Black, Pitch Black: Cu Chi Tunnels

Cao Dai Temple - we made it just in time for noon service!

Today was also a super cool day – mainly because I got to crawl around the Cu Chi tunnels that the Vietnamese used during the Vietnam War.  This was something I had wanted to do for a very long time, and after a three hour bus ride, I got to go into the pitch dark…

The gates of Cao Dai Temple

Caro and I signed up for a one day outing to the beautiful Cao Dai temple and the Cu Chi tunnels.  As we got closer to Cu Chi – I realized how excited I was.  These tunnels were credited with the “winning of the Vietnam War” from the American perspective.  Americans portrayed these tunnels as barbaric, Spartan and unconventional war-like tactics that the Viet Cong guerrillas used as hiding spots during combat.  But what they failed to mention, is that these tunnels were multi-leveled, complex underground villages that served not only as hiding spots, but as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous Viet kong soldiers and their families. 

Ready to go into my first Cu Chi tunnel!

As we began walking, our guide pointed out the trap door to enter the tunnels – despite my efforts of freakishly searching the ground looking for trap doors, I couldn’t see it.  One security officer demonstrated how to enter and exit the tunnel and our guide of course asked if anyone wanted to try for themselves.  I was itching to go, but tried to keep my cool.  Of course, without even asking, Carolina had already grabbed my purse and camera and gave me a look like, “Well, this is why we are here and what you have wanted to do this whole trip – what are you waiting for?!”  I eagerly inched down the tunnel, securely placed the trap door lid over my head, and tried to adjust to what I was seeing – which was nothing because it was pitch black.  And HOT.  My gosh was it hot.  I thought going underground meant that it was cooler earth – but I was seriously mistaken.  I began to inch down the tunnel crawling on all fours, when people began screaming up above.  Apparently – this tunnel was not the one we were supposed to crawl through – and there were many animals that lived in this one (i.e. not friendly ones such as scorpions!).  My guide was “kidding” when he told me to “take a walk around and explore” however, I of course took this literally.

You can't see me!

We saw the booby traps that the Viet Kong made for their American enemies – yikes these were gruesome.  Spears as long as my leg and pits as deep as twelve feet, I decided this was certainly not a way I would like to go.

Coming OUT of the tunnel and complaining about how HOT it was!

We did get to crawl through a tunnel later – a 120 meter tunnel.  Again – I was super excited.  Caro came with me on this one and the two of us set off in the black.  What I didn’t realize of course, were how SMALL these tunnels were, and you couldn’t stand or hunch over but literally had to crawl and squat on your back legs, teetering down the corridor.  We got to a point where a security guard said, “Do you want to keep going or get out?”  I was sweating – more than I had sweat working out in Bangkok, it was dark, there was dust everywhere…”Of COURSE I want to keep going” – I said with a dirt-covered grin.  I kept going and heard Carolina ask the guard, “Well how much more can there be?”  And all I heard was laughter.  If it weren’t for the four-year old girl who went in before us, I’m not sure I would have been able to complete the 120 meter walk.  My legs were burning, I was covered in dirt, and worst of all – I was sweating uncontrollably!  120 meters has never felt so long, scary or hot!

I am so happy and fortunate to have witnessed the famous tunnels first-hand, and would highly recommend you put them on your trip to Vietnam!

City Tour – Ho Chi Minh

Thien Hau Pagoda with incense coils that took weeks to burn!

Our city tour did not solely comprise of the War Remnants Museum, although this certainly was the most memorable portion of the day for me.  We sampled coffee (yuck) and I was shocked to hear that Vietnam is the second largest exporter/producer of coffee in the world (after Brazil).  Coffee is second only to rice in value of agricultural products exported from Vietnam, with their most popular coffee of course being the famous weasel coffee.

We wandered around Chinatown and walked past the Binh Tay Market – a wholesale market with high rises of flip flops and overflowing barrels of pistachios.  We went to the Thien Hau Pagoda which is a Chinese temple with coils of incense that last for 3 weeks, and stopped for lunch at a delicious cart with crab and noodle soup.  After lunch, we visited a handicraft workshop where disabled victims from the Vietnam War and subsequent generations affected by Agent Orange worked to produce beautiful lacquer plates, paintings, vases, and bracelets.  These crafts were made out of crushed eggshell and each one took approximately 3-4 months to make!

