Day 9
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) at about 1100 am. We breezed through security and customs and were excited to have a half day to explorer HCMC. We came out of the airport to look for our tour guide. No signs with our names to be found. Very frustrating. We arranged for pickups at the cities that do not have subways that are easy to use to get to our hotels. HCMC does not have that and they don't speak English. Here we are with no ride/guide. We found the hotel worker for the hotel we were going to check into and he called our tour company. They were 30 minutes behind. She came running to meet us and apologized profusely. Not the best start, but hey, we had our English speaking guide so we were set.
She was younger and spoke good English which was nice. We did a city tour which was fun. We went to the Eastern Medicine Museum to see how they use eastern medicines to treat illnesses. We explored the Chinese market, yep, Chinese as they once ruled the country so they have a big presence here. All in all, a great start. +New World Hotel
We checked into the New World Hotel and got lucky as they upgraded us to the Residence floor. Free happy hour! Full top shelf liquor and great food. President Clinton and Bush both stayed here when they last visited HCMC. Our floor had its own reception desk which came in handy since our room key frequently stopped working. They blamed one of our credit cards or cell phone. Who knows. The floor had its own private outdoor space which was great to sit for happy hour.
We had a cyclo tour scheduled at 6:00. I didn't exactly know what to expect. We have now seen rickshaws, tuk tuks, and now cyclos. So here is the differences:
Rickshaws: this is what we took in Beijing when exploring the hutong. Biker in front with a carriage like seat for two people behind him. The bike is manual pedal style.
Tuk tuks: this is the same set up, but the bike is motorized. We haven't been in one of these yet. Many people got around in these in Cambodia.
Cyclo: best concept yet. I had seen both of the first two when traveling before but not the cyclo. Here they put the passenger in the front so you get a better view. This makes sense so you don't stare at your biker the whole time. The downside is that it is only one seat in front. If there were two seats, the biker couldn't see.
This tour was awesome. It amazes me how different the city feels when you slow down and are not in a car. It is different from walking around as you don't have to pay attention to your route or each step. You simply put your feet up and watch the city live! My driver did not speak English which was perfect as I appreciated the quiet time.
We had a fabulous Vietnamese dinner at Hao Tuc. It has also been fun trying the different types of beers. To be honest though, most lagers taste the same. Sometimes I think they just taste better as they are less than a dollar!
Speaking of dollars. $1 USD equal about 21,000 VND. VND = Viet Nam Dong. This is very weird as I went to the ATM to get money out and hesitated to remove 1 million Dong until I realized it was only $47. I never got used to carrying around 500,000 bills.
We decided not to do some foot exploring as there was time for that tomorrow. I really enjoyed our first day in Vietnam.
Day 10
After a great breakfast on our floor at the hotel (business world travelers live the high life in these hotels!), we met our guide to head to the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Vietnam war museum. I was excited for today to learn about the War. Remember, we are in South Vietnam which is who the US Soldiers helped support in battling Communistic North Vietnam. I state this as Kristen and I were very shocked with the message that both sites highlighted. I am not going to pretend to be a Vietnam War expert and will not go into what I know to be the truth. However, the entire day was spent highlighting how horrific America was for fighting Vietnam. There was no mention at either exhibits that there was a civil war going on between their own citizens. There was no mention of France, China or other countries who were helping with the fight. It was basically, look at want America did to our country.
Our guide and all of the exhibits highlighted how much they celebrated when the US pulled out and Vietnam could celebrate their "Independence". After some fairly deep discussion with the guide, we had to agree that they were celebrating their unification as one country, as the north took over the south and the south actually lost their Independce. Anyways, enough war talk. After contemplation, it makes sense why the message is the way that it is. The communist government controls the message at these exhibits and of course they do not highlight that the north Vietnamese soldiers also killed Vietnamese citizens from the south. Also, many of the south Vietnamese citizens who did not want communism were either killed or left for America after the war.
What shocked us both was how one sided all of the exhibits were. Additionally we were shock at how our guide spoke at how horrific America was by randomly attacking Vietnam in order to colonize it and how proud she was that her country was smart enough and able to battle of America. She spoke how free and clean her country was and how communism was good for their country. This was the same sentiment we heard from other English speaking guides. What shocked us the most was later she described how she had plans to move to America in three years with her boyfriend. Her plan was to have her baby in America so her baby can have US citizenship.
