HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON), VIETNAM

 March 9, 2023

Good Morning, Vietnam!!  (Robin Williams 1987 movie)

We are docked in an industrial section of Saigon (renamed Ho Chi Minh City) on a canal that resembles the Houston Ship Channel or the Mississippi River because of all the barges that are moving up and down the canal.   

One of the things we really like about Viking is the Enrichment Programs Viking makes available, lectures from very qualified experts on the history of the regions that we are visiting.   Prior to arriving here we heard several lectures on the history of Vietnam and particularly about the Vietnam War (Vietnamese call it the American War).    Included was a commemorative program recognizing those who served in the Vietnam conflict.   The program was organized by the Defense Department and is being provided at multiple events and venues, commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the Peace Agreement with North Vietnam.

A very brief history of Vietnam.   Vietnam has been at war with various factions over the last 1000 years.   China has been their primary adversary, because Vietnam’s long border along the South China Sea makes the country a strategic treasure.   In the hundred years or so prior to WWII, France considered Vietnam its colony and exploited its resources.  During WWII Japan took control and at the end of the war Vietnam, under Ho Chi Minh’s leadership, declared Vietnam’s independence.   The French had other thoughts and tried to reassert colonial control. A battle ensued for many years, ending in 1954 with a peace agreement that divided the country in half.  Ho Chi Minh installed a Marxist government in the North, and the South established a non-communist government/regime that the U.S. supported.   The South’s leadership never gained popular support and in time an insurgency arose that was supported by the North.   In an incremental fashion, the U.S. began to get involved militarily to put down the insurgency (named the Viet Cong) and by 1965 all out war ensued.   The U.S. did not want to see South East Asia become Communist and felt Vietnam becoming Communist would lead to a domino effect in the region.   Ultimately, American citizens became intensely disenchanted with the war and, in effect, demanded the Administration end the conflict.   In 1973 the U.S. and North Vietnam signed a peace treaty, the U.S. withdrew and in 1975 the North stormed the South and took control, making all of Vietnam a communist nation.   As in the Soviet Union, communism ultimately failed to the extent that the Vietnamese couldn’t even feed themselves.   As an example, a rice farmer would only grow enough rice for his family, because any additional would be taken by the government with no compensation.   In the late 1980s new Vietnam leadership essentially abandoned communist ideology and encouraged private ownership, profit making and investments by foreign countries.    Today Vietnam has one of the most vibrant economies in SE Asia and has built constructive relationships throughout the world, including with the U.S. and all Western democracies.   

Our tour into Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) blew us away.   It’s a thriving city of nearly 10 million people.  There are many gleaming new buildings along with structures hundreds of years old.   They don’t have much in the way of public transportation, so the populace has embraced motor bikes.   It is the fastest mode of transportation as they can weave in and out of traffic and up on the side walks.   They seem to move in waves.   We saw NO police!  Often you’ll see a family of 3 or 4 on a single bike and they can load almost anything on the back.   Our guide said there were an estimated 5 million bikes in the city.   I think we saw them all during our bus ride through the city and back.   The most popular is a 100cc bike that costs about $1,000 and lasts about 10 years.   Honda and Yamaha are the biggest providers.  

We took a tour first the Cu Chi tunnels northwest of the city.   These tunnels (more than 100 miles of them!) were used for years by the Viet Cong in the war against the Americans.   They could pop up out of the ground, attack a target and then disappear back underground.   The tunnels had kitchens, meeting rooms, barracks and weapon making rooms.   After seeing the tunnel system up close and personal, we returned to the city and did a brief tour of Vietnam’s war museum.   As one would expect the museum was one-sided and emphasized the brutality by the Americans.   We didn’t stay long.   The real take away is wars are bad.   

View of Saigon skyline from top of Rex Hotel, the hotel where many journalists stayed during the war.   The tallest building then was only 5 stories

                    Motor bike traffic...we'll have more shots of this phenomenon

           Making good use of the bike.   They can load all manner of stuff on the bike.

                                             

   Jungle above Cu Chi tunnels.   During the war the path shown above did not exist.

Replica of Viet Cong soldiers.   Women had black uniforms to distinguish them from males.

Man going into tunnel.  Very small opening.  Once he descends below ground he'll pulls camouflage lid to close and hide the opening.

Mound that looks like termite mound used to hide hole that provides air to tunnel

Replica of two VCs in an underground weapons manufacturing room sawing an unexploded bomb to collect the gun powder.   Very dangerous work.

Groundhog man climbing out of tunnel.   Rich crouched through 30 ft of tunnel about 4 ft high and the width of his shoulders.  One big guy in our group got stuck and had to be helped out.    

Here they come... a herd of motor bikes