Vietnam

VIETNAM – I didn’t know what to expect going into Vietnam. It’s a country I didn’t know much about except for the brief history that I was taught about the Vietnam War. The first day in Vietnam the ship made the scenic trip up the Saigon River to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). I honestly don’t know how this keeps happening but once again I was first off the ship because a day trip I was on had to get off quickly in order to go to our meeting. We headed to a porcelain factory and spoke with the CEO. It was very interesting seeing how this high-end tableware and various products are made. The best part though was the CEO hosted us to a lunch at one of his restaurants and it was delicious. After a while I lost track but it was like a seven-course meal or something. Back in town later in the day, I went into town and just explored the area before heading back to the ship for the night. There are market areas where you can go get your goods very cheap like backpacks, luggage, shoes, shirts, or pretty much anything. They are probably all knock offs though. Downtown Saigon is pretty modern and a very nice city area. Walking around and getting across streets is an adventure however. Pretty much all the Vietnamese havemotorbikes so there’s hundreds of them passing by at once and at many places there isn’t a traffic light. So how do you cross? Well you literally step out into traffic keep a steady pace and don’t stop and somehow everyone maneuvers around you. It really is a crazy experience and quite the adrenaline rush.

            The second day I had an early departure to head up to Hanoi in the northern part of Vietnam. It’s also the capital city of the country. Hanoi is quite different than Saigon with less city skyscrapers and less of a modern city feel. The Old Quarter though provides an interesting spunk to the city. Arriving in the city by noontime, I had read about a local place that maybe I could try for lunch. The dish I got was basically a noodle bowl with some meat in it. I don’t know exactly what the ingredients were because they didn’t speak English and they just brought us something to eat. It was delicious and the atmosphere was definitely interesting. We dined on tiny plastic stools in a run down open-air store front along the street. After lunch, I toured around the city in probably a way I shouldn’t be saying publicly but motorbike taxis are quite popular. So for a few hours in the afternoon I hoped on one of those and explored Hanoi. This was quite the experience being with all the other motorbikes and crazytraffic but it is really a quite efficient and fun way to get around. The first place I stopped at was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. Around here they have a national park to commemorate the man. You can actually go inside and view his body but unfortunately it its closed on Monday’s. Ho Chi Minh is the leader who led Vietnam to independence against the French and Americans. I also made stops at the Temple of Literature and the Hanoi Hilton. The temple is just an interesting temple area in the city but the Hanoi Hilton is what the American POW’s called this prison in the middle of Hanoi. This is where Sen. John McCain was imprisoned during his capture in Vietnam. In the evening, I went to a water puppet show, which actually was quite interesting and bizarre at the same time.

            On the third day, I took a four-hour bus ride to get to Ha Long Bay on the coast east of Hanoi. This was a spot I was really looking forward to since it was named one of the seven natural wonders of the world. This was the third one I hadseen on this trip along with the Amazon River and Table Mountain being the other two. Ha Long Bay did not disappoint although the weather may have notbeen ideal. It was mostly overcast while we were there so I didn’t get a chance to see the bay when it was completely clear. The boat that we were on was modeled after an old looking junk boat but the interiors of these boats arevery luxurious. Our cruise on the bay was for about 24 hours. The bay is flooded with day trip boats and also the overnight ones. Because some of the boats actually have some character to them, it is a cool sight seeing them all on the bay. Late in the afternoon we stopped to go explore one of the caves and then kayak a little around the bay. Ha Long Bay has around 2,000 mountainous islands popping up around the bay anywhere you look providing an awesome sight or new pattern to see each minute I look a different direction. Lush green brush grows out of the rocky stone. At night on the boat they try to make it a fun night with music and dancing. It was also nice sitting out on the top deck surrounded by the dark shadows of the islands while finally experiencing a comfortable temperature around 70 degrees.

