As I posted earlier from Japan, seeing a counties war sites and museums is certainly a interesting experience when your country was the adversary. However, the surreal level really cranks up when the war in question is viewed by the other country as their glorious and successful revolution, rather then a unfortunate mistake in the past. We went to three major war sites in the Saigon area:
Reunification Palace - Saigon
This building in Saigon was the seat of the South Vietnamese government and was where the North's victory was made official in 1975. The war ended when North Vietnamese tanks smashed through the gates and then troops demanded the surrender of the president of South Vietnam. Interestingly, the president was not Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, the leader for most of the war, but Dương Văn Minh, a poor sap who was handed power 48 hours before the tanks rolled through the gate.
The building is a piece of 60's architecture that would look at home on most US college campuses. It would be the semi-modern building that would look out of place and everyone would hate. It is only as old as 1966 because the original was bombed by the South Vietnamese (you read this correctly) Air Force in an assassination attempt of the unpopular president, Diem.
From an architectural standpoint is does improve once inside, where there are large open foyers that actually give the building a very open feel. The stuff on the main floors is mainly the official presidential offices and meeting rooms for foreign dignitaries. The main thing that struck me about this area is the chincyness of the whole place. It is trying to be fancy in a Chinatown restaurant kind of way and does not look like a place of any real power or history. Disturbingly it pretty much looks like the seat of a low budget government, which is pretty much what it was.
In the upper floors of the building is the presidents residence, which is quite modest with the exception of a collection of stuffed elephant's feet. Also on the top levels is a small movie theater with vintage projection equipment and a helipad with a vintage US huey parked on it. There is also a lounge and game room that Austin Powers would be happy to have in his flat, for the use of top government officials.
Next you go to the basement where the command bunker facilities are. It is a really dank and almost claustrophobic place. There are seemingly endless rooms, all with gray painted concrete walls, that have crappy institutional desks and chairs, as well as vintage US radio equipment. You definitely get the feeling of how maddening it must be to command a country from such a dark and cut-off place.
For the last bit of the tour they drop you off at an area where they play a government produced video of the history of the building. The narrator was really hard to understand and we walked in at the end, so we only stayed for a few minutes. The only memorable part was the song they played during the video montage at the end. It had marching band type music as a background and then a choir singing "Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh..." over and over and over again.
War Reminence Museum - Saigon
This is the museum set up for the Vietnam War and the conflicts of that era. Evidently is used to be called "Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes", but was renamed to something a little more subtle when Vietnam reopened to the west.
The museum is three smallish halls surrounding a courtyard filled with captured American tanks, artillery and planes. The first hall was actually a very nice photo exhibit dedicated to news photographers who died in the war. It was actually sponsored by a bunch of western companies, I believe FedEx was one of them. This had a lot of great pictures from the photographers, most of which were published in magazines at the time, and often pictures of the photographers themselves before they died. The photos that I found most affecting were of a female war photographer who's name I cannot find. They had many of her photos as well as one of her in cammo garb. They also had a photo taken by another photographer of her being read the last rights as she lay dieing in a field of tall grass.
The second hall was mostly photos of terrible stuff that was done by the US in the war. Topics covered included My Lai, Agent Orange and the massacare that was admitted to by Bob Kerry in 2001, which I had actually never heard about. Of these the Agent Orange photos were quite disturbing, as well as a very grisly one I had never seen before of a Marine holding up the head and shoulders of a exploded corpse.
The third hall focused on the cruelty of the South Vietnamese regime as well as the French. For the South Vietnamese they had a waterboarding type of device as well as mock ups of the little cages that they used to keep political prisoners in on a deserted island. For the French they had one of their old Guillotines. It makes you jump about three feet back when you look though the little slit into the dark cage and find out there is a wax figure of a prisoner looking back at you. They should really put up a sign about that.
Chu Chi Tunnels - Chu Chi
There are several networks of tunnels that were built by the VC during the war, these are the most visited because they are right outside Saigon and have been set up into kind of a campy war tourist attraction.
Evidently this village of Chu Chi was a hotspot for the VC and war right near a big US military base. The VC in the area fought with the US for the length of the war by using a massive network of tunnels, a few of which have been enlarged for the viewing of tourists.
After buying your ticket, the first thing you do is go in a room where they show a propaganda video that was actually produced by the North Vietnamese during the war. It follows, in its own way, the story of the "Chu Chi Guerrillas". The movie starts with showing the peace loving villagers of Chu Chi tending to orchards and rice patties. Then the US starts bombing the village and kills many innocent people. The ingenious and determined Chu Chi Guerrillas then fight back the US with their network of tunnels, as well as hiding anti-tank mines in rice baskets and other guerrilla war tactics.
The strangest thing is the part where they follow one male and one female (who is quite attractive and made-up for a guerrilla fighter) member of the Chu Chi Guerrillas. They both win the "Killing Many Americans Award" (exact quote) for their mine planting and sniping abilities. I do not know if it is mainly just an issue with the translation of if that is actually the name of their medal of honor. Needless to say, I have never heard of a WWII medal called the "Killing Many Japanese Award".
After the video you get a free tour guide and they take you into the park. The first thing is an old entrance to a tunnel that is just a tiny hole in the ground. If you are skinny enough you can slide down into the hole, but not into the tunnel that leads away from it, and get your picture taken half in the ground. After that there are some bomb craters, a burned out US tank and many surface level bunkers with exhibits of how they were used to make weapons, treat the wounded or cook food. The kitchen is kind of neat because they have an underground chimney that lets the smoke out 20m away from the bunker. There is also a workshop where they make sandals out of old tires that were supposedly used by the VC in the war and were supposedly invented by Ho Chi Minh.
We declined the offer to go to the firing range where you can shoot an M-16 or AK-47 for one US dollar a bullet.
Our tour guide was a really nice and funny guy, but his habit of referring to US soldiers as "your army" made everything sound even more disturbing. When you are in the area where they have models of various sharpened bamboo traps he demonstrates each one by saying "your soldier step here then... whap!".
As for the tunnels themselves, you can walk about 200m through a tunnel that is only barely big enough to allow you to walk through bent over rather then on your hands and knees. There was a little bomb shelter room in the middle, but mostly it was just a tunnel. The air is really hot and stuffy and since only the guide has a flashlight, the person at the back walks mostly in the dark. It is a short experience, but the fact that people spent years living in this underground environment gives you an idea of how determined the VC was to win. The fact that after 5-10 minutes in there I was drenched in sweat also makes you appreciate how tough they were.
Conclusion
Let me start by saying that I in no way think that the Vietnam war sights are presented in any balanced way. The point of these places is to celebrate the glory of the current regime and they certainly in no way say anything about the ruthless tactics of the VC and NVA. However, the effect of these types of places, at least to me, is to emphasize how terrible war is, regardless of who is right and who is wrong.
It is also a little disappointing how few Americans are exposed to pictures of mangled corpses and deformed children that are the result of modern war. There is such an effort in our country, in newspapers, museums and on TV to shield us from any objects or images that disturb the myth of the glory of war. I would love to see someone build a place like this in DC. I don't think the effect of more exposure on people would be to make them never want to fight when it is necessary, but it may temper the belligerence that exists around how we need to bomb this country or that. It may also give people an idea of what it means to "Take the Gloves Off", which is too often floated as a solution when wars are not going well.
On a side note, as Japan made me want to do some more research into the endgame of WWII, Vietnam made me want to look more into the use of Agent Orange. I would be interested to know how the people who approved the use of a powerful chemical that killed all vegetation, and had effects on humans that were not fully understood at the time, would not be classified as war criminals under most accepted definitions. On one level it seems rather obvious that such a powerful chemical would have some adverse effects on humans. On another level, going on a focused campaign to destroy the natural environment of a country is not very ethical either. If we had sprayed Vietnam with a chemical that was designed to bring about chronic illness and birth defects that would be a war crime, correct? Ignorance of these obvious side effects does not seem to be a very compelling defence.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Home at Last
After 5 months away we are finally back in the US. The flight was fine and was actually a piece of cake when you have the travel zen gained over many hours on Indian buses.
