ho chi minh city was constantinople... i mean saigon
so as i mentioned, we're in south vietnam and have been here the last 2 nights after flying out of the charming Hanoi 2 days ago. I was sad to leave Hanoi. it's a living city where it feels like there's always more to discover. i could definitely go back there.
ho chi minh city is not quite as old-style and romantic. it's a bit more raw, as all the guidebooks warn. it's loud and full of motorbike fumes and it's more spread out so it's harder to just wander around. still, we've managed to find our way and spend several hours walking, just looking around at the tall buildings and the boutiques and the shops selling Pumas and United Colors of Benetton and wondering... isn't it supposed to be communist? haven't quite worked that out yet. there is definitely not economic equality here. some people are begging or selling chewing gum and lighters, others are snazzily outfitted and zipping around on bright orange vespas. i don't get it. enlightenment would be appreciated.
ok. so the War Remnants Museum. we visited yesterday morning and spent about 2 hours walking through in a silent daze. we'd heard it would be hard and gut-wrenching... but i didn't realize... it's heart breaking and anger inducing. to be fair, the museum does present the stories of American soldiers who objected to the war and has photographs of protests in the States as well as around the world, but as I wandered through there, looking at the mostly black and white photographs, some from the last reels of journalists who died in combat... there were several moments tears found their way to my cheeks. and a few times i had to turn away for fear of being sick. the behavior of american soldiers, some of them, was despicable. the images of them coming off the boats - fresh and young and excited to fight for their country... i was thinking about how it must have been after World War II. now that was really a triumph that one can equate to good over evil. there was the evil genius taking over the world, exterminating millions, and then the guys in the white hats came and won the day. who wouldn't want to join the army if you get to triumph over evil? (aside, of course, from the pacifists among us and the anti-authority types). but still - you get the idea. the government would've been more or less infallible. maybe some of you who were there in the 50s and early 60s can fill in the gaps - am i right? did it just feel like america was the good guys? because it seems like it would've. then these soldiers get sent halfway around the world to fight another evil, right? wrong. this was a country's revolution. one they'd been fighting for for decades before america even got involved. they were trying to get a hold of their own country from the French so they could have a civil war. and in we came. first aiding ho chi minh to get the french out, then backing out of that deal because "communism's contagious." so these young guys get over there and you can't even see them. they're hiding in tunnels and in trees. and it's their country. you can't see them. and they're fighting not only for their lives but for their land and their history and their future. america didn't have a chance. there were medals in the war remnants museum - won in battle by an american soldier who later sent them to Vietnam along with the message "i was wrong. i am sorry." horrific. and the tanks and the planes and the bombs and the guns and the agent orange and the defoliants with their greusome effects. fetuses in jars. a picture of a few soldiers squatting, grinning, with two Vietnamese heads on the ground in front of them. gut-wrenching indeed. i want to read one of the books by robert macnamara - he was the secretary of defense (i think that's right) during that war and later apologized for it. i'm interested in the details.
it was a really tough museum, but important too. was that the first war that embedded photographers were permitted? there was a whole room devoted to photojournalists who lost their lives here and their work. they caught some amazing moments - it brought the war into the room. or at least what i can imagine of it. we had to leave just as we were getting to the end - museum closes for lunch - so i only got to glimpse in the comment book, which i really wanted to read. the only entry i saw was from a new yorker: "i shake my head in disbelief that humanity continues to sink so low." some of the photographs and feelings were eerily similar to abu ghraib [sp?] and the iraq war. the ability to detatch and think of "them" as "the enemy" and to dehumanize "them" completely. is that really in all of us? once we'd left the museum and were sitting at lunch, our puffy eyes recovering and the muscles in my jaw relaxing after 2 hours of clenching, nabia said that some of the people who commited those war crimes were not human beings. i disagreed and pessimistically said that i think we as humans like to run in packs. it's hard to think about every little thing and sometimes it's nice to have someone else do the thinking for us. it's not such a hard leap, then, to imagine that the someone else gets manipulative and tells us something that we wouldn't agree with if we really thought about it, but we have been lulled into thinking we agree with this someone, so we go with it. the war crimes are extreme, to be sure, but i do think many of us have the capacity to do horrible things to each other if the circumstances so conspire. that said, there were many who objected, who refused, who thought about it and realized what was happening. and there are so many that choose beauty and love and creation... i'm really not trying to be pessimistic about the human race, just realistic and trying to admit what's possible so as not to repeat past mistakes - to stay wary and always question. without getting paranoid, of course.