Outside the Reunification Palace

The Reunification Palace was a sight – the most modern palace I believe I have ever seen.  Modern however is dated in this context, and wandering down the massive open-air halls I felt like I was wandering down my old corridor at the UN – except this palace didn’t have asbestos.  The grandiose architecture and rooftop dance floor seemed near perfection and just like in Anastasia when the old palace lights up with ghosts from the past, this dance floor, dining hall and library all seemed to come alive.  This apparition was quickly dismissed however, the minute you stepped foot underground in the two levels of basement where you saw bunkers, maps of military use, and war rooms.  Even in a massive palace, the remnants of the war are clearly visible.

50 cent Bia Saigon - sitting outside in downtown Ho Chi Minh taking in the sights

Agent Orange

U.S. Military planes spraying Agent Orange over dense jungle in Vietnam

Brutal murders, burning of villages, violent rape, torture and more plagued Vietnam for over twenty years in combat.  However, arguably the most damaging perhaps, is rarely discussed in American discourse.  Agent Orange was used as a military tactic for the United States, in an attempt to defoliate forested and rural land, depriving guerrillas of cover, destroy the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside with the destruction of crops, thus depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base and food supply.  During the Vietnam War, between 1962 and 1971, the United States military sprayed nearly 20,000,000 US gallons (75,700,000 liters) of chemical herbicides and defoliants in Vietnam.

Infamous picture of Vietnamese families fleeing village after U.S. forces dropped nepalm

United States Air Force records show that at least 6,542 spraying missions took place over the course of Operation Ranch Hand. By 1971, 12 percent of the total area of South Vietnam had been sprayed with defoliating chemicals, at an average concentration of 13 times the recommended USDA application rate for domestic use.  Overall, more than 20% of South Vietnam's forests were sprayed at least once over a nine year period.

The problem with Agent Orange is that it is incredibly toxic – and the effects are far too visible today, forty years after the war.  According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 people being killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.  Women had higher rates of miscarriage and stillbirths, and children in the areas where Agent Orange was used have been affected with multiple health problems including cleft palate, mental disabilities, hernias, and deformities.

As we walked through the museum of pictures, modules and deformed baby fetuses, I felt sick.  I was horrified that my country had used such extreme measures that are specifically denoted as illegal under the Geneva Convention which details international war.  How could the United States, only four decades ago, used such primal, barbaric and horrific crimes such as violent rape, mass murder, and toxic chemicals?  And how have we not been held accountable by the international community!?

Unborn Vietnamese fetuses with defects from Agent Orange

“Peace without justice cannot be sustainable.  It is a terrible mistake to believe that people will simply forget.”

-        Carla Del Ponte, former ICT for the former Yugoslavia prosecutor

It is a mistake to think that people will simply forget – and the War Remnants Museum is a beautiful sight for those who were not told the other side of the story.  It gives voice to the children and women who lie dead in trenches dug by United States military, and it serves as a reminder to the international community on the devastating and damaging effects of war.  

Third generation Agent Orange victim

There was one piece of hope in the museum at the end of the Agent Orange exhibit.  To assist those who have been affected by Agent Orange/dioxin, the Vietnamese have established "peace villages," which each host between 50 and 100 victims, giving them medical and psychological help, including one Vietnam Friendship Village that is organized by US Vietnam Veterans.  While the United States has yet to acknowledge the countless cries, claims and reports that have come from Vietnam demanding acknowledgement, compensation and help in riding the landscape of the highly toxic chemical, the Vietnamese government provides small monthly stipends to more than 200,000 Vietnamese believed affected by the herbicides; this totaled $40.8 million in 2008 alone.

Rewriting History: The Devastating Mistakes of the Vietnam War

War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Please note this entry contains graphic photos.

I always wondered how Germans, 50 years after World War II, could still feel guilty for the Holocaust – when they had nothing to do with the war, weren’t even alive at the time to witness it, and times have long changed.  But now, today, I get it.  Completely.  I feel embarrassed, angry, outraged, responsible but most of all – heartbroken at the actions taken by my country in the Vietnam War.  