However, the blog is not over.
Because of issues with getting on the internet, as well as wanting to pack more activities into a short period of time, I left out a bunch of stuff from the end of the trip. So, stay tuned as I will be writing up the end of the trip as well as some overall thoughts and small travel guides over the next few weeks.
However, the blog is not over.
Because of issues with getting on the internet, as well as wanting to pack more activities into a short period of time, I left out a bunch of stuff from the end of the trip. So, stay tuned as I will be writing up the end of the trip as well as some overall thoughts and small travel guides over the next few weeks.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Last Quick Update?
- Only one more day in Hong Kong, so this might be the last of the updates. I have mental notes on a bunch of things however, so I am probably going to write quite a bit when there is some Christmas down time in Baton Rouge.
- Hong Kong is great. Probably the most "international" city on earth. It is certainly Chinese, but the British influence is still very strong here. There seems to be a large Ex-Pat community in the mix as well. It is certainly as easy as anyplace we have been to get around with English here. Almost everyone seems to speak it quite fluently.
- Pete was nice enough to use hotel points to put us up in the Conrad Hotel for the first three days. Needless to say, staying in a high end hotel in Hong Kong is pretty nice. He also has a gold card so we got free breakfast and evening drinks, really great food as well.
- Speaking of great food, we have enjoyed a great Lunch and Dinner courtesy of our family friend Bob's sister Cecilia and her husband Hans. As usual with Asian cuisines they have meats and ingredients here that are just not available back home. The food was so good I even enjoyed eating a whole fish, which is pretty unbelievable for me.
- We had the latest night out of the entire trip in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong's nightlife district. Great place where you can drink on the street and there are loads of bars. There was also a charity event going on where for 300 HKD (about $40) you got a Santa suit and 10 free drinks. As you can imagine this resulted in a whole street of drunk people in Santa suites, definitely a sight to see. If we had gotten there earlier, before we had a bunch of drinks ourselves, I would have thought about forking over the 300 HKD.
- Another strange thing. Often on this trip we have tried to avoid what we call "Human Zoos". By this we mean a tour where you go to see tribal people, boat people, etc., and seeing the people is really the only attraction. In Lan Kwai Fong there is a very mixed crowd of drunks, but a good amount are westerners. This results in quite a few rich Chinese and Japanese tourists walking down the street doing the human zoo tour of drunk westerners, snapping photos indiscriminately. Weird to be on the other side of the glass.
- The amount of money spent on luxury goods in this city is crazy. A Louis Vitton or Channel store is about as common as the Gap is in the US. It is kind of annoying because they do not really have regular shopping centers. A mall of the Copley Place quality is as low rent as it gets here. Evidently most of this consumption is fueled by mainland Chinese. Definitely boom times out here.
- The currency of Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Dollar. Interestingly it is issued by one of three private banks, Standard Chartered, HSBC or Bank of China. This makes it a little confusing because the notes from the three different banks all look different, but are the same basic color, based on the amount. There is something a little strange about money that is not issued by the government. I was thinking that if we had a similar system in the US banks would probably start printing the bills with "Free Checking", "New Low Rates on Home Equity Loans" or some other form of advertisement.
- Hong Kong is great. Probably the most "international" city on earth. It is certainly Chinese, but the British influence is still very strong here. There seems to be a large Ex-Pat community in the mix as well. It is certainly as easy as anyplace we have been to get around with English here. Almost everyone seems to speak it quite fluently.
- Pete was nice enough to use hotel points to put us up in the Conrad Hotel for the first three days. Needless to say, staying in a high end hotel in Hong Kong is pretty nice. He also has a gold card so we got free breakfast and evening drinks, really great food as well.
- Speaking of great food, we have enjoyed a great Lunch and Dinner courtesy of our family friend Bob's sister Cecilia and her husband Hans. As usual with Asian cuisines they have meats and ingredients here that are just not available back home. The food was so good I even enjoyed eating a whole fish, which is pretty unbelievable for me.
- We had the latest night out of the entire trip in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong's nightlife district. Great place where you can drink on the street and there are loads of bars. There was also a charity event going on where for 300 HKD (about $40) you got a Santa suit and 10 free drinks. As you can imagine this resulted in a whole street of drunk people in Santa suites, definitely a sight to see. If we had gotten there earlier, before we had a bunch of drinks ourselves, I would have thought about forking over the 300 HKD.
- Another strange thing. Often on this trip we have tried to avoid what we call "Human Zoos". By this we mean a tour where you go to see tribal people, boat people, etc., and seeing the people is really the only attraction. In Lan Kwai Fong there is a very mixed crowd of drunks, but a good amount are westerners. This results in quite a few rich Chinese and Japanese tourists walking down the street doing the human zoo tour of drunk westerners, snapping photos indiscriminately. Weird to be on the other side of the glass.
- The amount of money spent on luxury goods in this city is crazy. A Louis Vitton or Channel store is about as common as the Gap is in the US. It is kind of annoying because they do not really have regular shopping centers. A mall of the Copley Place quality is as low rent as it gets here. Evidently most of this consumption is fueled by mainland Chinese. Definitely boom times out here.
- The currency of Hong Kong is the Hong Kong Dollar. Interestingly it is issued by one of three private banks, Standard Chartered, HSBC or Bank of China. This makes it a little confusing because the notes from the three different banks all look different, but are the same basic color, based on the amount. There is something a little strange about money that is not issued by the government. I was thinking that if we had a similar system in the US banks would probably start printing the bills with "Free Checking", "New Low Rates on Home Equity Loans" or some other form of advertisement.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Back From Halong Bay
We just got back from our tour and it was actually a great success.
The first day we spent on a nice cruise boat Junk kind of thing, had a good food and lots of drinks. The second day was two kayak sessions followed by a night at a really nice resort on Cat Ba Island. Third day was a half day at Cat Ba followed by the transport back to Hanoi.
As usual these days I do not have enough time to write a big post, but it really was an incredible natural environment. The giant floating villages were something very interesting as well.
Nisha is uploading some pictures right now and we are flying to Hong Kong tomorrow.
Perhaps I will have a little more time there to write.
The first day we spent on a nice cruise boat Junk kind of thing, had a good food and lots of drinks. The second day was two kayak sessions followed by a night at a really nice resort on Cat Ba Island. Third day was a half day at Cat Ba followed by the transport back to Hanoi.
As usual these days I do not have enough time to write a big post, but it really was an incredible natural environment. The giant floating villages were something very interesting as well.
Nisha is uploading some pictures right now and we are flying to Hong Kong tomorrow.
Perhaps I will have a little more time there to write.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Quick Update
- We flew successfully up to Hanoi today and checked out the town. Very nice city, a lot different from Saigon since it is an older city with small little streets rather then wide boulivards. Still at lot of motorbikes however.
- Dispite our usual problems with orginized tours, we signed up for a 3 day trip to Halong Bay since it really seemed like the only practical way to do it. We will be on a boat the first night. The second will be on Cat Ba Island.
- Dispite our usual problems with orginized tours, we signed up for a 3 day trip to Halong Bay since it really seemed like the only practical way to do it. We will be on a boat the first night. The second will be on Cat Ba Island.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Quick Update
Since Pete is now here we are a little more busy, so I might be in quick update mode for a while.
- Checked out the old South Vietnamese White House type building and the American War museum. Will probably write something serious about that later.
