Southern Vietnam: Prayer, War, Rivers, Trade and Struggle

December 11, 2010

The last four days I have gotten to know the area around Saigon (the Vietnamese in the city still call HCMC Saigon) and the Mekong Delta a bit. I took a day tour to the Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh and the Cu Chi Tunnels and saw both beauty and horrors. Before we got to our destinations we made a surprise stop that was meant to encourage travelers to part with their money. We went to the “Handicap Handicraft” factory where gorgeous pieces, mostly lacquer, were made. Many of the people working there were disable because of the war either at the time or with the aftereffects. It was interesting to see how things were made, but we were rushed through with little explanation so we would have time to shop and the next bus load of people could come through.

We reached the temple of a fairly recent local religion, Caodaism. There are about 2 million followers in the country. It combines Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. Their three saints are Nguyen Binh Khiem, Sun Yat-sen and Victor Hugo, the two latter being the disciple of the former. This temple and accompanying school, hospital, etc. rests on one square kilometer. It is fascinating because you can see the influence of each religion in the architecture and décor. And three colors are prominent because they represent religions. Red is for Confucianism, blue for Taoism and yellow for Buddhism. Islam and Christianity are colorless I suppose.

We arrived before their noon service so got to explore the temple (within strict bounds that we only learned upon being scolded) and see the preparations underway. The service lasted about 30 minutes and was very organized in terms of who stood where. At the start, the women lined up on the outer aisle were being rearranged by some other women. Tourists were directed to the upper balcony. Dress also seemed to denote ones standing. It was a graceful ceremony and a kind of dance in unison as people bowed, stood and sat. Music, drumming and singing were used at times.

I loved seeing the temple and service, but didn’t feel very welcome. I’m sure the temple members get tired of throngs of tourists coming everyday and I can understand that, but they should just not allow us to watch the ceremony if they are that unhappy. I’ve often felt at these large tourist sights that the locals begrudgingly put up with us and though I can’t blame them it makes the experience a little less fun. Indonesians were more welcoming and happy to interact with tourists, but they get much fewer of them (especially outside of Bali).

Then off we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels were first used to fight the French in the 1940s and later the US and South Vietnamese Army. As the years passed they extended the network so that the tunnels in total covered over 250km. The tunnels in our area were three levels deep and were laid at 3 meters, 6 meters and 9-12 meters down. Families lived in the tunnels and had narrow well hidden entrances and ventilation holes. Click here to see a diagram of part of the system. And click here if you want to learn more about the tunnels. The entrances were too narrow for most westerners to enter and for the tourists the sections we can crawl through have been widened. You can see one of the original entrances though. Since people lived in the tunnels there were kitchens, storage rooms for cache, sleeping quarters, meeting rooms and rooms to make weapons from collected US military weaponry. There was a well so the tunnels could be self sufficient. Also, they had trap doors and methods of destruction in case the enemy did find them. There was an exit into the river. They are quite incredible systems and were built with simple hand tools.

We also were shown various traps that the Viet Cong used against the Americans (according to the presentation anti-communist Vietnamese did not to exist – they were never mentioned). Most of the traps were used to hunt animals in peacetime and were transformed into weapons. They were quite gruesome and varied, but all pierced the person who fell into the trap.

This whole area has been renovated for tourism, including a shooting range! At first I didn’t plan to shoot anything, but the idea of shooting such well known guns, the M16 and AK47, won me over. The AK47 bullets were cheaper and several of us went in to buy the minimum of 10 bullets. Before we even got to the shooting lineup I couldn’t believe how loud the shots wished I had my earplugs on me. They had ear mufflers to put on, but they did little. The guns are welded to mounts so I wasn’t as afraid of the kickback on my shoulder. You can see me concentrating on aiming in the photo. Who knows if I hit the target, but I doubt it. Most non-Americans assume I must have shot a gun and even own one being from such a gun touting country, but I’ve never shot one. A BB gun was the extent of my experience. But now I think I’ve become an NRA supported – J/K!

I’ve never been near a battlefield so my only idea of what it is like is from personal accounts, books, film and imagination. Shooting the AK47, even on such a contrived range, gave me another small layer of understanding. Just hearing a few shots in a setting where I felt safe created an atmosphere of chaos and stress. The sound of just a couple of guns was discomforting (and that’s with some ear protection) so I can’t imagine having dozens being shot at once in a war situation – and shot at you. I got a TINY dose of the fear that must permeate the battlefield. So all in all shooting the gun wasn’t a fun experience, but a bit of an enlightening one.

