We cruised on a small ship up the Saigon River into Ho Chi Minh City. As Millennium is too large to cruise the river and go under the bridge, you will be docking in Phu My, about an hour and twenty minutes drive from Ho Chi Minh City. Click here for a google map.
Saigon was the
capital of the southern Republic of Vietnam. After the South lost the war the
city was renamed after Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the northern communists, who
died a few years before the end of the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known and still
referred to as Saigon, is the largest city in Vietnam. The metropolitan area population is greater
than 9 million.
Ken and I were
lucky enough to visit Ho Chi Minh City on our world cruise in 2001. I remember experiencing a multitude of
emotions and couldn’t believe that I was really in Saigon. When first arriving, a terrible sadness
engulfed me as I envisioned the soldiers during the Vietnam War, who didn’t
comprehend that their lives would be forever changed. There were a number Vietnam veterans on our
cruise who bristled with hostility at what they call the “travesty” of the war.
Vietnam, shaped
like an elongated 5, is roughly the size of New Mexico and borders China to the
north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the South China Sea to the east.
The Vietnamese people were happy to see us and provided a hearty and friendly welcome and farewell from the pier.
There are
approximately 9 million people living in Saigon and since 7 million of those
people use motorbikes to get around the city, the traffic is chaotic, but moves
along at a steady pace. You will see entire families riding together
on one motorbike. I just loved seeing
the women wearing the ao dai and long white gloves to protect their arms from
the sun. The ao dai is a tight-fitting
silk tunic, with slits on either side, worn over pants. Almost everyone wears a
mask to block out the toxic fumes from the swarm of traffic. I was sure that I would see an accident, but
thankfully I didn’t! By the way, one guide book wittily advises that if you
decide to ride on any motorized contraptions, get a used GI helmet from the war
surplus market, and notes that the bullet holes will provide good ventilation.
Another experience
that I vividly remember is crossing the street in Saigon. You can literally take your life into your
own hands! Ken and I, along with
another couple, had hired a taxi driver at the pier to be our city guide. My first “crossing the street” experience was
memorable. We disembarked (is that only
a cruise term?) the van and he told us to all hold hands along with him. And then he started walking into the
multi-lane motorbike laden chaotically busy road. What you do is just walk; once you make the
decision to go, you walk and keep walking. By walking
at a steady pace, the motorbike drivers will decide whether to pass in front of
or behind you. This is most definitely easier said than done. I don’t think I closed my eyes, but I thought
about it!
One of the places
we visited was the Ho Chi Minh War Remnants Museum, which could perhaps be
named the “propaganda museum”, as it’s a showcase for all the atrocities that
the Americans perpetrated during the war and a tribute to the Viet Cong winning
the war. Agent Orange is a big topic,
with photos showing terribly malformed people, a visual testament to the
ramifications of its use. Interestingly,
there is not one shred of evidence of the atrocities the Viet Cong perpetrated
against our soldiers. It is a bit “heavy”
but lets you see the war from the Vietnamese point of view.
Another highlight
was the Ben Thanh Market. Fun, busy, and
chaotic, you can put your bargaining skills to work! Yes, it will be crowded but it’s an assault
on the senses! We saw live chickens
being sold…. And in one stall, killed, plucked, and cooked!
Of course, we had
to go to the famous Rex Hotel, a hangout during the war for many of our
GIs. The hotel was made famous during the Vietnam War, where a daily press
briefing occurred in Saigon at the Rex Hotel that was sponsored by the United
States Public Affairs Office. “Five o’clock Follies,” was the term given to
these military press briefings by cynical journalists. Its rooftop bar was a well-known hangout spot
for military officials and war correspondents.[1]
Of note, the Ben Thanh Market and the Rex Bar are two of the places
listed in the book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die”.
On the second day
of our visit, we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, which are located outside the
city. During the war these underground
tunnels gave the Viet Kong the ability to control areas, stretching from the
Cambodian border to Ho Chi Minh City, covering over 250 square miles. Since the consistency of the earth’s red clay
is like rock, the tunnels could be built several stories deep.
We had a
Vietnamese guide, dressed in a gray green military uniform that was rumpled
from the heat of the day. He guided us
along a path through a jungle filled with tall slender trees, which provided a
canopy overhead. Once in a while, he
would stop and ask us if we could find an entrance to one of the tunnels. We would look down at the tangled underbrush,
but see nothing but dried leaves and twigs.
He watched us and with a slight smile, pushed aside the fallen leaves,
revealing an opening that was no more than a foot square. He then demonstrated how the Viet Cong were
able to enter and exit these tunnels. He
held both arms above his head and lowered himself down into the dark
opening. Only someone with a small build
would be able to accomplish this.
So that tourists
can enter the tunnels, a portion has been widened. Most of those in our tour group decided to
lower themselves into the dark opening for a tunnel “crawl”. It’s dark, hot, claustrophobic, and
challenging; but it was a highlight of my visit. If you’re at all claustrophobic, you won’t be
happy crawling through the tunnel… and it is
an option; you don’t have to go in!
Somehow I got separated from those in front of us and I became the lead
tunnel rat. It was so dark and I couldn’t
see anything. We came to a fork in the
tunnel and I didn’t know which way to go.
Fortunately, we made it out… with a big sigh of relief!
One story from our
guide tells of the tunnel coming up right in the middle of a US Army camp. The Viet Cong were able to enter and leave as
they pleased, to either spy on or quietly murder GI’s in their sleep.
We saw mockups of
booby traps used by the Viet Cong during the war. These pits, invisible to the naked eye, are
built into a seemingly innocent pathway and filled with bamboo stakes, pointing
upright, and sharpened to a razor edge.
The unsuspecting would endure a horrible death after falling into this
pit.
The countryside
was amazing, as we passed patchwork landscapes of green rice paddies, where
women, thigh deep in water and mud, are bending low to plant rice in string
straight rows. The farmers’ houses,
built on stilts, sit on dry land; but in monsoon season, the water may flood
the houses.
Most everyone from
the farmers to the city folk, wore the pointy conical hat, the non la, made
from dried palm leaves to provide protection from the sun or the rain.
We visited an area
where people lived and worked on boats, very poverty stricken. Our guide let us take a couple of photos from
the opposite side of the river and then quickly ushered us back into the van as
no photography was allowed and tourists were discouraged from visiting these
areas.
Shopping! Before returning to the ship, I was able to
shop a little! And what a find! I purchased a pair of handmade, lacquer shoes,
sized on the spot for me! Vietnamese
lacquer art is an extremely labor intensive and time consuming work. Every
Vietnamese lacquer shoe usually goes through 20 stages. They are so beautiful
that I have never worn them! They are in
display in my home where I smile each time I see them. Other finds included Vietnamese silk
paintings (I think I paid $1 US each).
They depict wildlife, nature, scenes of everyday life, religious
symbols, most anything. They are
beautiful and easy to pack. I had them
framed once I arrived back home and today they decorate my bedroom walls. On our first day there, we tried to find a
tailor so that I could have an ao dai tailor made, but just didn’t have the
time to make that happen.
We had a great
visit in Ho Chi Minh City and found the Vietnamese people to be very friendly
and welcoming. We just weren’t there
long enough!
