Vietnam...The Country and the War.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

My friend Teris and I stood on the deck chatting until the pilot came on board to check passports at 4:00 a.m. It was at this point that I truly processed the reality of my sailing across waters that thousands upon thousands of American soldiers crossed-never to return. I will admit that I have not had to experience the immediate effects of the Vietnam War, due to the fact that my father was too young to be drafted. However, after listening to stories of lost friends, relatives, and guilt from my professors and mentor, I entered the old city of Saigon with a combination of reverence and intrigue. I ask, “Is there a better place to see the controversies of American warfare? How did the Vietnamese really feel about the war?” Many liken the Vietnam War to the war in Iraq. I cannot directly speak to the connection since I’m barely 21 (16 more days!). Strange as it sounds, I, too went to Vietnam. I experienced the people, culture, and residuals of a war-ravaged country. Today, I see Vietnam through the eyes of the Millenial generation. Here’s my perspective.

Day 1 The Tailoring Fiasco, Pepto Bismol, and other wild adventures

My first day in Vietnam began with a diplomatic briefing from a representative of the U.S. Consulate. After warnings regarding pickpocketing, the perils of motorbikes, crossing the street, and Communist law enforcement, I was prepared to venture out on my own…sort of! My first mission was to find a tailor to create my ideal “power suit”. Most alum rave about the inexpensive yet beautiful fabric and the skill of the tailors in Vietnam so I set out to create a masterpiece of my own. It was a fiasco! The first problem was finding a reputable tailor that actually had reasonable prices. Our shuttle bus dropped us off in one of the most touristy parts of the city, so the businesses were accustomed to foreigners and adjusted their prices accordingly. Next, we ventured to Ben Thanh market in search of better deals.

Now, I must say a word about the journey to the market. The streets of Ho Chi Minh City are FILLED with children, women, and older people selling everything from postcards to Doublemint gum and motor bike rides. They don’t take no for an answer and will literally follow you around the city, begging for your dollar. Also, many of the street sellers, shoe shiners, and beggars work in packs, so if you stand in one spot too long (looking lost) you will be surrounded by 10-20 people (and a few of them may try to pick your pocket). In addition to constant haggling, we also had to focus on the ART of crossing the street. Traffic laws don’t exist in Ho Chi Minh city, and thousands of cars, motorbikes, cyclos, and pedestrians all vie for space on the narrow streets…SIMULTANEOUSLY. What did we do in such a dangerous situation (in a country that experiences 1,000 traffic accidents a day)?!? We walked boldly and at a steady pace-into the sea of traffic. I tried to make contact with as many motorists as possible so that they would acknowledge my presence and my pace in order to maneuver around me. Crossing the street was a bit scary, especially at rush hour and on circular streets, but I walked, with a stern look and an inner prayer of “Please don’t let them hit me!” I’ve only had two close calls all week. LOL.

Ben Thanh Market is a GIGANTIC warehouse filled with vendors selling everything from “Fendi” spy bags to “Phony Sony” and a hot meal. I’m still a bit “marketed out” from Hong Kong, so I went straight to the nearest fabric stand to select fabric for my suit. I picked a key lime and caramel colored tweed material, and purchased 3 meters. The saleswoman told me the tailoring AND the fabric would cost me $40 USD total. Why did the tailor try to charge me $65? I was hot, exhausted, and I had a pounding headache from my malaria medicine, so I only talked her down to $55. Between communication barriers and a few “ugly, demanding American” travel companions, I was EXTREMELY cranky and ready to end the tailoring experience! I described my suit to the measurer with pictures. Hopefully she understood that I want a stand-up collar, one button jacket with double vents in the back to match my fitted pencil skirt with a tiny split (just enough for walking.) We’ll see how this turns out. Many of my friends got 5 suits and evening wear. I just didn’t want to pay for potential dissatisfaction, but I may buy a few meters of silk for future pageant suits/ cocktail dresses. After all ten of us finished at the tailor we tried to come to a consensus on lunch plans. ¼ of our group wanted to eat at the street vendors and another1/4 wanted to play it safe with a nice hotel lunch. I came prepared with my cherry Pepto Bismol, but there was NO way I would eat at a street vendor. Granted, I was hungry, but I hate feeling sick and I hate to think about how my immune system would handle a Vietnamese virus! We settled on a clean, busy restaurant called Pho 24. Pho is a famous Vietnamese staple dish that includes noodles, vegetables, and selected meats. I ate Pho with chicken and shrimp spring rolls. Unfortunate for me, the chicken tasted like rubber and the spring rolls were similarly dissatisfying so my friends finished my food. In fact, they have finished every meal that I’ve eaten out in Vietnam. I didn’t realize how particular I am about what I eat, until I came on this trip. (My best friend Becca would have to pack a whole extra suitcase for food or she’d never make it!) Some people look down on my hesitancy as a fear of new things. Some of those same individuals beg me for Pepto Bismol or have been quarantined on the ship for days IN PORT because of foodborne illness. I am quite content with my balance of food adventure and caution. ( I am not content with the fact that the safety officer confiscated my ONLY bottle of Pepto Bismol because it was a liquid in an opened container. You’d think I was trying to get on US Airlines, but so many SAS students have “creatively” attempted to smuggle alcohol onto the ship and now everyone is paying the price-and I don’t even drink.)

