| ~ Vietnam ~ |
| On the 28th of January, 2002, I boarded the plane in Inchon, South Korea for warmer climes. The weather in S. Korea during the winter is extremely cold, and since I have been fortunate enough to enjoy a job that gives me two months off in the winter, I decided to take advantage of my situation, and left! Unbeknownst to me, the ticket I had purchased through Thai Airlines, had one more stop than I was expecting. So, in short, after a brief layover in Hong Kong, China and another in Bangkok, Thailand, I finally set down on Vietnam soil, at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City, otherwise known as Saigon. It was late in the evening, and I was a bit exhausted, after briefly visiting four countries in the span of fourteen hours, and found my way to Fam No Lau, which is the "backpackers section" of the city. I was able to find a place to stay with little difficulty, for about $8 dollars a night, which is about average for Saigon. (Some places can go for as little as a dollar, if you don't mind sleeping on the floor of the balcony, next to other smelly backpackers.) Anyhow, I dropped my bags and went out to see a bit of the nightlife in the area, with John, an English traveler, and Gwynne, a buddy I met in the Peace Corps, who is also teaching English in Korea. We found a quaint little pub, that seemed to be the heart of the area, or at least the most popular, and settled in for a few beers. Vietnam beer is much better than Korean, in my personal view, and much cheaper as well. A large bottle will cost, on average, between 70 cents to a dollar fifty, depending on where you buy it. As we sat sipping the brews, cute little girls between the ages of 6 and probably 26, filtered through the bar selling anything from packs of gum, to copied novels (about $5 a piece) to a back, foot or shoulder message. It was a bit sad to see the younger ones, who were obviously sent there by their parents, to hoc cheap goods to tourists, and their profit going into mom or dad's pocket. That's always one of the bad things about visiting a developing country...the children, who have to hit the streets to earn a living, rather than having the opportunity to play with their friends, without worrying about where their next meal is coming from. Jan. 29th The next day, we basically just walked around the city, to see what it had to offer. The war museum was interesting, but a bit dilapidated. Some explicit photos of wartime attrocities were on display, making it clear that the Vietnam War (or American War, as the Vietnamese call it) is still a touchy subject, not to be forgotten. After a few vistits to some local temples, we jumped on the backs of some mopeds, which are the main means of transportation and literally pack the streets, and buzzed out to the Cu Chi tunnels. These tunnels, which are about an hour outside the city limits, were used during the War as refuge, and played a huge factor in keeping the Vietcong alive during the most vicious bombing raids. The tunnels have been modified slightly, to allow the average tourist a chance to crawl through a section, and experience the life these people were forced to live during the war. There is no room for claustrophobics, or those afraid of the dark, as the tunnels wind from exit to exit. When I lived in the States, and worked at a golf course during the summers, on the maintanence crew, I worked with a Vietnam Vet, who was a tunnel rat. Basically, after a tunnel had been discovered, and a grenade had been launched, the tunnel rats would have to venture down, into the belly of these tunnels armed with a .22 handgun and a flashlight. An incredibly heroic, insane and very deadly job, as many of the tunnels were booby-trapped, or led to an opening where a possible lucky few surviving Vietcong were waiting with something equally as deadly. to be continued ~ |