I have just returned from a lovely 12 hour tour of the Demilitarized zone. Although lovely is quite generous as is tour, I still learned and saw alot nonetheless. The tour guide unfortunately spoke really bad English and we spent more time sitting on the bus then sight seeing, but either way it was an eye opening experience.The American war, as the Vietnamese call it essentially began as the French lost its hold on the country, in the 
mid 1950s(Dien Bien Phu). America who had been backing France realized it had to take matters into its own hands to prevent the domino effect. Fueled with Red scare fever, they split the country in two, on the 
17th parallel, also a river, forming a 10km Demilitarized Zone. (shown in picture to right, this statue was on the Southern side) Once split, the Vietnamese had less then one year to decide who they had alliegence to, the Communist North or the American backed South. There was to be an election to reunite the country after that year, but that election never came. The American's used the split to garner support and get the support of the people of the South. The war waged on for nearly twenty years with neither side making many strides until Khe Son, which occured around the same time at the Tet Offensive, when the Western media finally realized that they were not winning the war, and public opinion essentially forced Nixon to abandon the war, giving American's their first military loss in their history(if you are really interested on my theories of the media's impact on the Vietnam war, I wrote my senior thesis on it and will email it to anyone interested.)
mid 1950s(Dien Bien Phu). America who had been backing France realized it had to take matters into its own hands to prevent the domino effect. Fueled with Red scare fever, they split the country in two, on the 
17th parallel, also a river, forming a 10km Demilitarized Zone. (shown in picture to right, this statue was on the Southern side) Once split, the Vietnamese had less then one year to decide who they had alliegence to, the Communist North or the American backed South. There was to be an election to reunite the country after that year, but that election never came. The American's used the split to garner support and get the support of the people of the South. The war waged on for nearly twenty years with neither side making many strides until Khe Son, which occured around the same time at the Tet Offensive, when the Western media finally realized that they were not winning the war, and public opinion essentially forced Nixon to abandon the war, giving American's their first military loss in their history(if you are really interested on my theories of the media's impact on the Vietnam war, I wrote my senior thesis on it and will email it to anyone interested.)
This is the American perspective, and very abbreviated. I was hoping to get the Vietnamese perspective, yet due to the unhelpful tour guide I was unable to hear the history, and only able to absorb the present and what was presented to me. So to dispell some myths....
Vietnam is not some dirty, horrible jungle. As I hope 
you see from the pictures, it is a great, vast mountinous area. (although even the pictures don't do it justice) It's topography definately aided the Vietnamese army, but it also greatly hurt the people. We visited a 
group of tunnels that the citizens of the town had dug in order to protect themselves from the invavions. Entire cities were built underground within the mountains. Yet unlike the amazing architecture of US bombshelters which were glorified in movies such as Blast from the Past, these tunnels were bareboned, small, dark and dingy. We walked through them, but don't let that smile fool you(I'm guilty of that cheesy American smile), it does not mean that it was a happy place to be. Each 
family was assigned a room, which was no bigger then a 4 door car. It was essentially made out of wet clay, constantly staining everyone's clothes. 
They had separate little alcoves for the toilet, for living areas and for hospitals. 17 babies were both in those tunnels. (for anyone curious, the people in the statue are fake, but definately scared the crap out of me when I first saw them!!) It was a horrible life. In the middle of the day, me and the 30 other Westerners I was with could hardly get through the tunnels without tripping and falling. The lighting was horrible, and I'm fairly certain it was alot worse 50 years ago. It was small both width wise and height wise(although do remember that Vietnamese are on the whole alot smaller then Westerners), and I had to duck repeatedly to get through. They warned the Claustrophobic that it 
could cause an attack. Imagine having no choice. Imagine being citizens of a country where other, more powerful coutries always seem to know whats better for you, and impose that opinion forcefully. 
Vietnam had been fighting for its own agency, for its own independence for over a century, first from China, then from France and finally from America. One of the people on the tour asked us, "well why didn't the citizens of this town move? Why did they have to go underground." First of all, why should they have to move? It's their country!!! Second of all, not having good communication, they would have had no idea how widespread the war was, and where it was safe to go. Especially with bombing raids so frequent you could set your watch by them. While the rest of the stuff we saw, such as part of the Ho Chi Minh trial(which supplied the North), army bases, and museums, this one site had the biggest impact on me. This would be similar to walking into a concentration camp in Eastern Europe and having them pretend to put the gas on, to show you the fear that the persecuted felt. I felt that fear. I couldn't stand to be in those tunnels for the 20 minutes I was down there, how could people have managed two decades?
you see from the pictures, it is a great, vast mountinous area. (although even the pictures don't do it justice) It's topography definately aided the Vietnamese army, but it also greatly hurt the people. We visited a 
group of tunnels that the citizens of the town had dug in order to protect themselves from the invavions. Entire cities were built underground within the mountains. Yet unlike the amazing architecture of US bombshelters which were glorified in movies such as Blast from the Past, these tunnels were bareboned, small, dark and dingy. We walked through them, but don't let that smile fool you(I'm guilty of that cheesy American smile), it does not mean that it was a happy place to be. Each 
family was assigned a room, which was no bigger then a 4 door car. It was essentially made out of wet clay, constantly staining everyone's clothes. 