After lunch, I went to the Rex hotel and read a fashion magazine while my traveling companions drank and drank…and drank. Then we went back to the ship to get snazzy for dinner. We ate at this AMAZING jazz club (in Vietnam!), and for the first time, I enjoyed a delicious meal of fried rice with vegetables, ham, and shrimp. After we finished eating (and my companions finished another round of drinks) we went dancing at Apocalypse Now. The club was a bit grungy, but they welcomed SAS students and our money with open arms. I danced the night away and spent nearly $12 USD on TINY bottles of Evian. My friends’ drinks were cheaper than my water! Are you sensing somewhat of a theme here? I love dancing and being social, but I am baffled and a bit disgusted by the way lots of students get filthy drunk and their subsequent behavior. Some of the guys in our group had at least 15 drinks over the course of our entire trip. I am also convinced that this is NOT just an SAS problem. Many students who come on SAS are already decidedly alcoholics. They’ve just made the choice to Party, Party, Party all around the world. I can’t speak for any one else, but I’m just thankful that I will be able to recount this experience in 20 years without the blemishes of alcohol poisoned black outs, embarrassing hook-ups, and contempt from my peers, faculty, and the locals.

Day 2 Change of Plans…from Service to Sightseeing and Massages.

So, I know this isn’t rocket science, but dancing the night away can lead to a very, VERY rocky morning. I stumbled out of bed exhausted, sore, and worst of all-late... So late that I missed my highly anticipated service visit to the Hy Vong Deaf School and Zoo. I was disgusted with myself, but I couldn’t sleep the day away, so Zach and I decided to sightsee independently. After some planning at a local tourist agency, we walked to the Reunification Palace that was built during the Vietnam War. We visited the President’s chambers and the basement war operations facilities. The palace was not very ornate and the history of the war was only briefly mentioned. But we had to remember that the palace was not created for OUR viewing pleasure. We were American tourists in Vietnam, and it would have been highly insensitive to expect our desires to be accommodated. After the palace we skipped the War Remnants Museum (in favor of Cu Chi tunnels on day 3) in search of the largest pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City. This was definitely more of a destination for Zach because, in case I haven’t mentioned this enough, I AM TEMPLED AND PAGODA’D OUT! Jihanne made a really great point today. She said, “It’s like tourist agencies taking foreigners, with different belief systems, to every church in America.” While I do appreciate the beauty and ceremonies I witness, At some point, enough is enough. Needless to say, we never made it to the pagoda, but Zach found another temple and we stopped. While inside we met a middle-aged man from San Jose, California who sold his property and has been traveling back and forth to Vietnam as a musician. He offered us incense, “peace flowers”, “wisdom”, and admiration of me as Zach’s traveling “friend”. Can we say…Crazy??!?! We left that conversation intrigued by the type of people we encounter on this voyage and prayerful for his speedy recovery. LOL. After the temple we found a clothing store where I bought 2 pair of “Miss Sixty” skinny jeans and a Victoria’s Secret Pink Tee. I though I was getting a great deal until I got home and realized that my designer Miss 60 jeans were actually KNOCK OFF “Miss 6L” jeans. LOL! They look great, but this just affirms the fact that Vietnam is notorious for knock offs! After a bit more misguided walking, we took a cab (thankfully!) to the Caravelle Hotel for massages. I was looking forward to the massage all day, especially since we didn’t get to travel to Dalat to ride elephants because it was a 6 hour bus ride! In addition to great knock offs, Vietnam is also known for excellent, cheap spa services. We paid $23 USD for 1-hour massages that included use of the Jacuzzi, sauna, and steam rooms. I neglected to mention the fact that it had been POURING rain all day and we got soaked, so I was not interested in additional exposure to water or heat for that matter. The massages were gender segregated, and mine was amazing. I’ve only had one other massage in the states, and this one definitely took the cake. After the spa, we returned to the ship and reunited with the group for dinner (I had Pho again, and he finished it-again. The beef kind was definitely better than my initial experience with the rubber chicken!). After dinner we went back to the jazz club and to the Rex hotel where they drank and we sang karaoke. It was a fun night, but I had only had about 4 hours of sleep in two days, so I returned to the ship with the girls while the boys drank…again.

