Happy Buddha & the Viet Cong

If you are my age and you lived through the last years of the Vietnam war with regular broadcasts from the BBC, then it's difficult to be in Vietnam and think about anything else than that war. I made it even more difficult by rewatching Ken Burns' incredible documentary of the war, whilst we have been here.

A few days ago, we were in Hanoi, and then later, we were in Halong Bay/Hai Phong, which are two places where far more bombs were dropped than on London, Dresden or Tokyo. They are so normal now, but what were they like in the late 60s and early 70s?

I wanted to ask our hosts multiple times. Did your parents fight in the war? But I didn’t do it. I didn’t even pose the question today as we went through Vietcong tunnels with a guide near Saigon. It just felt wrong to ask.

Visiting the tunnels brought to life the scenes I had seen from the war, The sheer scale of the tunnels is incredible, as is the fact that they were less than 50km from Saigon. I was totally astonished when the guide said the underground town here housed 18,000 people, mostly Viet Cong guerrillas. All living below ground to stay out of sight of spotter planes and bombers.

I crawled through some of the tunnels on my knees, and I didn’t go through the narrowest ones. “Kept narrow to keep out fat American soldiers”. The guide said that nowadays they were less narrow than in the past , and so you happy Buddha ( he meant me with my belly), can get through. Hmm, I was not so sure for some tunnels.

The site also has many old bomb casings and bomb craters, but it also has somewhat perversely a shooting range where you can use an AK47 or an M71. Bullets for sale at a mere $2 each. I demurred.

Nowadays, Saigon has tripled in size to 9 million people, and it feels like 9 million motor scooters, They are everywhere. They move in swarms like bees. The city is vibrant and fun, although the hot spots for nightlife do feel like they have the same offers as when the US soldiers were on rest and recreation. The children were both fascinated by the bustling streets and put off by the women whose role seemed difficult to place, but at best, it was dubious.

To end on a positive note, we had a very positive experience here. The country is stunning, the people are very friendly and super helpful. They are freer than in China. It's well worth a visit even if you were born after 1975,but I say again there is no better historical documentary than Ken Burns “The Vietnam War”. OK, I admit a degree of obsession.Leggi altro