- Had a really full afternoon and evening in Saigon yesterday. Highlights below.
- Went to the Dam Sen water park. This place was really fun, normal water park setup like the US, but only 5 bucks to get in. They had about 10 water slides, including one I had never seen before. The new one sent you shooting down a tube at incredible speed and then shot you out into a big toilet bowl kind of thing. After circling the drain as many times as you could go around, you fall out the bottom of the bowl into a pool. The first time I rode it I thought it was the scariest water slide I had ever been on.
- Drank some Bia Hoi, or "fresh beer" on little sidewalk tables. This was in the real neighborhood near the water park, so we did stick out a bit. Bia Hoi is beer that is made fresh without preservatives and delivered to bars that sell it out of a big metal tank. It is sold by the liter and is the worlds cheapest beer at 25 cents per liter. This was our first time having it, and we ended up getting 3 beer mugs filled with ice and an old 2 liter plastic bottle, that looks like something you would use for petrol, filled with Bia Hoi. Mixed with the ice it was pretty good, very light and refreshing.
- Went to this big faux western music bar near the hotel. In this palace of varnished wood walls and giant totem poles they had the most bizarre cover band I have ever seen. It was a long haired guy and two scantily clad girls backed up by a normal set of musicians. The three singers with switch off on who was the lead vocalist and they covered everything from Beyonce to Roxette to Metallica. Really bizarre hearing two Vietnamese singers playing the roles of Beyonce and Jay-Z. They actually were really entertaining.
- Checked out the old South Vietnamese White House type building and the American War museum. Will probably write something serious about that later.
- Had a really full afternoon and evening in Saigon yesterday. Highlights below.
- Went to the Dam Sen water park. This place was really fun, normal water park setup like the US, but only 5 bucks to get in. They had about 10 water slides, including one I had never seen before. The new one sent you shooting down a tube at incredible speed and then shot you out into a big toilet bowl kind of thing. After circling the drain as many times as you could go around, you fall out the bottom of the bowl into a pool. The first time I rode it I thought it was the scariest water slide I had ever been on.
- Drank some Bia Hoi, or "fresh beer" on little sidewalk tables. This was in the real neighborhood near the water park, so we did stick out a bit. Bia Hoi is beer that is made fresh without preservatives and delivered to bars that sell it out of a big metal tank. It is sold by the liter and is the worlds cheapest beer at 25 cents per liter. This was our first time having it, and we ended up getting 3 beer mugs filled with ice and an old 2 liter plastic bottle, that looks like something you would use for petrol, filled with Bia Hoi. Mixed with the ice it was pretty good, very light and refreshing.
- Went to this big faux western music bar near the hotel. In this palace of varnished wood walls and giant totem poles they had the most bizarre cover band I have ever seen. It was a long haired guy and two scantily clad girls backed up by a normal set of musicians. The three singers with switch off on who was the lead vocalist and they covered everything from Beyonce to Roxette to Metallica. Really bizarre hearing two Vietnamese singers playing the roles of Beyonce and Jay-Z. They actually were really entertaining.
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Last of the Beaches
Ian and I left our last beach location today. Let's see, we have been to Diu, Goa, and Varkala in India. Koh Samui, Koh Tao, Koh Phagnan, and Railay in Thailand, then Mui Ne Beach in Vietnam. You may be thinking that we have spent an inordinate time at beach places, but can you really ever have too much? Especially since it's 19 degrees in Boston, where we are headed on December 19th.
Mui Ne was a spectacular beach. I'm glad we didn't take the advice of a Australian-Norwegian couple we met on a bus. They live in the Mekong Delta and said that Mui Ne stunk. Stubbornly, we headed there anyway. Like Railay in Thailand, it has large sporting activities - kite-boarding and wind-surfing, neither of which Ian or I tried.
Our foray into the giant surf was to rent a divorce-boat (two person kayak). We have done this a few times before without incident. Unbeknowest to us, this particular kayak had a leak that let in water when it was turned over. We would be kayaking on an extremely wavy and windy beach, swimming in which made me nervous. We were paddling happily near the breaking surf when we had our first dump. Ian righted the kayak and we hopped in, prepared for such an event. In the next 5 minutes, we fell over 2 more times until we realized the kayak was sinking. We decided that Ian would kayak back to shore. He suggested that I swim back to shore, about 200 meters in very heavy surf. Instead, I held on to the back until 10 meters from the shore and swam hard the rest of the way. No papers served.
The rest of the three days we spent on the beach, at the pool, and checking out the local attractions. Due to the geography of the area, the beach gets very high winds daily and is relatively dry. We visited a stretch of picturesque sand dunes. Similar to India, it is difficult to visit any attractions without various people following you around try to peddle something. It looked like every tourist was on some desert expedition. Two kids followed us for about 20 minutes asking us if we wanted to rent a sled to slide down the dunes. Not quite sledding on snow, but it was fun nonetheless.
I highly recommend Mui Ne beach to anyone visiting Vietnam. The long, clean, and white stretch of sand is not overdeveloped. There are excellent Vietnamese and international restaurants. We went to an Italian one that we recognized by Slow Food International. There are many activities around the area if you get bored of baking in the sun. The Vietnamese people are surprisingly and extremely friendly. Most of all, unlike Thailand, there was no trance music or hookers.
- Nisha
Mui Ne was a spectacular beach. I'm glad we didn't take the advice of a Australian-Norwegian couple we met on a bus. They live in the Mekong Delta and said that Mui Ne stunk. Stubbornly, we headed there anyway. Like Railay in Thailand, it has large sporting activities - kite-boarding and wind-surfing, neither of which Ian or I tried.
Our foray into the giant surf was to rent a divorce-boat (two person kayak). We have done this a few times before without incident. Unbeknowest to us, this particular kayak had a leak that let in water when it was turned over. We would be kayaking on an extremely wavy and windy beach, swimming in which made me nervous. We were paddling happily near the breaking surf when we had our first dump. Ian righted the kayak and we hopped in, prepared for such an event. In the next 5 minutes, we fell over 2 more times until we realized the kayak was sinking. We decided that Ian would kayak back to shore. He suggested that I swim back to shore, about 200 meters in very heavy surf. Instead, I held on to the back until 10 meters from the shore and swam hard the rest of the way. No papers served.
The rest of the three days we spent on the beach, at the pool, and checking out the local attractions. Due to the geography of the area, the beach gets very high winds daily and is relatively dry. We visited a stretch of picturesque sand dunes. Similar to India, it is difficult to visit any attractions without various people following you around try to peddle something. It looked like every tourist was on some desert expedition. Two kids followed us for about 20 minutes asking us if we wanted to rent a sled to slide down the dunes. Not quite sledding on snow, but it was fun nonetheless.
I highly recommend Mui Ne beach to anyone visiting Vietnam. The long, clean, and white stretch of sand is not overdeveloped. There are excellent Vietnamese and international restaurants. We went to an Italian one that we recognized by Slow Food International. There are many activities around the area if you get bored of baking in the sun. The Vietnamese people are surprisingly and extremely friendly. Most of all, unlike Thailand, there was no trance music or hookers.
- Nisha
One of a Kind
I have been reading this book The Glass Palace the last week. As a historical fiction fan I have found it quite fascinating because of the different prospective that it offers. It is written by a Bengali author, in English, and is about the British empire from the late 1800s to WWII from the prospective of an extended Indian/Burmese family. It is a nice change to read something, in its original language, about the colonial era from the prospective of those being colonized, rather then the British colonialists.
The reason I am writing about this is that a part in the book, as well as being in these countries torn apart by violent revolutions, makes me finally "get" Gandhi. As I wrote earlier, I read an autobiography of Gandhi awhile ago and this gave me a much more full picture of his life then I had before. I now know him as more then just a peaceful, Dohti wearing guy, but I still thought before today that he was too much of an idealist.