Day 3- Cu Chi Tunnels

This was by far my most amazing and thought provoking day in Vietnam. We took a 1.5 hour bus ride to the village of Cu Chi to explore the intricate tunnel system that the locals built to outsmart and defeat U.S. soldiers in the war. Upon arriving at the bus station, I hoped to take a taxi, but there were no taxis available and we had no choice except to take the EXTREMELY dangerous motorbikes to the site. The drivers surrounded us and began haggling prices for what could have been our trip of doom. Literally, we had been warned about the dangers of crooked drivers who were known to take tourists into remote areas and hold them hostage for insane amounts of money. We knew about the thousands of accidents that happen every day. But what did we do? We boarded old, rusty motorbikes with people who spoke minimal English-in search of Cu Chi Tunnels. The trip was not complete without a torrential DOWNPOUR which blinded me, and caused our drivers to put on their only helmet. Things were not looking very good. A couple of times I told my driver to stop or slow down so I could see my traveling companions. Also, he told me he loved me. LOL. I’m not sure how God felt about my prayer at that moment, but I was truly calling on the name of Jesus to protect us because we were riding on the edge… literally. For what it’s worth, (nothing?) our ride was fun. We traveled for about 20 minutes at a speed of 18 mph, swerving around cattle, roosters, pedestrians, big trucks, and other motor bikes. I was speechlessly thankful to arrive at the tunnels. After purchasing a ticket (which I had to repurchase because I lost mine) we watched a video about the war from the Vietnamese perspective. The narrator talked about the crazed batch of devils (American soldiers) that invaded the beautiful, peaceful land of Cu Chi. He described young girls who fought as an act of revenge for their lost men and received the “American Killer Hero” Award. The narrator also talked about how the villagers recycled American weaponry, uniforms, and supplies for their own advantage. The actual tunnels took my breath away. Farmers, women and Viet Cong troops used a 1 foot axe and small basket to dig a three level tunnel system that included a hospital, meeting spaces, command posts, booby traps, kitchens, and sleeping quarters. The underground tunnels took more than 20 years to complete and some troops lived in them for 10-15 years. As I crawled through the damp, dark tunnels I wondered about the Vietnamese people whose lives were forever scarred. I wondered about the families of the American troops who fell victim to the tunnels. Some of my friends opted to shoot the M-16’s and other guns that were stationed at the driving range for tourists. That’s where I had to draw the line. I could crawl through the tunnels and step over old booby traps, but I could not put my hand to a gun that killed so many brothers, sons, uncles, and fathers.