 

Body of killed soldier evacuated by helicopter

Americans always pride themselves in being the forerunners for democracy, human rights and the American Dream – and today, I witnessed how our ‘great nation’ single-handedly destroyed another.  The amount of damage that was inflicted by the United States military during the twenty years it fought in Vietnam cannot be encapsulated in one museum, however, from the tour of the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, a small glimpse on this insight can be unleashed.

I started off incredibly excited to see a part of history presented from a different perspective.  I was well aware that my education, although very critical, had not always been prevented from a non-bias angle, and I was anxious to hear the other side. We had signed up for a full day of activities in the city – a small minibus that would drive us around from site to site, describing the history of each structure, museum, palace and building.  The War Remnants Museum was our first stop.  As we pulled up to the door, our tour guide, Win, said “This is the war Americans never talk about and certainly the war that they try to cover up.”  She couldn’t have been more right.  And that two hour visit to the museum couldn’t have been more difficult.  

American soldiers torturing captured enemy by pouring water over towel to suffocate

For those of you who need a refresher (as I did!) the Vietnam War (known here in Vietnam as the ‘American War’) was a Cold War-era conflict that occurred in Vietnam from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. The battle over communism was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States of America and other anti-communist countries.  The Viet Cong (also known as the National Liberation Front, or NLF), a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The Vietnam People's Army (North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle.  U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, and airstrikes.

Vietnamese women and children hiding from American troops

The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment.   American military advisors arrived in the country beginning in 1950 but the first U.S. combat units weren’t deployed until the beginning of 1965.  American involvement in the war peaked in 1968, at the time of the Tet Offensive, and ended on 15 August 1973.  The capture of Saigon by the Vietnam People's Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year.

As I wandered past pictures of fallen international journalists and American soldiers, I stopped to read each story about the life of each American soldier, their hometown, training, and sadly enough – their young age.  But once I left this exhibit and entered the main portion of the museum, it was clear that these were not the only victims and soon, voices of victims I had never heard before became loud and clear.

Mai Lai massacre

If you look at the war itself – it is clear that the Americans lost.  But if you look at the deaths and long term damage, there is no denying that the Vietnamese suffered to a far greater extent.  58,220 Americans were killed at an average age of 23.11 years, with 11,465 killed under 20 years of age.  However, this does not even come close to grasping the amount of deaths for Vietnam – a loss of nearly 10% of their population, with over 3 million lives lost.  Of course it is unfair to compare the value of lives lost against one another, as any death in this way is tragic and unnecessary, but the damage done to Vietnam extends much farther than death toll numbers.

Terrified family seen through the legs of a US soldier

Numbers alone cannot speak for the victims.  The amount of horrific abuses including violent rapes to women and children in rural villages is not recorded or even mentioned to Americans.  The massacre at Mai Lai, where the United States military murdered 504 unarmed civilians from ages one to 82, mainly comprising of women and children was something I had heard in passing, but what was gut-wrenching was learning about the dozens of other massacres that the US military executed that did not catch the international mainstream eye.  It took the United States and international community 20 months to uncover Mai Lai – and there are dozens of others that to this day remain unreported and unknown.

Perhaps, although taken entirely out of context, President Richard M. Nixon said it best, in his 1969 speech, “Let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.”

As a country who prides itself as the leader of democracy, freedom, and liberty, what we executed in the Vietnam war was humiliating – and we can only blame ourselves for it.

*I would just like to note that my overwhelming emotions from today are not directed primarily at Vietnam War veterans, their credibility, or their families.  I feel that the actions taken by the United States government were inexcusable and incriminating and my shock is in relation to the lack of accountability that the United States, or any government of the world, has raised against the U.S. for these horrific actions.

American soldier rescuing Vietnamese baby from the battlefield

Savory Spring Rolls

Of course I eagerly anticipated my chance to sample every fresh shrimp spring roll in town, and within the hour of our arrival, Carolina and I had already walked around town designating the cheapest and most salivating spring roll vendors.  However, we stumbled upon heaven later Friday evening.