            Waking up on Ha Long Bay was an awesome experience because you just open your door and you are in the middle of this marvelous natural wonder. The boat cruised around the bay a little more in the morning before heading back to the harbor so we could drive back to Hanoi. By time we reached Hanoi it was late afternoon so we had just a couple hours to kill before heading back to the airport for the flight back to Saigon.

            For my final day in Vietnam, I first headed to the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. This also is referred to as the American War Crimes Museum. This experience probably was the most impactful emotionally for all of my five days in Vietnam. First off, in Vietnam the war is called the American War. The museum is quite biased in how it expresses it views but this is a perspective that Americans rarely if ever get to hear. As you enter the museum, outside there stands all of the junk that we left behind once we fled out of Saigon. Various planes, helicopters, tanks, and bombs are all out on display with the lettering “U.S. Army.” Three items really stuck out to me in the museum. First, was a small picture frame displaying awards that an American solider had earned during the war with the message, “To a United Vietnam. I was wrong. I am sorry.” Second, was a picture in the section about countries and people objecting to the war. The picturethat stuck out was the famous picture of the Kent State shooting with the young lady standing over the dead body and giving out a scream. Third, was the exhibit on Agent Orange. This really hits home because Agent Orange is something that is still affecting people today. Because of what we (Americans) decided to do people are still suffering. In the exhibit there was a letterwritten by a young lady aspiring to be a doctor who wrote a letter to President Obama asking for the Americans to provide some type of compensation for thedamages. Over the years some has come there way but not enough. The Agent Orange section of the museum is just brutal highlighting deformities and the horrifying effects of this toxic liquid. Agent Orange was used to basicallyclear the jungle because the Viet Cong (The people the U.S. was trying to fight) were fighting guerilla warfare and would use the jungle to hide.  Because of this Americans would end up killing thousands of innocent citizens in villages by bombing them hoping to kill Viet Cong. More bombs were dropped in Vietnam than any previous war.

            I could go on and on about the war because we had long discussions on the ship in seminars and in classes about the war. We are lucky enough to have President LBJ’s daughter on the ship and hearing her view from a perspective of a presidentduring the war and as a wife of someone who went to fight in Vietnam. I’ve learned that this was a war that the U.S. had no business fighting. If we had known the history of this country then we may have thought twice about stepping into Vietnam. The Vietnamese had been fighting for independence for over 2,000 years against the Chinese, French, and then the Americans. Once the Vietnamese gained independence from the French, that’s when the American stepped in trying to take that away again. That’s something you really can’t fight and contradictory of the values we hold in the Constitution. Those contradictions are boldly highlighted in the museum in large quotes from famous lines about what makes the U.S. great.

            The museum really set up a pondering question for myself as I left Vietnam. How in theheck are we allowed to still go in there and walk out alive?? The museum really made me pounder this because the brutality was displayed often throughout the museum. I never felt mistreated once while in Vietnam and found everyone to be very friendly and that’s something I just can’t quite wrap my head around yet.

           

Food ~ Pho, Bo Bun. There are a lot of things I tried that I don’t have the names of. A lot of seafood, rice, and noodles are what is included in the cuisine.

 

Drinks ~ Tiger Beer

 

I know it’s been quite a while since I posted but as I have said everything is starting to get really crazy and fast. Since I have last posted the Indians have had Opening Day, the Buckeyes were in the Final Four, and I had my 21^st birthday in Beijing. I was confident that the Buckeyes would win it all since I’m not there. It sure doesn’t feel like I’m 21 but thanks to everyone who sent cards my way. I promise you I had a good time and will try to update you sometime soon. It was really cool to still be able to get cards around my birthday. As I post this I’m looking out at the amazing city of Shanghai and its vast different glittering colors of the skyline.  It’s been quite chilly in China compared to the other ports as we head further north. I’ll try to update soon on the week in China but it may not happen until after Japan. The ship has left Shanghai and we’re heading to Japan where we arrive in two quick days on Tuesday morning.