The thing about Gandhi is that even though he wanted India to be free, he wanted even more to solve India's social ills. In fact, he said that he did not want the British to go until India was ready to rule itself in a just way. Even at the point of independence, he still thought India was not really ready to rule itself. Also, he never wanted there to be a violent revolution. Despite the fact that it took 40 years for India to gain its freedom, he fought ferociously against the elements that wanted to go to war with the British.
When I first read this, I thought it was very admirable, but I did think that it was a little weak. Granted his strategy did work, but it took an incredible amount of time, and only worked because the British got tired of ruling a country that did not want them there. I did think that perhaps if the Indians has taken a more active course they may have still had independence, but just a lot sooner.
The thing that I did not take in to account is that, in general, even if your violent revolution is a success, you end up with a country ruled by violent revolutionaries. The problem is that the kind of people that are effective at fighting a war are also terrible, ruthless leaders after the war is over. A large part of the reason why a chaotic country like India became a stable democracy is that its political revolution resulted in politicians, not generals, becoming its first leaders. I am not an expert on Nehru, nor do I agree with all his ideas, but at least he was a secular politician who believed in democracy. The chances of a violent revolution producing a leader who fits that description are slight at best. The problem is that there is only one Gandhi, so violent revolutions will exist for as long as there are people who do not like their government.
Incidentally, I do realize that the American revolution is the one example I can think of where a violent revolution did not result in an early government with totalitarian tendencies. I am not sure yet why I think this happened the way that it did. One thing I can think of is that it was a different era, and it was English colonists fighting against the English crown, not another race or culture of people. It also, however, makes one think about how unique the early Americans were to take power for England but then give all that power to a democratic government. Perhaps they were one of a kind in their own way as well.
The reason I am writing about this is that a part in the book, as well as being in these countries torn apart by violent revolutions, makes me finally "get" Gandhi. As I wrote earlier, I read an autobiography of Gandhi awhile ago and this gave me a much more full picture of his life then I had before. I now know him as more then just a peaceful, Dohti wearing guy, but I still thought before today that he was too much of an idealist.
The thing about Gandhi is that even though he wanted India to be free, he wanted even more to solve India's social ills. In fact, he said that he did not want the British to go until India was ready to rule itself in a just way. Even at the point of independence, he still thought India was not really ready to rule itself. Also, he never wanted there to be a violent revolution. Despite the fact that it took 40 years for India to gain its freedom, he fought ferociously against the elements that wanted to go to war with the British.
When I first read this, I thought it was very admirable, but I did think that it was a little weak. Granted his strategy did work, but it took an incredible amount of time, and only worked because the British got tired of ruling a country that did not want them there. I did think that perhaps if the Indians has taken a more active course they may have still had independence, but just a lot sooner.
The thing that I did not take in to account is that, in general, even if your violent revolution is a success, you end up with a country ruled by violent revolutionaries. The problem is that the kind of people that are effective at fighting a war are also terrible, ruthless leaders after the war is over. A large part of the reason why a chaotic country like India became a stable democracy is that its political revolution resulted in politicians, not generals, becoming its first leaders. I am not an expert on Nehru, nor do I agree with all his ideas, but at least he was a secular politician who believed in democracy. The chances of a violent revolution producing a leader who fits that description are slight at best. The problem is that there is only one Gandhi, so violent revolutions will exist for as long as there are people who do not like their government.
Incidentally, I do realize that the American revolution is the one example I can think of where a violent revolution did not result in an early government with totalitarian tendencies. I am not sure yet why I think this happened the way that it did. One thing I can think of is that it was a different era, and it was English colonists fighting against the English crown, not another race or culture of people. It also, however, makes one think about how unique the early Americans were to take power for England but then give all that power to a democratic government. Perhaps they were one of a kind in their own way as well.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Quick Update
- We have been doing the last real beach stay of our trip on Mui Ne beach in
Vietnam. Is one of the top beaches that we have visited. There are
quite a few hotels, but it is pretty mellow. The beach is very long and nice, with pretty big surf, a nice change after Thailand;s calm waters.
- We really stuck gold with a hotel here. After a few places were
full we ended up with a bungalow literally 5 steps from the beach. The place is undergoing renovation, so there is construction, but it is just painting and quiet stuff. Because of the construction our room is half price and we get free breakfast and use of the big pool next door.
- Mui Ne is evidently one of the worlds best Windsurfing and Kitesurfing locations. Every day a sea breeze whips up that must be up around 25 knots in the middle of the day. This makes it a little annoying to sit on the beach (it is calmer before 10 and after 3), but watching the guys out there surfing is amazing. I have not windsurfed because it is really advanced and everyone seems to know how to do an in-water start and a carve jibe, which I never learned how to do. Also, since everyone else windsurfing is very, very expert I do not want to get in over my head and make an ass of myself.
- Kitesurfing has to be a pretty dangerous sport but is incredible to watch. Most people seem to keep their board on the water and just zip back and forth, but a few people do jumps, which are amazing. When they jump they look like they go about 10m in the air and stay up for at least 5 seconds. The really good guys make it look like a cross between windsurfing and hang-gliding.
- I might write more about this in the future, but I am kind of amazed how hard the Vietnamese work. At the construction in our hotel and around town in general, they get started at around 6 in the morning and are often still painting and sanding by the light of big florescent tubes until 8-10 at night. This is typical as people here in general are up and about at 5:30-6 in the morning and ofter are still working late in the evening. A Vietnamese construction site is pretty serious too, not much standing around. Seems like it could be part of the reason they were such worthy adversaries 40 years ago.
- Today we go back to Saigon (I am using the old name in this instance because that is what it is universally called here by the south Vietnamese, it is only written down as HCMC). Tomorrow we pick up Pete at the airport, he will be with us for the rest of the trip.
Vietnam. Is one of the top beaches that we have visited. There are
quite a few hotels, but it is pretty mellow. The beach is very long and nice, with pretty big surf, a nice change after Thailand;s calm waters.
- We really stuck gold with a hotel here. After a few places were
full we ended up with a bungalow literally 5 steps from the beach. The place is undergoing renovation, so there is construction, but it is just painting and quiet stuff. Because of the construction our room is half price and we get free breakfast and use of the big pool next door.
- Mui Ne is evidently one of the worlds best Windsurfing and Kitesurfing locations. Every day a sea breeze whips up that must be up around 25 knots in the middle of the day. This makes it a little annoying to sit on the beach (it is calmer before 10 and after 3), but watching the guys out there surfing is amazing. I have not windsurfed because it is really advanced and everyone seems to know how to do an in-water start and a carve jibe, which I never learned how to do. Also, since everyone else windsurfing is very, very expert I do not want to get in over my head and make an ass of myself.
- Kitesurfing has to be a pretty dangerous sport but is incredible to watch. Most people seem to keep their board on the water and just zip back and forth, but a few people do jumps, which are amazing. When they jump they look like they go about 10m in the air and stay up for at least 5 seconds. The really good guys make it look like a cross between windsurfing and hang-gliding.
- I might write more about this in the future, but I am kind of amazed how hard the Vietnamese work. At the construction in our hotel and around town in general, they get started at around 6 in the morning and are often still painting and sanding by the light of big florescent tubes until 8-10 at night. This is typical as people here in general are up and about at 5:30-6 in the morning and ofter are still working late in the evening. A Vietnamese construction site is pretty serious too, not much standing around. Seems like it could be part of the reason they were such worthy adversaries 40 years ago.
- Today we go back to Saigon (I am using the old name in this instance because that is what it is universally called here by the south Vietnamese, it is only written down as HCMC). Tomorrow we pick up Pete at the airport, he will be with us for the rest of the trip.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
First Impressions of Vietnam
Another country, another one of these articles.
