Some of you may be wondering why I am in Vietnam already. Well, I visited siem reap (Angkor wats) during my last trip and covered a bit about the ancient history in that blog – also there was no other place to visit to the east without requiring an English speaking local or couchhost to help me out.
Ho Chi minh is a really nice city – there are many parks and the streets are clean, best part is that the locals enjoy the privileges of the city which was a welcome sight after Cambodia. Each night I would head to the beer hoi stall, a small street pub that only sells homebrew beer on tap for 25c per middy, and talk all night with locals and backpackers as equals. They would cram everyone into a tiny area and you’re forced to sit with strangers while the ridiculously cheap fresh tap beer flows endlessly, every 10min a local would shout YO (cheers) with a raised glass and the clash of glasses with spilling beer within the entire pub would invigorate the crowd; everyone has to take a swig – else risk being disrespectful to local culture. It was a very jovial atmosphere.
having an excellent time with a local and a canadian, over beer and candied duck intestine
Ho Chi minh city unfortunately shares a similar depressing recent past with Cambodia; the well known Vietnam war. I visited a very interesting war museum which portrays the other side of the story different to what I have been brought up to understand. The ground floor displayed photos and newspaper articles displaying protests from many countries around the world, against the American offensive in Vietnam. They even included the American people’s protest and although the museum definitely had a bias, it was never against American individuals, only the leaders. For a Communist country that likes to end protests quickly, to me it seemed to be promoting the evident effectiveness of going to the streets with free speech.
The history exhibit may not be what you will read in the Wikipedia article for the war although it was a very interesting sight. The war started with the French returning to Vietnam purely to reclaim their lost control over Indochina. After many French were captured in an ambush, they decided to do what they do best, they retreated and surrendered the land back to the Vietnamese people. This is about the time when the US arrived to help the French, but unlike the French they didn’t leave, they had their own reason to stick around, paranoia of communism. This, according to the museum’s portrayal of history, was the only reason the invasion occurred towards Vietnam as a whole.
a US tank with a vietnam banner in the background, war museum
With my limited and possibly inaccurate western history knowledge (typing local blog post, can’t check Wikipedia), I was under the assumption that before the US arrived there was a struggle with the south to fight back Communist aggressors in the north. According to current day Vietnam, this is not the case.
To quote some guy: history is made by the people who write the history books.
There was definitely a north vs south, but I think the lines were blurred towards the end. I found it interesting that the elaborate maze of Vietcong tunnels are just a few kms from ho Chi minh, a notion that the Vietcong were everywhere.
The tunnels had large top-side entrances so that the Americans can try to go through them, but then the tunnels gradually get narrow which causes the US (and Aussies) to get stuck in a very unfortunate location. The tunnels and nasty looking traps were a huge way of trying to even the balance vs the mass weaponry of the US army… and their puppets (as is written in the museum).
In ho chi minh I stayed in a new dorm hostel managed by a couple of Brits, I was their first guest. They actually had the same idea that I formed during the last trip, introduce dorm accommodation to south east Asia, there is never an ultra cheap alternative to a ‘1 bed room with fan’ when traveling alone in these parts – I should have jumped to this idea years ago, hmm maybe I could be the competition once I finish this project. As long as I don’t present my ideas to the public, I should be fine :|
some locals enjoying noodles and beer on a clean street full of nice trees, city centre
After seeing the sights, unfortunately not getting a response from couch requests, I headed north to the city of da lat; in the cool highlands, a refreshing change of temperature.
The 5000 Project 