Saigon
Something happened in Vietnam that hasn’t happened often – friendship around every corner, welcoming neighbors at coffee shops and restaurants who welcome you into their conversation and accept you into their plans. Tonight’s dinner was with a Greek and two Israelis. The couple are full-time tourists, they said, with 5 years on the road traveling by motorbike and staying for months at each location. He works as a stockbroker and is free of desk commitments. Kostos the Greek works from his home country but has had a lifetime of living throughout Europe, Australia and Egypt. LTD the couple said – Living the Dream we are and then debated what made a person happy. There seems a clear inverse relation between happiness and wealth, as the farther one is into poverty, the more genuine the smile. The Vietnamese seem to smile quite a bit.
Today I smiled quite a bit, but through my hidden guilt. I visited Saigon’s number one tourist attraction (there aren’t many here) the Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Northern Vietnamese soldiers – the patriots – dug far into the earth and survived for ten years despite the invasion from the foreigners (aka Americans). These patriots were awarded the “American Killer Hero” award for their hard work in their country’s unification, fighting by day, farming by night to feed their comrades. The tunnels are small and narrow and one more time I have found a clear advantage of being short. I was first in and scooted my way through like a local (vs. the larger Westerners who had to crawl) and found myself alone in a dark tunnel that curled under the earth and around corners and B-52 bomb craters. A tourist today doesn’t go far, but the chance to be alone and hidden in the Saigon land was a treat , and fun, and gave me a real, genuine smile.
Saigon’s War Remnants Museum brought far less smiles and as I toured it with Vera from Germany, we had the opportunity to share ideas of national guilt. Agent Orange and Napalm took center stage of the third hall: The Vestiges of War Crimes and Aftermaths. Historical Truths, in Hall 1, left some questions as to the bias of history, but the photos in Hall 2 from war corespondents who died in the field made it irrelevant.
Will I tour Iraq in 35 years?
Today I smiled quite a bit, but through my hidden guilt. I visited Saigon’s number one tourist attraction (there aren’t many here) the Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Northern Vietnamese soldiers – the patriots – dug far into the earth and survived for ten years despite the invasion from the foreigners (aka Americans). These patriots were awarded the “American Killer Hero” award for their hard work in their country’s unification, fighting by day, farming by night to feed their comrades. The tunnels are small and narrow and one more time I have found a clear advantage of being short. I was first in and scooted my way through like a local (vs. the larger Westerners who had to crawl) and found myself alone in a dark tunnel that curled under the earth and around corners and B-52 bomb craters. A tourist today doesn’t go far, but the chance to be alone and hidden in the Saigon land was a treat , and fun, and gave me a real, genuine smile. Saigon’s War Remnants Museum brought far less smiles and as I toured it with Vera from Germany, we had the opportunity to share ideas of national guilt. Agent Orange and Napalm took center stage of the third hall: The Vestiges of War Crimes and Aftermaths. Historical Truths, in Hall 1, left some questions as to the bias of history, but the photos in Hall 2 from war corespondents who died in the field made it irrelevant.
Will I tour Iraq in 35 years?
posted by Karen at
9:56 PM
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