They had separate little alcoves for the toilet, for living areas and for hospitals. 17 babies were both in those tunnels. (for anyone curious, the people in the statue are fake, but definately scared the crap out of me when I first saw them!!) It was a horrible life. In the middle of the day, me and the 30 other Westerners I was with could hardly get through the tunnels without tripping and falling. The lighting was horrible, and I'm fairly certain it was alot worse 50 years ago. It was small both width wise and height wise(although do remember that Vietnamese are on the whole alot smaller then Westerners), and I had to duck repeatedly to get through. They warned the Claustrophobic that it 
could cause an attack. Imagine having no choice. Imagine being citizens of a country where other, more powerful coutries always seem to know whats better for you, and impose that opinion forcefully. 
Vietnam had been fighting for its own agency, for its own independence for over a century, first from China, then from France and finally from America. One of the people on the tour asked us, "well why didn't the citizens of this town move? Why did they have to go underground." First of all, why should they have to move? It's their country!!! Second of all, not having good communication, they would have had no idea how widespread the war was, and where it was safe to go. Especially with bombing raids so frequent you could set your watch by them. While the rest of the stuff we saw, such as part of the Ho Chi Minh trial(which supplied the North), army bases, and museums, this one site had the biggest impact on me. This would be similar to walking into a concentration camp in Eastern Europe and having them pretend to put the gas on, to show you the fear that the persecuted felt. I felt that fear. I couldn't stand to be in those tunnels for the 20 minutes I was down there, how could people have managed two decades?I am really glad that I came here. This is exactly what I 
wanted to see on my travels. Thailand was great to understand the culture, and the present, but I was hoping Vietnam would show me some of the past. I was especially hoping to see a past not full of American propoganda(although I am sure I saw some Vietnamese biases, if only subtely). As a historian and future history teacher, it is important to see both sides of the story, and then ascertain the truest account you can based on the confirming evidence. Here, I see a country who wanted its freedom, and super powers who wanted to impose their own view instead. This was not a war concerning Vietnam whatsoever, it was a war of ideologies, in which neither side won. Yes, Vietnam might be communist, but from what I can see its just as Capitolistic as America. The market economy still exists, as does private property. The authories might be more overtly covert and their "progress" might not be as comples as our own, but other then that they are capitolist in all but word.
wanted to see on my travels. Thailand was great to understand the culture, and the present, but I was hoping Vietnam would show me some of the past. I was especially hoping to see a past not full of American propoganda(although I am sure I saw some Vietnamese biases, if only subtely). As a historian and future history teacher, it is important to see both sides of the story, and then ascertain the truest account you can based on the confirming evidence. Here, I see a country who wanted its freedom, and super powers who wanted to impose their own view instead. This was not a war concerning Vietnam whatsoever, it was a war of ideologies, in which neither side won. Yes, Vietnam might be communist, but from what I can see its just as Capitolistic as America. The market economy still exists, as does private property. The authories might be more overtly covert and their "progress" might not be as comples as our own, but other then that they are capitolist in all but word. Overall this was a great experience and something that I have most been looking forward to since I booked the 
tickets to South East Asia. I wanted culture, and I have it coming out my ears, but now I have more history as well. Coming here, makes me realize how much I really would like to visit Europe and spend some time there to really get to understand the roots of American culture, as well as my roots, especially in Austria and Poland. I hope to soon. I also got to realize how great it is to travel on your own. As my previous blog stated, you are never really alone, even when you think you are. So maybe I was a bit hasty naming my blog. Oh well.
Although I haven't firmly made the decision, I think I am going to stay here another day and leave back to Hoi an the following morning, spend a few hours there and then take the night bus back to Nha Trang. I am debating whether or not to spend more time here, or spend more time in Hoi an. But our bus broke down about 2 miles away from my hotel, and I decided instead of waiting(I really had to pee!!) I just decided to walk it, and surprisingly I made it accurately(and unscathed!), and also got to really see the city, and I think I wanna do it justice and explore it for the whole of tomorrow instead of just the morning. Isn't it great that I get to make decisions like that?
Ok, this blog is long enough, but also one of the most important, I think. Peace out yo.
2 comments:
very interesting lacy, i can't wait to hear all your stories in person!!
What's the difference between a larger country who imposes its will on smaller countries, and a single political Party that opposes its will on all its subjects by denying them the opportunity to organize themselves into other political parties and challenge them on a more level playing field?
Food for thought. Nha Trang has been one of my favourite cities since 1968. And I can introduce you to lots of Vietnamese who call it the "North-South War" and still call Saigon exactly that. (Indeed, the signs on the train read "Hanoi - Hue - Saigon" in 2006.)
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