I can’t help, but think of the war while I’m here. I see the wild areas and rice fields and imagine soldiers walking or wading through them. For Americans it is such foreign terrain and the weather is difficult to adjust to. Then you add in the VC’s tunnel system, VC practice of acting like a friendly and then turning on their American and SV friends, and increasingly low morale of the US soldiers and this is a war that couldn’t be won. Of course this is just a cursory summation of why we lost, but I think it hits the highlights.

In sharp contrast to these thoughts, that night the streets erupted with cheers and flag waving. I couldn’t figure out what it was and then someone told me that Vietnam had just beat Singapore in soccer. The game only got Vietnam into the quarterfinals, but they were celebrating like champions.

I rose early again the next morning to start my three day Mekong Delta tour. I had images of a rural area with small towns and villages. Instead I found lots of cities, construction and industrial activity. The farming is interspersed with the urban life. We made our first bathroom break and to start the bus again it had to be pushed! Some Aussie college students were enlisted to help out. The rest of the first day was a bit disappointing because we only went to places created for tourists. In My Tho we took a boat to Unicorn Island. We saw a coconut candy factory – unfortunately I’m not a coconut fan. I’ll keep that quiet here, it seems sacrilege. We were taken in horse carts to our lunch area. We were given bikes to ride around the town for a bit and that was my favorite part of the day. I wasn’t in a herd of 40 tourists in a controlled space. I headed in the opposite direction of the others on a bike that I thought would surely breakdown on me. I was the last to select a bike and you can see I got a squeaky wobbly one with brakes that were mere decoration. The town was like others I’ve seen, but quiet. It was one of shops, people hanging out and motor scooters zipping around occasionally. It was fun to explore in the 20 minutes allotted. I met some cool travelers and we had a nice lunch. The two men are from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and have invited me to visit. The woman is from Jakarta and we had fun talking about Indonesia. She also saw many similarities between Indonesia and Vietnam.

You’ll notice on some boats there are eyes at the bow. This is to scare away dangerous fish, but is not put on fishing boats because of course they don’t want to scare fish away.

Our next stop took us to an orchard (not sure I saw that part) and a beekeeping farm. You can see Offy and I holding the honey bees. I also figured why not hold a python! I actually had to hold it twice because the picture didn’t take the first go round. It felt really odd, but cool to hold because the skin and the inner body would slide separately from each other. Next on the itinerary was listening to traditional music, which sounded nice, but the singers and musicians looked utterly bored. Can’t they pretend to enjoy themselves like I had to do while teaching at times? We also had some local fruits that you can see. The spotted one didn’t have much flavor, but the texture is like a kiwi. Afterwards we went for a row boat ride that took us back to our big boat.

I had paid a few extra dollars to do a homestay that first night in Can Tho and it was totally worth it. The man in the family coordinating our stay met us at the bus and we took a 30 minute boat ride in the dark to his home about 15 meters from the riverbank. The river was dark and lights were only used at times. His eyes must adjust and of course he knows the river so well. A narrow lane follows the river so pedestrians, bicycles and motor bikes can get through. You can see me posing in front of the home. There were about 15 of us staying at the home and he assigned rooms. I lucked out and had my own room because a group of three women wanted to stay together even though it meant sharing a bed. And the question of me sharing with a guy fortunately wasn’t broached. There were so many of us that I think the family was displaced and I have no idea where they slept.

Three generations of the family lived there and they built rooms and bathrooms for the travelers. They assured us they use rainwater rather than river water for dishes, showers, etc. The locals used the river water just as they did in Indonesia – for everything. They made us a delicious dinner. We had rice paper and made rolls of fish, vegetables and rice noodles. We enjoyed some beer and rice wine – I’m still going with the theory that the alcohol with help kill unwanted bacteria. After dinner there were hammocks to lounge in. Hammocks are extremely popular and are even in cafes.

Some of us rose extra early to see the sunrise over the rice fields. The weather is generally overcast in the delta, but it was still pretty. Then off we went for a quick breakfast and the boat ride back to the bus.

Our first stop on the second day of the tour was at the floating market in Cai Rang. Though the delta reminded me of Kalimantan, Indonesia in many ways because of the river life, this market was very different from the one I saw in Banjarmasin. The boats were much larger and it didn’t float down the bank. There were also a lot more tourists. It was neat to see, but I missed the colors and intimacy of the Banjarmasin floating market – and the scant number of tourists. Unfortunately, my tour wasn’t able to board one of the seller’s boats. Overall I preferred Kalimantan to the Mekong Delta.

