This past weekend, a few friends and I got the chance to visit the dynamically beautiful country of Vietnam. We spent the weekend seeing historic sites, exploring the Mekong River, and being amateur food critics. We had the opportunity to explore both the swift city-scape and the carefree countryside. In this passage, I will offer my comprehensive review of this interesting country by comparing and contrasting the countryside and the city. I will also post a video of our trip in the coming days. But first, I will start with a brief history lesson.
The Vietnam War (referred to by the locals as the American War) devastated the country of Vietnam. The country was bisected into the China and Russia-backed communist North, and the American backed democratic South. To the Americans, the war was necessary to contain the spread of communism, but the Vietnamese considered it a very dark time of civil war and poor living conditions. As the American military fought their way north from the capital city of Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City), they battled gruesome guerrilla warfare from the Vietcong (short for Vietnamese Communists) and the North Vietnamese Army. Troops would face bamboo-spiked booby traps, snake pits, and severe disease as they fought a seemingly endless war. After the resignation of President Nixon and the US Congress becoming mostly democratic in 1974, American troops began to leave Vietnam and the North Vietnamese Army was able to take control of Saigon and declare Vietnam a communist country. Affects of this war were seen everywhere throughout the country, and this was extremely evident in the wild countryside of Vietnam. As we drove down the long country roads, we saw rice farmers tending to their fields and cattle. We visited the village of Cu Chi. This small town was an epicenter of the war, and is now a large museum. It played host to a 250km network of tunnels where the Vietcong would hide during guerrilla warfare. It was a somber experience to see the living conditions of the soldiers as they faced harsh jungle landscape and dangerous wild animals. After that, we took a boat down the Mekong River to get an idea of what living in the countryside would be like. We floated past small fishing villages which would be considered poverty by American standards, but were completely normal to the locals. We stopped at a village and were treated to a delicious lunch of Banh Xeo (Vietnamese pancakes) and grilled mouse. After lunch, we napped in hammocks and enjoyed the slowtown vibe before hopping on bicycles and touring the village. Children waved as we rode past, as we were the first white people many of them had ever seen. The Vietnamese back country is slow and carefree, and a place that will be imprinted in my brain for a long time. On the other hand, downtown Ho Chi Minh city is a fast paced mecca of motorbikes and large businesses riddled with communist propaganda on every billboard. There are more motorbikes than people, and the word "ground is synonymous with "trashcan". Crossing the street is a daunting journey because there are no traffic laws. You must be brave and find a gap in the traffic and cross while praying that you don't get hit. The nightlife is vibrant, exotic, and diverse. People walk around hoisting pythons, blowing fire, and offering drugs to every foreigner. Beer is also 25 cents a pop which makes for a very rowdy crowd. Quiet rooftop bars reside on every street corner to offer refuge from the wild streets. The city has many markets offering anything from t-shirts and trinkets to coffee and raw pig brain to eat. You mustn't pay full price for anything, as bartering is a way of life here. No trip to Vietnam is complete without a steaming bowl of Pho, a delicious dish of rice noodles, beef, and every vegetable under the sun. You are never more than 2 minutes from a Pho shop which makes it both convenient and satisfying My trip to Vietnam was packed full with beautiful scenes, great memories, and loads of culture, but one thing stands out in particular: the people. No matter where you are, the Vietnamese people are among the most hospitable and content that I have ever met. On our last day, as we were standing on the corner waiting for a motorbike taxi, an elderly woman approached me and told me that "life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood backwards." As she left me to contemplate, she gave me a rose and went on with her day. In a country still struggling with the affects of a 20 year civil war, the people are extremely optimistic and maintain high moral, and that says more about a country than the economic systems, governmental policies, and GDP combined.
1 Comment
Keirsten
7/31/2018 07:13:09 pm
So great that you’re exploring orher countries!
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Chris Bowers
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