- The official currency of Vietnam is the Dong, which is fun because the name is pretty great to say, and it is 16,000 Dong to the Dollar. Becoming a Vietnamese millionaire is as easy as one trip to the ATM.
- Interestingly enough, the US dollar is also very big here, especially for hotels and other higher priced items. So much for the capitalist pigs.
- Vietnam might be the cheapest country yet of the tour. 15 dollars will get you a pretty decent hotel room (AC, TV, hot water, sometimes fridge) and food is dirt cheap. Our dinner of two bowls of Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) last night was less then 2 dollars.
- Every bowl of Pho we have had in Vietnam has been spectacular. At less then a dollar is most places, and very healthy, I think we will be eating quite a few more.
- Even after seeing the rest of Asia, Vietnam is the small motorbike king. There are a few more cars in Saigon, but in the Mekong Delta where we were before I would estimate that %99 percent of all vehicles on the road are a motorbike. We rented one to look around Chau Doc and on the main road out of town you could see at least a mile down the road, and every vehicle was a motorbike, hundreds of them.
- The people of Vietnam are the friendliest so far. People smile and say "hello" all the time. Kids love to see you and get so excited if you pay attention to them. For the most part this friendliness seems very genuine. Even annoying hawkers can be fooled around with, and will often want to just chat with you, after they figure out weather you want to buy anything.
- After all this time we finally had a cab man try a meter scam on us. When we arrived in Saigon, we got in a cab and after less then a KM I noticed that the meter was already at 5 KM and 28,000 Dong. I complained and he said, or so we thought, that if would only be 14,000 Dong to take us to where we were going. When we got there he tried to take 50,000 and not give us any change. Nisha took the lead in bitching him out while I got change and ended up giving him around 20,000 Dong, which is about what the meter should have been.
- We have been travelling on a lot of speedboat ferries lately. First we took one from Penom Penh in Cambodia to Chau Doc in Vietnam and then from Can Tho to Saigon. Great way to travel around the Mekong. As fast as a bus and more comfortable, with a better view. They are a kind of long thin fiberglass boat with a roof and windows, set up pretty much like a bus inside. There is sometimes a little deck on back you can hang out on as well. Powered by twin I/O engines, these things move along over 30 knots. On our trip to Saigon, there was some driving down a crowded delta canal filled with sand barges that would make the average New Hampshire Marie Patrol officer pee his pants.
- The official currency of Vietnam is the Dong, which is fun because the name is pretty great to say, and it is 16,000 Dong to the Dollar. Becoming a Vietnamese millionaire is as easy as one trip to the ATM.
- Interestingly enough, the US dollar is also very big here, especially for hotels and other higher priced items. So much for the capitalist pigs.
- Vietnam might be the cheapest country yet of the tour. 15 dollars will get you a pretty decent hotel room (AC, TV, hot water, sometimes fridge) and food is dirt cheap. Our dinner of two bowls of Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) last night was less then 2 dollars.
- Every bowl of Pho we have had in Vietnam has been spectacular. At less then a dollar is most places, and very healthy, I think we will be eating quite a few more.
- Even after seeing the rest of Asia, Vietnam is the small motorbike king. There are a few more cars in Saigon, but in the Mekong Delta where we were before I would estimate that %99 percent of all vehicles on the road are a motorbike. We rented one to look around Chau Doc and on the main road out of town you could see at least a mile down the road, and every vehicle was a motorbike, hundreds of them.
- The people of Vietnam are the friendliest so far. People smile and say "hello" all the time. Kids love to see you and get so excited if you pay attention to them. For the most part this friendliness seems very genuine. Even annoying hawkers can be fooled around with, and will often want to just chat with you, after they figure out weather you want to buy anything.
- After all this time we finally had a cab man try a meter scam on us. When we arrived in Saigon, we got in a cab and after less then a KM I noticed that the meter was already at 5 KM and 28,000 Dong. I complained and he said, or so we thought, that if would only be 14,000 Dong to take us to where we were going. When we got there he tried to take 50,000 and not give us any change. Nisha took the lead in bitching him out while I got change and ended up giving him around 20,000 Dong, which is about what the meter should have been.
- We have been travelling on a lot of speedboat ferries lately. First we took one from Penom Penh in Cambodia to Chau Doc in Vietnam and then from Can Tho to Saigon. Great way to travel around the Mekong. As fast as a bus and more comfortable, with a better view. They are a kind of long thin fiberglass boat with a roof and windows, set up pretty much like a bus inside. There is sometimes a little deck on back you can hang out on as well. Powered by twin I/O engines, these things move along over 30 knots. On our trip to Saigon, there was some driving down a crowded delta canal filled with sand barges that would make the average New Hampshire Marie Patrol officer pee his pants.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Thailand Beach Wrapup
This is more for random people searching on Google that anything else, but I wanted to write up the five beaches that we stayed at on Thailand. The thing is that they all have their strong points, so picking one to go to is really a case of just finding the right one for you. Please note that all these visits were in mid to late November.
KO SAMUI - HAT CHAWENG
This was the most crowded and developed beach we visited. There is a main road that forms the "strip" of town, and most resorts are in the 300m or so from this road to the beach. The strip was a pretty lively place, however a good deal of the partying was hooker related. The strip also had a lot of very sleek bars, nice and expensive restaurants, as well as Starbucks, McDonald's and plenty of 7-Elevens.
We stayed at a hotel that was on the strip called The Wave Samui, which I was not a fan of. Besides my issues with the hotel, I did not realize what a pain it would be to not be in a place with beach access. There is only one place where you can take an actual public road to the beach, so most of the time we had to sneak through a resort to get out to the sand. There were a couple of relatively cheap places with beach access, I would check out those if you want to go here. If you want to pay 500 Baht for a bungalow on the beach, go somewhere else.
As for the beach itself, it was very nice. A little crowded, but not overwhelmingly so. The water is clear and the swimming nice. It can be a little hard to find a place because all the resorts put chairs out for their guests, but space can be found. There is also a strip of bars near the Ark Bar that have raised futons on the beach, and are pretty fun at night as well. You can hang here is you want to buy drinks. There were several kayak and sailboat rental outfits on the beach, and we had a lot of fun with a little Hobie Cat. There are a few hawkers, mostly of junk souvenirs, but they are manageable.
Go here is you want to:
- Party, mostly with Euros and Brits
- Listen to trance music
- Get a hooker
- Have a lot of activities, food and drinks available on the beach
- Eat at high class restaurants
- Spend a lot of money
Don't go here if you want to:
- Have a peaceful vacation
- Go to chill bars
- Really get away from it all
KO SAMUI - HAT LAMAI
I will not do a full review of this, because we used Nisha's leftover Marriott points to stay at a high end beach resort at the very end of the beach. From what I did see, it looked busy, but far less so then Chaweng. The beach was nice here, but very shallow. You could walk for probably a kilometer out into the ocean before having to swim. It was great for Frisbee in the water, and there was some snorkeling by the rocks at the headland.
If you want to know about the Marriott Renaissance, read up on it here.
KO PHA-NGAN - HAT KHOM
This was our place to do the real beach hut thing, and I don't think we could have found a better place. Hat Khom is a small beach, only about .5KM long, in a cove on the north side of the island. It is accessible from the main village on the north side by a dirt road that can be negotiated via pickup truck or motorbike. The road can also be walked in around 25 minutes. The beach has occasional boulders that add to the scenery, as well as a reef that can be snorkeled. Swimming is also good as there is a deep sand bottom area between the beach and the reef.
