Motorcycles and Propaganda

  Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Thursday, March 1, 2007

Everyone told us that Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) was going to be much busier and more chaotic than Hanoi. This was not the case. To be fair, we were in Hanoi a week before the biggest holiday of the year, when things are at their most frenzied. Compared to that Saigon was pretty laid back. Maybe its bigger size just handles the crowds better.

We were foolish to take an airport taxi - always a bad idea in non-western countries - and ended up in an argument before we even reached the airport gate about the fee. Usually when the driver turns on the meter you assume that you will be then using the meter. He thought that he should be paid double the rate we knew it would cost to get to our hotel. When we told him that we would go by the meter only, he started pushing all the buttons on it to jack up the fee. Irate, we demanded to be dropped off, even throwing our doors open and starting to get out until he stopped. We were then left on the side of the road, needing to find a way to the hotel that did not involve a taxi. Some moto drivers came up and offered their services. We laughed and declined - two people and three large suitcases one the back of two motorcycles? Impossible. After a few minutes and no other options, however, it started to look more appealing. Finally we agreed on a good price and headed off. Julius carried one of the suitcases on his back and the other two were straddled by the moto drivers between their knees. As God as our witness we made it to our hotel and actually had a lot of fun along the way. With all the other motos on the road it felt like being in a hive of bees. Very thrilling!

We didn't have a lot of time in in the city so we did a walking tour to take in all the big sights. The Ho Chi Minh City museum was interesting. Part of it was on the long term history of the city and quite a few exhibits were on the effort to get the French out of the country as well as the Americans. 

Tanzanians and Vietnamese go way back

While the Americans were welcomed by the South Vietnamese government, the museum was not created by the South Vietnamese government. It was created by the current government which had nothing nice to say about the American occupation. "History is written by the victorious" as we like to say in America. It was interesting to get their view, though the propaganda was quite strong.

The exhibit included some gifts from some friendly governments, including Tanzania. Tanzania was never communist per se, but their first President did try some socialist schemes that pretty much collapsed the economy in the 1970's. Some gifts of Kanga cloth and other shows of support were on display.

The next museum we visited was the Reunification Palace, aka the Presidential Palace. This was the home of the South Vietnamese president before the fall of Saigon. The French actually built a palace on this site which was the first building where the South Vietnamese president lived. During the presidency of a very unpopular president, Diem, the French-built palace was bombed by a member of his own air force. He then commissioned the building of the current palace by the country's most acclaimed architect Ngo Viet Thu. Diem's popularity continued to drop, as exhibited by the massive protests of the people. The most famous was probably when the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire in the middle of a busy Saigon street to protest the anti-Buddhist policies of Diem's government. The next coup attempt by the South Vietnamese military was more successful and resulted in Diem and his equally hated brother hiding in a nearby church. They negotiated a surrender but somewhere between the church and the jail they were mysteriously stabbed dozens of times. So, the palace had to be enjoyed by his successor. On a side note, there is another JFK assassination conspiracy theory that had some popularity in Vietnam. Because Kennedy was not a fan of Diem either, it is said that he was fully supportive of the coup. When Kennedy was assassinated 20 days later, some Vietnamese theorized that Diem's family was behind it.

The Reunification palace was fabulous. The guidebooks say it is one of the finest examples of 1960's architecture in the world and they are dead on. You just don't see such perfectly preserved 1960's design anymore. No expense was spared and all the elements of Feng Shui and color schemes were used. We also toured the bottom two floors which were basically bomb shelters filled with (now outdated) communication equipment and maps.

At the end of the tour we got to watch a movie on the history of the palace, including the fall of Saigon. To say it was one sided propaganda would be an understatement but again, it was interesting to see the victor's point of view. The Vietnam vets who were watching the English language movie with us at least had a bit of a sense of humor about the version being presented. 

Sara with Uncle Mao

Watching the film made us think about the concept of propaganda and its role in the world. All countries like to use a little propaganda, especially when reporting on current wars or looking back at past wars. While the propaganda being presented here in Vietnam is not making anything up - there were terrible things done by the South Vietnamese and American militaries - but they make it look like the North Vietnamese "liberators" were completely welcomed, just, and did no harm during and after the "liberation" of the South. We know this is not true. You can ask any refugee who fled from Vietnam in the 1970's. They did not flee due to a bad economy. They fled because others who did not support the new government were being tortured and killed and were being excluded from holding jobs. They were thrown out of their homes and many thrown in jail. When we reached Australia we got an earful from our new friend Houng's grandma, who had nothing good to say about the North Vietnamese or the Viet Cong. Neither side was innocent, but the Vietnamese government did not even hint that they may have done some bad things as well. It made their case less convincing.

The last museum we visited was of War Remnants museum. This museum looked at every terrible thing done by the American and South Vietnamese government during the war (again, this is a museum set up by the communist party). It is a thoroughly depressing museum. These are not things that were made up. All the charges were fully backed up by photographs along with testimony of disgusted war reporters and regretful American soldiers. It is a recounting of all the worst acts that were done by the Americans and the South Vietnamese.

 Massacres were documented along with the heartbreaking stories of the children who survived but still witnessed their entire family being murdered and dismembered. Women were found with their pregnant bellies cut open. Young children, babies and old women were not spared. Further exhibits documented the aftermath of Agent Orange use. Terrible deformed babies, children and adults were shown. Not just Vietnamese, but American and Australian children whose fathers were exposed to this herbicide. The effect on the land was shown, turning jungles into deserts. Torture techniques were recounted, including models of the terrible prisons where POWs were kept.

This is an important museum to visit, not because it gives a "fair and balanced" look at the war (it doesn't). It should be visited to show how terrible war really is. This is showing the war from their side, but there are equally terrible stories from the other side that aren't even included. The most heartbreaking are the stories of the civilians who did nothing but live in the wrong town. You realize that these things go on in every war, everywhere.

This was our last stop in Vietnam and we were sad to be heading off. We learned so much about their country as well as an important time in American history. We may be back but really do recommend it to everyone. Many of our friends and family had to come here to fight in the war but we both agree that now is the time to come back. They will be amazed at the changes.

We flew out on Vietnam Airways for a kings ransom, as they hold the monopoly on these flights. We are always amused at the reaction the Tanzanian passport gets when we are crossing borders. Many proud immigration agents around the world (not just Asia) would slowly flip through each page looking for a visa because they did not want to look uninformed by asking if he required a visa to enter. The ticket agent here was holding his passport and trying to type something into the computer without success. He called over his supervisor and she also looked baffled. She turned to Julius and asked in all seriousness, "What country are you from?" Julius calmly replied, "You are holding my passport". We realized that he was trying to type in the country code and told him to try TZA. It worked. He was glad to learn a new thing that day. We were glad to get our boarding pass. At passport control we went to different agents to save time. My agent saw that we were together and asked if he was my friend. I told him that he was my husband. He said, "He is very dark and you are very light". Not knowing how to answer that I just replied, "Maybe when we have children they will look like you". He found that amusing and we passed on to board our plane.

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