Next was a vermicelli factory, which was cool to see. Everything in the developing world takes so much more manual labor than in developed countries and this place was a perfect example. At the same time though you see the modern world in the young man texting as he put rice paper in the machine to be shredded. :) Those making the rice paper seemed to have the hardest job because the fire under the grill kept the heat and steam a constant presence. The only smiles I saw on the workers faces were when a puppy was playfully chasing a young Dutch boy. He and his sister (they were probably 4 and 6 – both were blonde) caught lots of attention and touches from the locals.

We later meandered, well hurried, through an outdoor market. It also was like others I’d seen except some new items were for sale – turtles and frogs. I saw one woman skinning the frogs – a first for me. I also saw what I think were chicken hearts for sale. Our last stop in Can Tho was at an orchard. We crossed a monkey bridge (made of bamboo) and meandered through a field of dragon fruit trees and pineapple bushes. The large white flower is from the dragon fruit tree. I tried my first guava fruit - I love the juice – and was surprised that it isn’t pink or sweet. The fruit tastes nothing like the juice. It is good, but just has a mild flavor.

We had free time for lunch in Can Tho and in 10 minutes I saw two very unexpected things. A woman was walking in the street and a motor bike ran into the back of her! I don’t know how the person managed to do that because it wasn’t that crowded. Maybe she was texting… The woman who got it was sore, but able to limp off. Then I was walking through a crowd and spotted a man with a gun!!! Another man was next to him on the ground – injured or sick. The man with the gun seemed to be keeping people back and was holding it at his side. Maybe he was a police officer not in uniform? I have no idea what was going on, but my friend and I turned back and crossed the street. There was a jeep with sirens, but if it stopped at the scene it didn’t stay long and the hurt person wasn’t in the vehicle. A mystery.

I have to insert one more anecdote about the bus rides – which were lengthy. It was a large bus and the last row of seats were raised and the seats were low to the ground. Well the driver hit a large bump fast and all the occupants, including the two kids, went flying – literally! One man hit his head and all of them ended up on the ground. We held our breathe until we knew all were okay and to see if the kids cried – they laughed! The roads and drivers have actually been better than Indonesia, but this was one exception.

The tour group was split and jigsawed as it was at the end of each day because some people had signed up for a one day, two day or three day tour. Most of those on the 3 day tour continued onto Cambodia since we were a stones throw. Those of us on the 3 day tour went on to Chau Doc and were supposed to see a crocodile farm, but it was “closed.” Not surprisingly we later met other tourists who had gone to the farm that day. That wasn’t the only scam/misleading part of the tour. We had no English guide for the rest of the day, which we were supposed to have. We did have motor bikes take us to a really awesome Buddhist caved temple. We didn’t know to bring flashlights, but fortunately one of my new friends had one. I wasn’t aware of this temple so the hidden tunnels and statues were fun to discover. It was a beautiful setting and overlooked Cambodia. The temple was built into Sam Mountain.

That evening my friends and I walked Chau Doc and found a yummy outdoor restaurant. We had more beggars come up to us than I’ve had in HCMC of anywhere else on this trip. They were quite persistent too. We saw a Buddhist shrine in a classic style, but with a neon halo – interesting twist!

To my frustration, I woke the next morning to lots of ant-like bugs making a home in my suitcase. So I had to take everything out and kill all the bugs I could find. I’ve been using space saver bags so at least my clothes were protected. The hotel staff seemed unconcerned – he had been rude the night before so not surprising.

Before we started the 6 hour drive back to Saigon I saw a fish farm and village along the river. The homes are built on high stilts because of flooding. They need the floods for the rice farms, but the flooding is shrinking because of the dams in China. This years floods were only a couple of inches off the ground – you can see the tick marks of other years. On another part of the bank we saw a wedding – the bride in green and the groom in a white tux. What fun!

I’m back in Saigon and had hoped to move on to Mui Ne (a beach town tomorrow), but I left my headlamp at the homestay. Fortunately, a guide is going to bring it back to Saigon tomorrow night. So Monday morning I’ll take off. In exchange for the travel agencies help getting my light back I didn’t go on about the lies they told me and the changes to the itinerary they made. This way I’ll get to see a bit more of Saigon.