The only business here is the four beach hut resorts that line the beach, as well as their bar/restaurants. We stayed at the Ocean View, which seemed to have the best rooms and had the best food at the restaurant, but they all seemed OK. The huts all seemed to be in the 300-800 Baht range. There is no Internet and the only nightlife is the resort bars. One of the resorts rents Kayaks for very cheap and the Ocean View had free snorkeling equipment.
Go here if you want to:
- Stay right on the beach
- Only hear the sound of the waves at night
- Hang out with a backpacker crowd
- Be on a secluded, quiet and beautiful beach
- Not spend a lot of money
- Shower with only cold water and only have electricity from 6PM to 6AM
KO TAO - HAT SAIREE
We stayed here mainly because Nisha was getting here dive certification. This beach is very long, but also very thin. The resorts in the area push right up to the beach, so there is only a little room in front for swimming and putting a blanket down. The swimming is pretty good, but there are quite a few boats tied to the beach and ropes to watch out for. There is a place in town that rents Kayaks and sailing equipment, but not on this beach. One really nice thing here is that the main road is not anywhere near the beach. Along the beach is a brick walkway which is only used by pedestrians and the occasional motorbike.
This is kind of a middle ground between an overdeveloped beach and a quiet beach. The beach is fully developed, but there is still some open space and small hut resorts. There are a couple of 7-Elevens and plenty of Internet cafes and resort restaurants. There is also a area near the far end of the beach with some bars and restaurants that are independent of a resort.
One thing is that how quiet the beach is will have a lot to do with where you stay. We stayed at the AC resort, and the bar there pumps music until late at night, so our room was pretty loud. At other locations that are not near a big time bar, things would probably be pretty quiet. As far as the nightlife, it was still low season, so things were not really hopping yet, but it seemed like in season there would be a lot of partying going on. However, not many hookers and you could get away from it if you wanted to.
Go here if you want to:
- Get SCUBA certified easy and cheap
- Party, but not be in a total madhouse
- Spend a moderate amount of money
- Have plenty of modern amenities, but not feel like you are in a city
Don't go here if you want:
- A really nice beach
- To really get away from it all
KRABI PROVENCE - RAILAY
Railay is a peninsula attached to the mainland, but inaccessible by road due to the massive cliffs. The only way to get there is long tail boat. The peninsula is about 500m across, and has beaches at each side. The west beach is pretty nice, with giant cliffs at each side. It is wide with hard and flat sand. The swimming is calm and good, but the water is very warm and there are quite a few long tail boats. The east beach is muddy and used mainly for long tail boat arrivals. There is also another beach you can walk to in 10 minutes that I did not make it out to, but Nisha rated as one of the better beaches she has ever been on. There are some hawkers who work the beach, but they mainly sell beer, so I find them quite useful.
All the area that can be developed has been, all the flat area between the beaches as well as the area up the hill that we stayed in was used for resorts. Up the hill in back was the only place for budget accommodation (besides the far beach around the corner that is, but I am talking about the main part of town), but where we stayed at the Highland Resort was very quiet and only about a 10 minute walk to the good beach. However, since there are no motor vehicles, the place has a pretty low key feel, even more so then Ko Tao. There are a fair number of bars and restaurants, but no bars really pump music, it is more of a Bob Marley kind of place.
The rock climbing is also a real attraction here, I went twice and loved it. Things are a little expensive however, you definitely pay island prices, not mainland.
All in all, this was my favorite beach.
Go here if you want to:
- See great scenery
- Go to first class beaches
- Rock climb
- Enjoy chill, but busy, nightlife
- Spend a moderate to high amount of money
Don't go here if yo want to:
- Get a hooker
- Listen to trance music
- Eat top flight international food
- Really get away from it all
KO SAMUI - HAT CHAWENG
This was the most crowded and developed beach we visited. There is a main road that forms the "strip" of town, and most resorts are in the 300m or so from this road to the beach. The strip was a pretty lively place, however a good deal of the partying was hooker related. The strip also had a lot of very sleek bars, nice and expensive restaurants, as well as Starbucks, McDonald's and plenty of 7-Elevens.
We stayed at a hotel that was on the strip called The Wave Samui, which I was not a fan of. Besides my issues with the hotel, I did not realize what a pain it would be to not be in a place with beach access. There is only one place where you can take an actual public road to the beach, so most of the time we had to sneak through a resort to get out to the sand. There were a couple of relatively cheap places with beach access, I would check out those if you want to go here. If you want to pay 500 Baht for a bungalow on the beach, go somewhere else.
As for the beach itself, it was very nice. A little crowded, but not overwhelmingly so. The water is clear and the swimming nice. It can be a little hard to find a place because all the resorts put chairs out for their guests, but space can be found. There is also a strip of bars near the Ark Bar that have raised futons on the beach, and are pretty fun at night as well. You can hang here is you want to buy drinks. There were several kayak and sailboat rental outfits on the beach, and we had a lot of fun with a little Hobie Cat. There are a few hawkers, mostly of junk souvenirs, but they are manageable.
Go here is you want to:
- Party, mostly with Euros and Brits
- Listen to trance music
- Get a hooker
- Have a lot of activities, food and drinks available on the beach
- Eat at high class restaurants
- Spend a lot of money
Don't go here if you want to:
- Have a peaceful vacation
- Go to chill bars
- Really get away from it all
KO SAMUI - HAT LAMAI
I will not do a full review of this, because we used Nisha's leftover Marriott points to stay at a high end beach resort at the very end of the beach. From what I did see, it looked busy, but far less so then Chaweng. The beach was nice here, but very shallow. You could walk for probably a kilometer out into the ocean before having to swim. It was great for Frisbee in the water, and there was some snorkeling by the rocks at the headland.
If you want to know about the Marriott Renaissance, read up on it here.
KO PHA-NGAN - HAT KHOM
This was our place to do the real beach hut thing, and I don't think we could have found a better place. Hat Khom is a small beach, only about .5KM long, in a cove on the north side of the island. It is accessible from the main village on the north side by a dirt road that can be negotiated via pickup truck or motorbike. The road can also be walked in around 25 minutes. The beach has occasional boulders that add to the scenery, as well as a reef that can be snorkeled. Swimming is also good as there is a deep sand bottom area between the beach and the reef.
The only business here is the four beach hut resorts that line the beach, as well as their bar/restaurants. We stayed at the Ocean View, which seemed to have the best rooms and had the best food at the restaurant, but they all seemed OK. The huts all seemed to be in the 300-800 Baht range. There is no Internet and the only nightlife is the resort bars. One of the resorts rents Kayaks for very cheap and the Ocean View had free snorkeling equipment.
Go here if you want to:
- Stay right on the beach
- Only hear the sound of the waves at night
- Hang out with a backpacker crowd
- Be on a secluded, quiet and beautiful beach
- Not spend a lot of money
- Shower with only cold water and only have electricity from 6PM to 6AM
KO TAO - HAT SAIREE
We stayed here mainly because Nisha was getting here dive certification. This beach is very long, but also very thin. The resorts in the area push right up to the beach, so there is only a little room in front for swimming and putting a blanket down. The swimming is pretty good, but there are quite a few boats tied to the beach and ropes to watch out for. There is a place in town that rents Kayaks and sailing equipment, but not on this beach. One really nice thing here is that the main road is not anywhere near the beach. Along the beach is a brick walkway which is only used by pedestrians and the occasional motorbike.
This is kind of a middle ground between an overdeveloped beach and a quiet beach. The beach is fully developed, but there is still some open space and small hut resorts. There are a couple of 7-Elevens and plenty of Internet cafes and resort restaurants. There is also a area near the far end of the beach with some bars and restaurants that are independent of a resort.
One thing is that how quiet the beach is will have a lot to do with where you stay. We stayed at the AC resort, and the bar there pumps music until late at night, so our room was pretty loud. At other locations that are not near a big time bar, things would probably be pretty quiet. As far as the nightlife, it was still low season, so things were not really hopping yet, but it seemed like in season there would be a lot of partying going on. However, not many hookers and you could get away from it if you wanted to.
