Ho Chi Minh City, as it has been known since the American war ended in 1975, is the beating heart of Vietnam's future - miles away from the quiet towns and sleepy alleys of the Mekong Delta, this is a thriving metropolis. Bikes beyond counting jostle for space on the streets, trendy locals hop off Vespas sporting the latest in (knock-off) European fashion to sip iced coffee in countless trendy cafés. This is Vietnam's largest and most populous city, and its appeal is immediately apparent for those coming from the sleepy countryside.Our exploration of Saigon took us on a trail of learning about the American War (the Vietnam conflict to you and me). No better place to learn about this most important chapter of the country's history than in the city that for so many years stood as the bastion of the imperialist oppressor. To that end we found ourselves walking through the rainy streets making our way to the Reunification Palace, formerly the residence of the South Vietnamese President. This palace has remained unchanged since April 1975 when Viet Minh tanks broke through the front gate, forcing the surrender of the Republic of Vietnam, thus leading to the reunification of the country. The gate has been restored to its former glory, and nowadays the palace serves as a showcase of Vietnamese architecture and an expose on the excesses of the "imperialist puppet government" while people starved on the streets and died in the jungle. Despite the heavily biased commentary, the guided tour provides an good insight into the workings of the palace and the finally days of the conflict.
From the Reunification Palace it was only a short walk to the War Remnants museum, and three story building dedicated to the suffering of the people of Vietnam during and after the conflict that started with the signing of the Geneva convention in 1954. The courtyard is home to several aircraft, tanks and bomb shells used by the Americans to suppress the freedom of the
Vietnamese people. Once inside the building the focus of the exhibits shifts from the hardware used to inflict damage to the damage itself. At the time of our visit the foyer was hosting an exhibition of photographs of victims of Agent Orange. This defoliant was used by the Americans to strip leaf cover and expose the Viet Cong and Viet Minh forces, but it also had the added side effect of severely affecting the health of those exposed to it and causing innumerable birth defects in subsequent generations. The truly horrific aspect of the exhibition though is that while American and Australian war veterans have been (partly) compensated for their afflictions as a result of exposure to Agent Orange, the American and international courts to this day reject claims filed by the Vietnamese government for compensation for its citizens.
Over the three floors the exhibits and photographs cover a range of subjects, with one gallery dedicated to the war
correspondents who lost their lives covering the war, and another hall containing messages of solidarity and images of anti-war protests from around the world.
We spent a good two hours wandering around the museum, and it serves as a real eye opener, balancing the rather one-sided information that we tend to receive in the West in relation to the Vietnam conflict.
Multi-cultural Saigon
Once we'd had our fill on information about the Vietnam Conflict we moved on to explore the various religious temples that can be found in this multi-cultural city - ranging from the catholic Notre Dame cathedral, to an Indian Mosque and a Maramman Hindu temple. We got our first taste of tourist traps in Vietnam while visiting the Maramman temple:
As we were about to enter through a side door a lady sitting by the main entrance called us over to go in through the main door, where she insisted on giving us some incense sticks. We refused, at which point she said "is ok, no money", so we took the sticks and went inside. As we stood around taking in the architecture and wondering what to do with the incense sticks a man came over and took the sticks off us, lit them and told us to put one in front of each shrine. Once we'd dispensed our incense to the various Hindu deities and taken a few photos we tried to leave the temple. The incense man came over and demanded 200,000 Dong, or about $10. Feigning ignorance, and indignant at trying to be scammed out of money, I pulled out a 2000 Dong note, at which point he said "no, no, 200,000!" When we refused to cough up, the incense lady came over and started pointing at a price list (written in Vietnamese) and demanding we pay. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we said we'd already put money into the collection box inside the temple, and anyway they had said the incense was free. At this point the price started to magically go down - first 100,000 Dong, then 50,000 Dong, but we'd already started to walk hurriedly away!
The lesson to be learned from this - don't accept anything from people standing around the entrance to temples, even when they say it's for free!
The Cu Chi Tunnels
About 50km north of Ho Chi Minh city, set in beautiful surrounds, lies the historically important complex of Cu Chi tunnels. This was the heart of the Viet Cong's resistance to the American invasion, and it proved to be a big thorn in the American's side. What originally started out as a series of tunnels for the villagers to shelter in during bombing soon expanded. Little by little villages started to connect together underground, and by the time the war ended the tunnels ran for more than 200km.
The ingenious Vietnamese didn't have any architectural plans when they built the tunnels - they just started digging at random, and eventually the tunnels would link up. What they lacked in technical expertise though was made up for with ingenuity: the tunnels had special ventilation systems hidden by false termite mounds, a smokeless kitchen, camouflaged tunnel entrances and even watertight compartments (for times when the Americans gassed the tunnels or tried to flood them out). When the GIs started to use dogs to sniff out the entrances to the tunnels the Viet Cong bought black market soap from the American base and would place clothes washed with the soap at the entrance - the sniffer dog recognizes a friendly smell and moves on.
Beyond the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Vietnamese their sheer force of determination is staggering. When the Americans dispersed grasses that would choke rice paddies, they switched to eating tapioca. To make sandals they used old tires, and a pair of recycled sandals could last for up to five years. Unexploded bombs were dismantled and turned into home made land mines and grenades, whereas bomb shards were melted to make spikes for traps and tools. Learning about these things sheds a new light on why the Americans could never win the war: the Vietnamese are a people that won't take any crap, the harder that an oppressor punishes them, the less likely they are to give in.
The complex has two tunnels that are open to visitors - one which has been expanded to twice its original size and fitted with lights, and runs for about 100m; and a second, untouched tunnel, that goes for just 10m. Being the naturally curious type, I leapt at the opportunity to experience what it would have been like to be in the tunnels. Well, it wouldn't have been nice to spend more than 10 minutes underground. The tunnel is so low that I had to crawl along on hands and knees, it was pitch black (save for my puny phone torch), there were bats flying around, and all the corners looked the same. There's only one way out of the short tunnel, but I can see how easy it would be to get lost - the twists and turns threw my sense of direction off completely. The expanded tunnel, though more than twice its original size, still makes for a tight squeeze, and the mass of people walking through didn't make the experience any nicer! After having crawled through the tunnels I can begin to appreciate how and why it took the Vietnamese just over three days to cover some 10km of tunnel.
Our visit to the Cu Chi tunnels brought our experience of Ho Chi Minh city to a close, when we returned in the afternoon rains we had just an hour to find some food before we would be put onto a bus headed to Mui Ne, Saigon's favourite seaside resort.
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