All of this highlights to me a few things:
1) no doubt we are all lucky as hell to have been born in America.
2) how people can be very close minded when they are not exposed to what is available in the world. Kristen and I are very lucky to be able to explore the world to learn this also. This was highlighted when our guide said how proud she was that her city was clean. She said this as we were driving by the river in HCMC with all sorts of visible trash floating in it. No way would we take a swim in that water. She simply has never seen cleaner. HCMC is definitely cleaner and more advanced than Beijing, Xian, Siem Reap, etc... However, it is no where close to meeting American standards.
3) even though people know it can be better, they would rather learn that themselves. People in the masses would rather continue as they know it than believe someone else that it can be better a different way. This really interests me to learn more about our foreign policies. We can't continue to try and help people who don't want help. I appreciate the hard grey area as I do believe that the US has to help in many instances. Kristen and I talked about this a lot as it highlights why we step in when there is additional political gain when helping mankind of other countries. We have to prioritize resources in the US and abroad and at some point someone gets help and someone doesn't. That list must be very difficult for our country's leaders. Traveling has made me realize that we can most certainly help with many basic societal problems in other countries that would help millions of people. Prioritizing that compared to our own country's needs is very complicated.
4) Observing the exhibit on Agent Orange was not pleasant. I felt embarrassed to be American. I wondered how hypocritical other countries see us knowing that we nowadays advocate heavily agents chemical weapons. There is nothing that can be said to defend our decision on Agent Orange, it was simply wrong. I do reflect on trying to understand why we did it. Did we know its effects on humans? Ever since then, it appears that we have learned our lesson. It almost feels like the US is similar to an old drug addict who now tours schools to advocate against its use. Maybe we have learned our lesson. We must find a way to win wars in more diplomatic ways. I also reflect on how a few key individuals are empowered to make decisions like this. They truly do represent us. The rest of the world initially judges us as individuals based on the decision our country makes.
All in all, today's experience really prevent a recommendation for Americans to travel to Vietnam. The people here have been friendly to our face, but we are uncertain how they all truly feel or would feel if they knew we were American. Hard for us to understand, but many can't tell if we are European, Canadian, or American. I especially do not recommend if anyone has an emotional tie to the war. It upset both of us and we don't.
We did not feel comfortable taking pictures of the exhibits in the war museum. Images of war are brutal and were not necessary to document our trip.
We finished a day with free dinner at our happy hour and a stroll though the streets of HCMC. Some fun pictures and video of this experience.
Important to note: we are waiting until we are out of country to post this or any similar messages on Facebook. The guide stated that Facebook was supposed to be blocked, but most people could actually get on it. I definitely believe that speech is monitored.
Vietnam pictures click here
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) at about 1100 am. We breezed through security and customs and were excited to have a half day to explorer HCMC. We came out of the airport to look for our tour guide. No signs with our names to be found. Very frustrating. We arranged for pickups at the cities that do not have subways that are easy to use to get to our hotels. HCMC does not have that and they don't speak English. Here we are with no ride/guide. We found the hotel worker for the hotel we were going to check into and he called our tour company. They were 30 minutes behind. She came running to meet us and apologized profusely. Not the best start, but hey, we had our English speaking guide so we were set.
She was younger and spoke good English which was nice. We did a city tour which was fun. We went to the Eastern Medicine Museum to see how they use eastern medicines to treat illnesses. We explored the Chinese market, yep, Chinese as they once ruled the country so they have a big presence here. All in all, a great start. +New World Hotel
We had a cyclo tour scheduled at 6:00. I didn't exactly know what to expect. We have now seen rickshaws, tuk tuks, and now cyclos. So here is the differences:
Tuk tuks: this is the same set up, but the bike is motorized. We haven't been in one of these yet. Many people got around in these in Cambodia.
Cyclo: best concept yet. I had seen both of the first two when traveling before but not the cyclo. Here they put the passenger in the front so you get a better view. This makes sense so you don't stare at your biker the whole time. The downside is that it is only one seat in front. If there were two seats, the biker couldn't see.
This tour was awesome. It amazes me how different the city feels when you slow down and are not in a car. It is different from walking around as you don't have to pay attention to your route or each step. You simply put your feet up and watch the city live! My driver did not speak English which was perfect as I appreciated the quiet time.