Go here if you want to:
- Get SCUBA certified easy and cheap
- Party, but not be in a total madhouse
- Spend a moderate amount of money
- Have plenty of modern amenities, but not feel like you are in a city
Don't go here if you want:
- A really nice beach
- To really get away from it all
KRABI PROVENCE - RAILAY
Railay is a peninsula attached to the mainland, but inaccessible by road due to the massive cliffs. The only way to get there is long tail boat. The peninsula is about 500m across, and has beaches at each side. The west beach is pretty nice, with giant cliffs at each side. It is wide with hard and flat sand. The swimming is calm and good, but the water is very warm and there are quite a few long tail boats. The east beach is muddy and used mainly for long tail boat arrivals. There is also another beach you can walk to in 10 minutes that I did not make it out to, but Nisha rated as one of the better beaches she has ever been on. There are some hawkers who work the beach, but they mainly sell beer, so I find them quite useful.
All the area that can be developed has been, all the flat area between the beaches as well as the area up the hill that we stayed in was used for resorts. Up the hill in back was the only place for budget accommodation (besides the far beach around the corner that is, but I am talking about the main part of town), but where we stayed at the Highland Resort was very quiet and only about a 10 minute walk to the good beach. However, since there are no motor vehicles, the place has a pretty low key feel, even more so then Ko Tao. There are a fair number of bars and restaurants, but no bars really pump music, it is more of a Bob Marley kind of place.
The rock climbing is also a real attraction here, I went twice and loved it. Things are a little expensive however, you definitely pay island prices, not mainland.
All in all, this was my favorite beach.
Go here if you want to:
- See great scenery
- Go to first class beaches
- Rock climb
- Enjoy chill, but busy, nightlife
- Spend a moderate to high amount of money
Don't go here if yo want to:
- Get a hooker
- Listen to trance music
- Eat top flight international food
- Really get away from it all
Meeting the Bogey Man
I traveled to both Cambodia and Vietnam with reservations. My hesitation in going to Cambodia was because I had read about terrible bribery and scams at the border. we had been very well informed and therefore did not fall prey to any of these. I'll write my thoughts on staying in Cambodia later.
However, I had much irrational trepredation in coming to Vietnam. Irrational because I have heard many people say they had a great time here and know that it is a safe tourist destination. But this is Communist country. All the bogey men of my childhood were communist. They tortured you, imprisoned you for looking at them, started all the wars, and left you to die in the endless Steppe. These were all things I was told in elementary school and their sentiment has subconsciously lodged in my brain. Then top that with a large helping of resentment from the "American War" (that's what they call it here).
Of course, I have seen nothing of that here. I am stunned by how different this communist country is from my elementary-school imagination. Part of this could be due to the fact that they are more a socialist dictatorship rather than Soviet-style communists, but nevertheless. First, they love tourists. Of all the places we have been, the people in the small Mekong Delta towns of Chau Doc and Can Tho are overwhelmingly the most friendly. Nearly everyone smiles or says hi to us. Kids under 6 generally start yelling and screaming "helllllooooo" while gesticulating wildly. Just while walking down the street, a man offered for me to taste the soup he was making (it was yummy!).
Scary communist? Not in my observations of the last 48 hours. They take their kids to dinner. They go on vacation. They study engineering in college. I am at an unregulated internet cafe filled with kids and adults searching all corners of the net. We visited temples and have seen monks walking. There are no scary dudes in military vehicles in the streets. Though they do have a giant statue of Uncle Ho in the center of town and propaganda and calisthenics over the loud speaker awoke us at 5 in the morning.
The Anti-Ameriancism? I have not experienced any so far. They wear shorts with the US flag on them. The toilets are "American Standard" brand, thankfully. Most want any chance to practice their English and nearly everyone has relatives in Canada or the US.
I know this may be different when we travel to the north of the country. However, so far I am amazed and pleasantly surprised, though hopefully you knew this already.
However, I had much irrational trepredation in coming to Vietnam. Irrational because I have heard many people say they had a great time here and know that it is a safe tourist destination. But this is Communist country. All the bogey men of my childhood were communist. They tortured you, imprisoned you for looking at them, started all the wars, and left you to die in the endless Steppe. These were all things I was told in elementary school and their sentiment has subconsciously lodged in my brain. Then top that with a large helping of resentment from the "American War" (that's what they call it here).
Of course, I have seen nothing of that here. I am stunned by how different this communist country is from my elementary-school imagination. Part of this could be due to the fact that they are more a socialist dictatorship rather than Soviet-style communists, but nevertheless. First, they love tourists. Of all the places we have been, the people in the small Mekong Delta towns of Chau Doc and Can Tho are overwhelmingly the most friendly. Nearly everyone smiles or says hi to us. Kids under 6 generally start yelling and screaming "helllllooooo" while gesticulating wildly. Just while walking down the street, a man offered for me to taste the soup he was making (it was yummy!).
Scary communist? Not in my observations of the last 48 hours. They take their kids to dinner. They go on vacation. They study engineering in college. I am at an unregulated internet cafe filled with kids and adults searching all corners of the net. We visited temples and have seen monks walking. There are no scary dudes in military vehicles in the streets. Though they do have a giant statue of Uncle Ho in the center of town and propaganda and calisthenics over the loud speaker awoke us at 5 in the morning.
The Anti-Ameriancism? I have not experienced any so far. They wear shorts with the US flag on them. The toilets are "American Standard" brand, thankfully. Most want any chance to practice their English and nearly everyone has relatives in Canada or the US.
I know this may be different when we travel to the north of the country. However, so far I am amazed and pleasantly surprised, though hopefully you knew this already.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Beach Reading and More
While traveling through Asia, I have tried to rectify my deficient knowledge of world history by reading Asian history or historical fiction. No this is not beach reading, but I have never been the type to read about poor beautiful girls in New York trying to find a rich husband. Shogun gave me insight to Japan's rich feudal heritage. In India, the Lewis Fischer's biography of Gandhi and William Dalrymple's The Age of Kali taught me a great deal of Indian history. Thailand has few authors that write about anything except finding oneself, doing drugs, beaches, time in the infamous Bangkok jail, and marrying prostitutes. The real winners combine all 5 in one. Cheng and Eng, a fictional book based on the real Siamese twins, gave me a glimpse of 1800's life on the Mekong in Thailand. Ambitv Gosh's The Glass Palace concentrated more on colonial Burma, India, and Malaysia with a little of Thailand mixed in.
Volumes are written about places where terrible things have happened. I started my breif studies on Cambodian history with First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung. I tore through this 250 page book in only 6 hours on the ferry from Koh Tao. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a first hand account of what the Khmer Rouge did. In brief, the Khmer Rouge overtook Phenom Pehn in April 1975 and drove the inhabitants of this city and others into countryside work camps. In the following 4 years and 8 months, they enslaved their population in farming camps to fulfill some Utopian communist dream. They summarily executed those with higher education or loyal to the former government. They tortured and killed some 14,000 - 20,000 men, women, and children in a high school in Phenom Pehn now know as S-21 or Tuol Sleung.
