Saigon

Also called Ho Chi Minh City, it was renamed after the fall of Saigon in 1975. However, many locals still use the previous name in memory of the city’s pre-war history. Besides the history, the city is filled with markets, temples, catholic churches, and millions of mopeds! By now we’ve become professionals at crossing the road in third world countries, but HCMC has the added obstacle of numbers. After figuring there were just too many to count we learned that there are about 3 million motorbikes zigzagging the congested streets. It is the main method of transportation as it is affordable and convenient to navigate the city of 7 million; that’s the total population of Laos! 3 million sounded low to us but then we figured that, on average, each moped usually transports 3 people.

Arriving in the afternoon we met up with some friends from Nha Trang, Eriola and Morgan, for an exotic dinner at Duyen Hai Restaurant. Nothing normal about this place! Though we missed the cobra slaying and heart eating, we did partake in the consuming of cobra stew. With the Vietnam Cheers, “Yo”, the bright red shot of snake blood went down the hatchet. There were many other bizarre dinner options that we didn’t try like bat, porcupine, and gator. After dinner we made our way out to the bump’n Saigon clubs. Thanks girls for the fun night and the pics!


The next day we wandered around some markets and temples before going to the War Remnants Museum. The museum was much more informative, yet distressing, than the one in Hanoi. Vietnam was a horrible mess and it is shows throughout the exhibit in quotes, numbers, but mainly heart wrenching black and white photos. While you have to wonder if the captions on some of the pictures are completely accurate, you can’t get over the fact that the captured image happened to somebody.


For our last morning we headed out of town to the Cao Dai Cathedral and the Cu Chi Tunnels. Founded in Vietnam in the 1920’s, Cao Daoism, is an intriguing fusion of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, and Islam. This out-of-place cosmic like place of worship is enshrouded in a blend of pastels, dragon columns, and mirrored stars. Just like the priest themselves, the colors have a symbolic meaning. Yellow is for Buddhism and virtue, blue for Taoism and pacifism, and red for Confucianism and authority. At noon, the patrons wander out harmonically chanting as they slowly made their way down the checkered floor. Women on the left and men on the right, they formed ordered rows based on level of practice. Quite an interesting sight to behold, but you hope that tourism doesn’t overrun this curiously enchanting place.


A severe contrast to the peace of Cao Dai, we enter the grounds of the Cu Chi Tunnels. The 75 mile intricate underground maze was originally built during French reign and later expanded during American occupation. These small tunnel systems became the Guerrillas’s underground city acting as homes, hospitals, and weapon storage while spending most of the day inside and only alighting at night. We crawled through the “Big People Tunnels” and couldn’t wait to get out. We can’t image what life was like for these people. Food and water was minimum, tunnels were crawling with poisonous insects, spiders, and mosquitoes. Malaria was the second cause of death after battle wounds and “100% of the population had intestinal parasites of significance.” For the first real time in Vietnam, however, we experienced the wartime propaganda as we listened to the black and white video say “Cu Chi, the land of many gardens, peaceful all year round under shady trees ... Then mercilessly American bombers have ruthlessly decided to kill this gentle piece of countryside ... Like a crazy bunch of devils they fired into women and children ... " We found that most Vietnamese no longer hold this harsh view.