War and Peace

Our second day in Saigon. We arrived early yesterday -- landed, drove to city and did a whirlwind tour of some of the highlights of Ho Chi Minh City: Reunification Palace, The history museum, the War Remnant museum and another ripoff laquer workshop in which the point is to get you to purchase stuff.

You can look these places up in a guidebook. The War Remnant museum was possibly the most moving in that it was filled with photographs of the American war taken by a range of war photographers, including some of the iconic images. Then several rooms of photos devoted to Vietnamese devastated by Agent Orange. Any kind of birth defect you might imagine depicted. The nexus of the two exhibitions was upsetting. To look and think about the impact of this war across a swath of peoples. So today's journey to the Cu Chi tunnels and then the Cao Dai temple touched some sensitive nerves.  The tunnels, in case you're not up on your Vietnam war history, were networks just outside of Saigon, used by the Viet Cong to hide during the war. Turned into a tourist attraction in about 1994, the site lets visitors follow a path created over one section. Along the way, you're invited to view how the Viet Cong and local guerrillas set up kitchens, strategy rooms, dining rooms, hospital -- but over many years prior to the American war.  Visitors can also see the different types of booby traps as well as B-52 craters. Both Dad and I were upset to view the booby traps -- spikes of all kinds hidden under leaves etc. all designed to kill and or maim. Hard to think about young soldiers caught in these devices. And to wonder about the tourists and what they might be thinking as they view. You do get a chance to crawl through short sections of the tunnel and a classic Dad video will be posted eventually. The weirdest disconnect came at the end of the path. You exit the site through a combination gift shop shooting range!  Not sure about the thinking: "let's get the tourists all worked up about war and then invite them to shoot an AK-47???"  We did purchase a fake classic Vietnam lighter.  And then headed off to the incredible Cao Dai temple about 10 kms away.  Cao Dai is a strange conglomeration of religions that was started in Vietnam in the 1920s.  It combines Buddhims, Daoism, Christianity and one of its saints includes Victor Hugo!  Hopefully the video gives you a sense of the joyful, color-infused beauty of this temple. They conduct mass several times a day and we arrived about half-way through. A kind man offered information about the ceiling and our lovely sweet guide, Zhaio, translated away.  Speaking of our guide, Zhaio is the best!  Her English is very strong…again the best of all. She constructs complicated ideas and sentences. She is enthusiastic and helpful. Her mother died in May. She's from a family of 12!  Her father fought with the South Vietnamese Navy…was wounded a bit. And she's only 29 years old.  Pretty too!  Anyway, we're off to dinner.  Tomorrow we head to the MeKong Delta.