so yeah. tough.
i just read about the blasts in london. i hope everyone in my extended network is ok - there's not that much information accessible to me right now - i can't seem to find out more than that there were several simultaneous blasts during morning rush out and several were killed and hundreds wounded. london got the olympic bid and now blair's leaving g8 to go to london... i'll get more info as it comes, i guess. i hope... things don't escalate. i'm not ready for the world as i know it to end just yet.
on a much less morbid note, the food here's been great. noodles, rice, curries, stir fried vegetables and more tofu than you can shake a vegetarian at. we've been eating merrily at every meal and breakfast is to be had at the corner of our alleyway on plastic stools (they have them here too - but not as many). we have omelettes on baguette from the lady with the little cart and little stove. it's tasty and only about 25 cents.
we're going to visit the Cu Chi tunnel network tomorrow (an extensive network of tunnels used by Viet Cong quite near to Saigon) as well as the Caodai temple near here. that's a religion that mixes buddhism, taoism and some other stuff i think. i'll be learning more tomorrow of course. it sounds weird and colorful and interesting. then saturday takes us off on a boat trip that ends on sunday in phnom penh, cambodia. man, time flies. we'll be there for a bit and at angkor wat (siem reap) before heading back to thailand. speaking of which, i'd better email pong...
ok, so i'm off. sorry this entry was so heavy. it really was a tough museum. but we still laugh - the other night nabia spit out her water cuz she was laughing so hard. then i was laughing at her which made her laugh more... you know the drill. we're still having fun. thought provoking is good.
really going now.
love,
amy
email me
ho chi minh city is not quite as old-style and romantic. it's a bit more raw, as all the guidebooks warn. it's loud and full of motorbike fumes and it's more spread out so it's harder to just wander around. still, we've managed to find our way and spend several hours walking, just looking around at the tall buildings and the boutiques and the shops selling Pumas and United Colors of Benetton and wondering... isn't it supposed to be communist? haven't quite worked that out yet. there is definitely not economic equality here. some people are begging or selling chewing gum and lighters, others are snazzily outfitted and zipping around on bright orange vespas. i don't get it. enlightenment would be appreciated.
ok. so the War Remnants Museum. we visited yesterday morning and spent about 2 hours walking through in a silent daze. we'd heard it would be hard and gut-wrenching... but i didn't realize... it's heart breaking and anger inducing. to be fair, the museum does present the stories of American soldiers who objected to the war and has photographs of protests in the States as well as around the world, but as I wandered through there, looking at the mostly black and white photographs, some from the last reels of journalists who died in combat... there were several moments tears found their way to my cheeks. and a few times i had to turn away for fear of being sick. the behavior of american soldiers, some of them, was despicable. the images of them coming off the boats - fresh and young and excited to fight for their country... i was thinking about how it must have been after World War II. now that was really a triumph that one can equate to good over evil. there was the evil genius taking over the world, exterminating millions, and then the guys in the white hats came and won the day. who wouldn't want to join the army if you get to triumph over evil? (aside, of course, from the pacifists among us and the anti-authority types). but still - you get the idea. the government would've been more or less infallible. maybe some of you who were there in the 50s and early 60s can fill in the gaps - am i right? did it just feel like america was the good guys? because it seems like it would've. then these soldiers get sent halfway around the world to fight another evil, right? wrong. this was a country's revolution. one they'd been fighting for for decades before america even got involved. they were trying to get a hold of their own country from the French so they could have a civil war. and in we came. first aiding ho chi minh to get the french out, then backing out of that deal because "communism's contagious." so these young guys get over there and you can't even see them. they're hiding in tunnels and in trees. and it's their country. you can't see them. and they're fighting not only for their lives but for their land and their history and their future. america didn't have a chance. there were medals in the war remnants museum - won in battle by an american soldier who later sent them to Vietnam along with the message "i was wrong. i am sorry." horrific. and the tanks and the planes and the bombs and the guns and the agent orange and the defoliants with their greusome effects. fetuses in jars. a picture of a few soldiers squatting, grinning, with two Vietnamese heads on the ground in front of them. gut-wrenching indeed. i want to read one of the books by robert macnamara - he was the secretary of defense (i think that's right) during that war and later apologized for it. i'm interested in the details.
