the world it is visually. It’s common to describe some countries as first world and others as third world but that seems to depend on your place in time. In the 8th – 11th century the kings of this region build the most astonishing and complex temples filled with ornate and beautiful carvings and surrounded by large moats some over 800 feet wide. They had roads and hospitals.
Flash to present day where we learned that many parts of Cambodia, including the village where our tour guide grew up, only got electricity 8 years ago. Before that each house had a car battery which they
charged at the one neighbor’s house who owned the village generator. Even today schooling is not
mandatory and while the public schools are free each family must pay for books, uniforms, and
transportation making it out of reach for many poor farmers. School is run in two sessions, morning and afternoon, often with over 50 kids in one classroom.
We found the people of Cambodia to be exceptionally warm and welcoming from the fancy restaurants
to the very small villages. It was a wonderful place.
Weddings…
Just had to put in some information about Cambodian weddings, much of which applies to Vietnam as well. First of all a ‘normal’ size wedding can be 1000 people. Sometimes it's all at once, sometimes they do
2 with 500 people at each. The weddings can last 2 days they last 2 days with hair and makeup starting at
4 in the morning. At the same time, they start playing the music over the loudspeakers. The bride changes dresses 10 times (all rented).
Everyone who comes drops an envelope of money in a box. They then use that money to pay the restaurant. Only if something is left over does it go to bride and groom.
They couldn’t believe that in the States the parents pay for everything and the kids keep the money! The several (young) people we told that to loved the idea. It is possible we have infected both cultures. I feel
like I violated the Prime Directive. (Star Trek reference)
One thing is universal; they keep a notebook of how much money each person gave so they can give the
same amount for their wedding.
They do not live together or even date before marriage. Our tour guide (who is 36) picked her husband, they had met at school, but 2 of her friends have arranged marriages as about 30% of people still do.
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