Day 4 Mekong Delta

Instead of another indy day of travel with friends, I decided to visit the lush Mekong Delta with SAS; and I made the right decision. I slept beautifully in the recliner seats of our motorcoach for two hours as we traded the bustle of Ho Chi Minh City for the peaceful hum of the small fishing town. Our first stop…You guessed it, A PAGODA!!!! LOL. After the pagoda, we traveled to a waterside market and boarded a river boat to transit to another island. The river resembled the Tai O Fishing villages that I observed in Hong Kong, but the delta covered with vegetation such as coconut groves and bamboo. Our river boat ride led to a TINY rowboat ride through the canal waters. This aspect of the trip was very serene. Since a typhoon is on the horizon as I type, the weather was like a calm before the storm. I took some nice pictures as we navigated the canals but I had to be careful with my camera because we constantly bumped into other boats. Our ride ended at a tourist spot where we tasted fresh coconut candy, exotic fruits like dragon fruit and rambutin ( a hairy, spiky fruit that resembles a strawberry. Twisting the fruit’s skin in opposite directions reveals a clear, jello-ish meat with a seed. It tastes like a chewy sweet tart!!! Once I got past the looks, ants, and the texture, I enjoyed this fruit. It was second only to the King’s bananas which were mini-bananas with an intense tropical kick.) After the fruit tasting we rode another boat to the restaurant where elephant ear fish and gigantic shrimp were pulled out of the water and cooked WHOLE for our consumption. In addition to veggies, squid, rice, and noodles, we were served the seafood directly from the water. I did taste things and I really enjoyed the shrimp. I was a bit leery since the safety officer confiscated my Pepto Bismol, and my stomach was unprotected. (I ate a bite of dinner on the ship to make up the difference.) Around lunch time, I had an AMAZING experience. For the first time in my life, I held a boa constrictor…around my neck. As I held it’s neck with one hand for the camera I screamed, and screamed…and screamed. It was HILARIOUS. Oh well, When in Vietnam…Do as the CRAZY do? Lol. It was great. After lunch we rode another boat back to the bus and returned to the ship. Though we spent a lot of time on the water, my trip to the Mekong Delta was a much needed escape from the grind. Yes, even on Semester at Sea, I have a grind. LOL. This trip gave me the chance to sit back and admire the beauty and splendor of God’s creation, and for that, I am thankful.

After the trip we returned to the ship and made birthday cards for our friend Dionna. Birthdays on the ship are tough because although we have friends to share the moment with, our loved ones are so far away. I’m sure I’ll be shedding more than a few tears in a few weeks when I turn 21 in the middle of India. Even now, as I type I’m feeling a bit misty. Anywhoo, we went dancing to celebrate D’s birthday. The night would have been a blast but a whole team of African soccer players followed us around the club the entire night. I think they misunderstood our stern NO’s for gleeful YES’s because they just would not stop. Finally, after D. was more than a bit tipsy, we left the club and put her to bed. I was just thankful that my Evian water spending had decreased from 12 dollars to 3 (and that she did not throw up in the cab. She enjoyed her night, while I babysat. Needless to say, I did not get my Beyonce work out last night!)

Day 5- Today…The Finale and the ZOO?!

This morning, Zach and I went to pick up our suits. I am pleasantly surprised with the look, but the fit is a bit….EXACT. To be frank, If I gain two pounds, the suit will be tight. I had a feeling that would happen, so I’m glad I didn’t buy multiple outfits. After the tailor, we wandered around the Ben Thanh market. My Mission? To find a fabulous designer purse for my sister Tiffany at dirt cheap prices. Sorry sis, no luck. In fact, the Coach bags had big G’s all over them and the patterns were WAY off. My friend Jihanne snagged a Fendi spybag, but I had no such favor. In fact, I found nothing except some $2 dollar t-shirts! LOL Maybe next time. After the market, we returned to the ship to drop off the suits and proceeded to the zoo. Our mission? To pet baby lions. Our success rate? ZERO. We wandered around the zoo for two and a half hours in search of the baby lions. The zoo was neat because the animals were closer to us than in the states. We could actually feed the elephants and monkeys. Granted, it wasn’t the safest set up but it was amusing. We also met some children who were fascinated by our digital cameras, and I held the camera strap while they practiced their English and snapped photos. Good times. This was also a funny experience because we were also spectacles-at the zoo. People giggled, pointed, stared, and asked about our hair, skin, and nationality. One gentleman even talked about how we need to restore the friendship between Vietnam and America.

Sidenote: I saw another wedding today-at the ZOO! LOL So far I’ve seen a proposal in Hawaii, three weddings in Hong Kong, and two weddings in Vietnam. How strangely hilarious is that?

Closing thought: Two years ago, I could have never imagined setting foot on such a historically significant land. I never dreamed that I would crawl through the jungles of warfare. But now in 2006 I, too, went to Vietnam; and I loved it.

More from Myanmar.

Always,

Rhonda