They were make-your-own, do-it-yourself chicken spring rolls.  In the beginning, we were bummed they didn’t have shrimp, but decided it was worth a try.  Oh it was worth more than one try – and we each ended up ordering two platters of spring rolls!  

Ingredients for the best spring roll ever!

You started off with the rice paper and slowly added lettuce, basil, mint leaves, cilantro, cucumber and other greens.  Then you added the chicken, drizzled some of the delicious savory sauce over top, and attempted to roll all of it together in one sturdy roll.  Of course, part of the problem was the lack of inexperience rolling – the other part was that these rolls were so darn good, we didn’t want to waste time making the rolls look nice, and instead insisted on devouring them after dunking them in sauce.  Each platter gave us each eight rolls – so we certainly had enough practice to perfect our technique with the 16 rolls we each consumed!

As we shoved the mouth-watering chicken rolls into our mouths and squealed in reaction to the delicious taste, it was easy to say that this was our best meal in Ho Chi Minh City (and our cheapest!).

Good Morning Vietnam!

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!

Carolina and I decided to spend a few extra dollars to fly out to Vietnam 4 days ahead of our class field trip, so that we could see a different city and the southern portion of Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh.  I was desperate to explore the ghostly mansions, tunnels and military bases of the past, and knew that Ho Chi Minh, known as Saigon to just about every local, was the place.

Ho Chi Minh is a city of about 7 million, with a motorbike population of over 5 million.  But when you are actually in the city – it feels like the population is 7 million, with 10 million bikes.  There are SO MANY motorbikes.  I know people had told me “Oh man- the motorbikes in Vietnam” but I thought it couldn’t be much different than in Bangkok.  I could not have been more wrong.  The country imposes a 200% import tax on all cars, in order to encourage everyone to purchase motorbikes – which reduce the amount of traffic jams (although I wonder what they do to the amount of accidents as we saw several in our short time here).

Delicious Fruit Shakes!

We wandered around zigzagging through motorbikes and traffic to find an amazing hostel with our own private room, air conditioning, bathroom, and TV.  Neither one of us have watched TV since we got to Bangkok six months ago – except when we were dazed and confused trying to interpret information during the time of the floods.  For $8 a night we got breakfast, a great air-conditioned room, amazing hospitality, and helpful information.  The bonus was that there was a fruit shake stand across the street from our hotel that made huge fruit smoothies – any combination you could imagine – for less than $1.  I had mango-strawberry, strawberry-mango, passion fruit-mango, orange-pineapple, sweet-sop-strawberry, and many more.  You may be wondering how we had so many different smoothies in only four days – in order to accomplish this daunting task of sampling as many combinations as possible, we set a minimum order of 2 shakes each per day.  They were delicious.

Vietnam: A Kaleidoscope of Shades, Sights and Sounds

Beep!  Beep! Beep!  

You know that feeling where you wake up and forget where you are, what is going on and why you are awake?  Well, at 3:45am when my alarm went off Thursday morning – I had this moment of panic.

I had only slept for two hours – having spent the night prior speaking at the Rotary Club of Silom for dinner and rushing home to do laundry after midnight and pack for our trip.  I had been WAITING for Vietnam for so so so long – but I couldn’t believe it was actually here!  I have been so busy with school that I haven’t even had a chance to get excited for the trip!

I was concerned that my excitement would prevent me from sleeping on the short two-hour flight to Hanoi, however, the minute those jet-engine tires lifted off the runway in Bangkok- I was out.  I woke up just as we were flying into Hanoi and drooled out the tiny plane window at the sight of a new country.

Viet Nam is a place I have wanted to go for quite some time.  It all originated perhaps from my high school sophomore AP History course, where my teacher had us read segments from the infamous “Lies My Teacher Told Me” outlining the mistakes American textbooks make in reporting history accurately.  The Vietnam War (which, in Vietnam is referred to as the ‘American War’) was not a chapter we covered in class, but I anxiously read on and discovered horrific things that were left out of any textbook I had ever read and furthermore, things that I had never heard of.  I wanted to see it for myself.

As I stepped off the plane and entered my first communist country, I couldn’t help but feel incredibly excited and curious.  This huge rush of adrenaline came over me as we negotiated for our cab, threw our backpacks in the truck, and headed out into Ho Chi Minh City.