We had a fabulous Vietnamese dinner at Hao Tuc. It has also been fun trying the different types of beers. To be honest though, most lagers taste the same. Sometimes I think they just taste better as they are less than a dollar!
Speaking of dollars. $1 USD equal about 21,000 VND. VND = Viet Nam Dong. This is very weird as I went to the ATM to get money out and hesitated to remove 1 million Dong until I realized it was only $47. I never got used to carrying around 500,000 bills.
We decided not to do some foot exploring as there was time for that tomorrow. I really enjoyed our first day in Vietnam.
Day 10
After a great breakfast on our floor at the hotel (business world travelers live the high life in these hotels!), we met our guide to head to the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Vietnam war museum. I was excited for today to learn about the War. Remember, we are in South Vietnam which is who the US Soldiers helped support in battling Communistic North Vietnam. I state this as Kristen and I were very shocked with the message that both sites highlighted. I am not going to pretend to be a Vietnam War expert and will not go into what I know to be the truth. However, the entire day was spent highlighting how horrific America was for fighting Vietnam. There was no mention at either exhibits that there was a civil war going on between their own citizens. There was no mention of France, China or other countries who were helping with the fight. It was basically, look at want America did to our country.
What shocked us both was how one sided all of the exhibits were. Additionally we were shock at how our guide spoke at how horrific America was by randomly attacking Vietnam in order to colonize it and how proud she was that her country was smart enough and able to battle of America. She spoke how free and clean her country was and how communism was good for their country. This was the same sentiment we heard from other English speaking guides. What shocked us the most was later she described how she had plans to move to America in three years with her boyfriend. Her plan was to have her baby in America so her baby can have US citizenship.
All of this highlights to me a few things:
1) no doubt we are all lucky as hell to have been born in America.
2) how people can be very close minded when they are not exposed to what is available in the world. Kristen and I are very lucky to be able to explore the world to learn this also. This was highlighted when our guide said how proud she was that her city was clean. She said this as we were driving by the river in HCMC with all sorts of visible trash floating in it. No way would we take a swim in that water. She simply has never seen cleaner. HCMC is definitely cleaner and more advanced than Beijing, Xian, Siem Reap, etc... However, it is no where close to meeting American standards.
3) even though people know it can be better, they would rather learn that themselves. People in the masses would rather continue as they know it than believe someone else that it can be better a different way. This really interests me to learn more about our foreign policies. We can't continue to try and help people who don't want help. I appreciate the hard grey area as I do believe that the US has to help in many instances. Kristen and I talked about this a lot as it highlights why we step in when there is additional political gain when helping mankind of other countries. We have to prioritize resources in the US and abroad and at some point someone gets help and someone doesn't. That list must be very difficult for our country's leaders. Traveling has made me realize that we can most certainly help with many basic societal problems in other countries that would help millions of people. Prioritizing that compared to our own country's needs is very complicated.
4) Observing the exhibit on Agent Orange was not pleasant. I felt embarrassed to be American. I wondered how hypocritical other countries see us knowing that we nowadays advocate heavily agents chemical weapons. There is nothing that can be said to defend our decision on Agent Orange, it was simply wrong. I do reflect on trying to understand why we did it. Did we know its effects on humans? Ever since then, it appears that we have learned our lesson. It almost feels like the US is similar to an old drug addict who now tours schools to advocate against its use. Maybe we have learned our lesson. We must find a way to win wars in more diplomatic ways. I also reflect on how a few key individuals are empowered to make decisions like this. They truly do represent us. The rest of the world initially judges us as individuals based on the decision our country makes.
We did not feel comfortable taking pictures of the exhibits in the war museum. Images of war are brutal and were not necessary to document our trip.
We finished a day with free dinner at our happy hour and a stroll though the streets of HCMC. Some fun pictures and video of this experience.
Vietnam pictures click here
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Agree with your sentiment here. Its so bizarre that so many citizens of the U.S. are in agreement that we don't need to get involved in every civil war or drop bombs then drop a billion dollars to clean it up. I can't imagine what it was like hearing this in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteSo happy you shared this. Looks like you had an interesting trip. I'm looking forward to sharing our experience after we get back from visiting Northern Vietnam.
ReplyDelete