it was a really tough museum, but important too. was that the first war that embedded photographers were permitted? there was a whole room devoted to photojournalists who lost their lives here and their work. they caught some amazing moments - it brought the war into the room. or at least what i can imagine of it. we had to leave just as we were getting to the end - museum closes for lunch - so i only got to glimpse in the comment book, which i really wanted to read. the only entry i saw was from a new yorker: "i shake my head in disbelief that humanity continues to sink so low." some of the photographs and feelings were eerily similar to abu ghraib [sp?] and the iraq war. the ability to detatch and think of "them" as "the enemy" and to dehumanize "them" completely. is that really in all of us? once we'd left the museum and were sitting at lunch, our puffy eyes recovering and the muscles in my jaw relaxing after 2 hours of clenching, nabia said that some of the people who commited those war crimes were not human beings. i disagreed and pessimistically said that i think we as humans like to run in packs. it's hard to think about every little thing and sometimes it's nice to have someone else do the thinking for us. it's not such a hard leap, then, to imagine that the someone else gets manipulative and tells us something that we wouldn't agree with if we really thought about it, but we have been lulled into thinking we agree with this someone, so we go with it. the war crimes are extreme, to be sure, but i do think many of us have the capacity to do horrible things to each other if the circumstances so conspire. that said, there were many who objected, who refused, who thought about it and realized what was happening. and there are so many that choose beauty and love and creation... i'm really not trying to be pessimistic about the human race, just realistic and trying to admit what's possible so as not to repeat past mistakes - to stay wary and always question. without getting paranoid, of course.
so yeah. tough.
i just read about the blasts in london. i hope everyone in my extended network is ok - there's not that much information accessible to me right now - i can't seem to find out more than that there were several simultaneous blasts during morning rush out and several were killed and hundreds wounded. london got the olympic bid and now blair's leaving g8 to go to london... i'll get more info as it comes, i guess. i hope... things don't escalate. i'm not ready for the world as i know it to end just yet.
on a much less morbid note, the food here's been great. noodles, rice, curries, stir fried vegetables and more tofu than you can shake a vegetarian at. we've been eating merrily at every meal and breakfast is to be had at the corner of our alleyway on plastic stools (they have them here too - but not as many). we have omelettes on baguette from the lady with the little cart and little stove. it's tasty and only about 25 cents.
we're going to visit the Cu Chi tunnel network tomorrow (an extensive network of tunnels used by Viet Cong quite near to Saigon) as well as the Caodai temple near here. that's a religion that mixes buddhism, taoism and some other stuff i think. i'll be learning more tomorrow of course. it sounds weird and colorful and interesting. then saturday takes us off on a boat trip that ends on sunday in phnom penh, cambodia. man, time flies. we'll be there for a bit and at angkor wat (siem reap) before heading back to thailand. speaking of which, i'd better email pong...
ok, so i'm off. sorry this entry was so heavy. it really was a tough museum. but we still laugh - the other night nabia spit out her water cuz she was laughing so hard. then i was laughing at her which made her laugh more... you know the drill. we're still having fun. thought provoking is good.
really going now.
love,
amy
email me
posted by theonetheycallamy at 7/07/2005 09:40:00 AM
4 comments
