Good Morning Vietnam!!

OK, I'm sorry, that is a really bad title, but here I am in Vietnam - a place that figured so prominently in my youth (the mid-to-late 60's). To visit the country where a war was fought that so affected my generation, and the first war to be brought to our homes daily via television is quite interesting and amazing to me. I certainly never thought I would be able to visit this beautiful country. Vietnam has been fighting off invaders for so many millenia - and all they wanted was to be one country and to determine their own government. I remember about 10-15 years ago when someone said to me that Vietnam had the most beautiful beaches they had ever seen. I was astonished; that just didn't compute in my head because all I could remember of Vietnam was Agent Orange and how the country had been stripped of its beauty.

Ho Chi Minh City is big and busy. There are motorbikes EVERYWHERE - and it's a good thing. If all these people were driving cars the traffic would be ridiculous. As it is no one can go very fast and it is truly like a dance to watch how cars, trucks and motorbikes all jockey for position on the roads. Fortunately, helmets are required by law, and although we never went over 60 km/hour (and I don't think anyone else goes over that speed) but I wonder if there are still a lot of accidents and injuries. I'll have to ask our guide - Hong, who is so knowledgeable.

This is indeed a beautiful country with kind and gentle people. They have chosen to forgive their invaders - from the Mongols, to the Chinese, to the French to the Americans, and to simply move on; looking forward instead of wallowing in the past.

Today we began by touring the Cu Chi tunnels - the 210 mile network of tunnels used by guerilla fighters from 1940 through to the end of the Vietnam War (the war for reunification) in 1975.

Me at the entrance to a tunnel -that's as far in as I would go since I'm claustrophobic!

The tunnels are now part of an historic site where tourists learn about how the traps and weapons used by the guerillas in the Vietnam War were all made from pieces of bombs and artillery courtesy of the US military! They were quite ingenious in creating some really nasty traps and weapons. It was actually quite a disturbing place to visit - there is actually a shooting range where tourists can pay to shoot some of the guns used in the war. So all around us we heard gun-fire - which was unnerving, but I had to remember that this is what the Vietnamese people lived with on a daily basis.

From Cu Chi we went back to Ho Chi Minh City, had a wonderful Vietnamese lunch with each dish presented as a sculpture and then went to tour the Reunification Palace. This was formerly the Presidential Palace, built by the French in 1870-something (can't remember the exact year). It was destroyed in a bombing in 1962 and could not be restored. A new palace was built in a totally different style - designed by a Vietnamese architect. It is a beautiful building in which the rooms have been restored to how they were when the president of South Vietnam lived and worked there. It is now open the public as a tourist site. The wall in this photo is all done in lacquered wood and is so beautiful:

This is the palace that the North Vietnamese tank crashed into the gate which resulted in the surrender of the South Vietnamese on April 30, 1975.

We then visited a painted lacquer factory where we saw how they make the beautiful mother-of-pearl and eggshell inlaid pieces. What painstaking work! Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office were the final stops today. The post-office is a pink French Colonial building that is open every day of the year from 7AM to 7 PM.

After a bit of a rest, Pam and I went to a restaurant called Lemon Grass for dinner. The meal was wonderful and there was a woman playing a stringed instrument the name of which I will have to ask our guide tomorrow. The music really added to the atmosphere. After dinner we walked through the neighborhood looking at/in the shops . . . and, of course, picked up a few things!

It is Sunday night, but you would have thought it was New Year's Eve. So many people were out looking at all the Christmas decorations. We asked our guide about Christmas celebrations in Vietnam. He said it is celebrated, but not for the Christian reason; rather it is just a good excuse for a party! There are lots of decorations all over the city - the parks, store windows, hotel lobbies - and it was incredible to see people posing and having their photos taken in front of the decorations. Motorbike traffic was unbelievable - some streets looked like wall-to-wall headlights and helmets! The people were all having such a good time. Unfortunately, my camera battery had died. I will try to get some photos tomorrow night.