Ian and I visited Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum yesterday. It is quite ironic that the tuk-tuk driver's touts to tourists usually start with "hello, want to see the killing fields and S-21?" The class rooms of this sunny high school were turned into between 1 - 30 cells each. Prisoners were kept shackled to the floor and tortured. Like the Nazis, the KR were fastidious about their record keeping. They took photos of each person alive, and many dead which are all shown in the museum. The people were taken to the killing fields, about 15km away, and bludgeoned before being left to die in a mass grave. In Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp which I visited in 1997, the solemn grounds have been able to mellow after 60 years. However, the barbed-wire wrapped Tuol Sleung still has violence in the air. There is a photo exhibit of men and women who worked (likely forced) in the prison. They are still living among the people of Cambodia, many of whom lost loved ones. There is still blood on many of the floors of the cells. The pictures of the main architects, one was Duch who will received a hearing on Monday in the war crimes tribunal, are scribbled with angry Khmer graffiti. There exist the actual tools of torture, including a water-boarding tank. It's nice to know that some of our presidential hopefuls endorse the torture techniques of the Khmer Rouge.
Finally the North Vietnamese, having recently defeated the Americans and South Vietnamese, invaded to end the Khmer Rouge reign in 1979 because the KR were massacring Vietnamese in the Mekong Delta. Sadly, the KH were responsible for the extermination of between 1.4 - 2.2 million Cambodians either directly or through starvation and tens of thousands of Vietnamese in South Vietnam only 4 years and 8 months of their reign.
Henry Kamm was a NYT correspondent in Cambodia from 1970 - the 1990s. He skillfully penned Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land and answered many of the burning questions I had about the rise, reign, and fall of the Khmer Rouge.
I also highly recommend this book as a thoughtful history and analysis of this dark period in history. It's not exactly beach reading, but that's not what I'm here for.
Check back in a few days for links to pictures I took at Tuol Sleng.
- Nisha
Volumes are written about places where terrible things have happened. I started my breif studies on Cambodian history with First They Killed My Father, by Loung Ung. I tore through this 250 page book in only 6 hours on the ferry from Koh Tao. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a first hand account of what the Khmer Rouge did. In brief, the Khmer Rouge overtook Phenom Pehn in April 1975 and drove the inhabitants of this city and others into countryside work camps. In the following 4 years and 8 months, they enslaved their population in farming camps to fulfill some Utopian communist dream. They summarily executed those with higher education or loyal to the former government. They tortured and killed some 14,000 - 20,000 men, women, and children in a high school in Phenom Pehn now know as S-21 or Tuol Sleung.
Ian and I visited Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum yesterday. It is quite ironic that the tuk-tuk driver's touts to tourists usually start with "hello, want to see the killing fields and S-21?" The class rooms of this sunny high school were turned into between 1 - 30 cells each. Prisoners were kept shackled to the floor and tortured. Like the Nazis, the KR were fastidious about their record keeping. They took photos of each person alive, and many dead which are all shown in the museum. The people were taken to the killing fields, about 15km away, and bludgeoned before being left to die in a mass grave. In Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp which I visited in 1997, the solemn grounds have been able to mellow after 60 years. However, the barbed-wire wrapped Tuol Sleung still has violence in the air. There is a photo exhibit of men and women who worked (likely forced) in the prison. They are still living among the people of Cambodia, many of whom lost loved ones. There is still blood on many of the floors of the cells. The pictures of the main architects, one was Duch who will received a hearing on Monday in the war crimes tribunal, are scribbled with angry Khmer graffiti. There exist the actual tools of torture, including a water-boarding tank. It's nice to know that some of our presidential hopefuls endorse the torture techniques of the Khmer Rouge.
Finally the North Vietnamese, having recently defeated the Americans and South Vietnamese, invaded to end the Khmer Rouge reign in 1979 because the KR were massacring Vietnamese in the Mekong Delta. Sadly, the KH were responsible for the extermination of between 1.4 - 2.2 million Cambodians either directly or through starvation and tens of thousands of Vietnamese in South Vietnam only 4 years and 8 months of their reign.
Henry Kamm was a NYT correspondent in Cambodia from 1970 - the 1990s. He skillfully penned Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Land and answered many of the burning questions I had about the rise, reign, and fall of the Khmer Rouge.
I also highly recommend this book as a thoughtful history and analysis of this dark period in history. It's not exactly beach reading, but that's not what I'm here for.
Check back in a few days for links to pictures I took at Tuol Sleng.
- Nisha
Government Matters
In the US these days, most talk about government or politics focuses on the high level philosophical stuff, Foreign Policy, Abortion, Church and State, etc. Not to say that this not impotent stuff, but this trip has highlighted for me that there is another dimension to government that is rarely talked about, overall competence.
By overall competence I mean the ability of the government to build roads, run schools, keep basic law and order. Basically its ability to provide a stable environment for people to live and work. As I have seen on this trip, the ability of governments to do these things is not necessarily related to how they are selected or what high level positions they believe in. At the highest level we have been in countries that range from stable, multi-party democracies like Japan and India, to Vietnam and Thailand, which are both currently run by unelected governments. All are basically capitalist countries, with somewhat of a socialist bent (Vietnam is officially communist, but that is not very true in practice).
In terms of overall competence I would have to obviously rank Japan as first. The infrastructure is top notch all over the country, the trains are amazing and crime is non-existent. Thailand I would also give high marks to, because it does a lot for how much money it has. Most things there seem to run at more or less a US level of quality, but I assume that they spend a lot less money to get there. India and Vietnam are similar in a lot of ways, because things seem to run OK, but you still run into some substandard roads and bad trash collection. Also, while some people in these two countries are doing very well, others are left behind in substantial poverty. Cambodia's one-party democratic government is basically a failed state. No one has any confidence in the government to do anything, and almost every road and school in the country has a sign out front thanking the country or NGO that built it for them, usually Japan.
The interesting thing about all these countries, as well as the US, is that a good number of people in all of them think the government is run by a bunch of crooks. Most of the time these thoughts are backed up by evidence. The accusations very from the money just disappearing, like in Cambodia, to the usual shady government contract deals that exist pretty much everywhere there are politicians with money to spend. Pork barrel stuff also shows up pretty much everywhere, like Shinkansens (bullet trains) to nowhere in Japan. However, even if crooks run the show everywhere, their output quality varies immensely.
The aggravating thing about this is that although the competence of government matters so much, I am not sure how one controls it. Why should India and Vietnam have similar public services despite the fact that one government is elected, and the other is authoritarian? As a voter in the US it is annoying that this never even really comes up as an issue. We know politicians positions on almost every philosophical issue, but not if they can build a decent airport.
My last thought is as to how the US fits within the ranking of countries above. Overall our government is fairly competent at basic service. We have very good roads, there are a reasonable number of cops and garbage does not stack up in the streets. However, we also pay a lot of money to achieve this decent level of service. I think our biggest problem is that our expectations for the final product of the things our government builds is so low. I am sure in Japan, Japan Railways (JR) is a giant pit of patronage and wasted money. I am sure there were all sorts of shady dealing with building the new airport in Bangkok. But, at least in these places they get an incredible train system and a really nice looking new airport. The most upsetting thing is that we get ripped off, as every country does, but often do not even get a world class product.
I guess my conclusion is that Americans should raise their expectations of government and not buy that things cannot be done, or cannot be done well. If the semi-authoritarian government in Thailand can build a nice new subway line, why can't we do so in New York or Boston? We might get ripped off, but it is better to at least get something for your money then nothing at all.
By overall competence I mean the ability of the government to build roads, run schools, keep basic law and order. Basically its ability to provide a stable environment for people to live and work. As I have seen on this trip, the ability of governments to do these things is not necessarily related to how they are selected or what high level positions they believe in. At the highest level we have been in countries that range from stable, multi-party democracies like Japan and India, to Vietnam and Thailand, which are both currently run by unelected governments. All are basically capitalist countries, with somewhat of a socialist bent (Vietnam is officially communist, but that is not very true in practice).
In terms of overall competence I would have to obviously rank Japan as first. The infrastructure is top notch all over the country, the trains are amazing and crime is non-existent. Thailand I would also give high marks to, because it does a lot for how much money it has. Most things there seem to run at more or less a US level of quality, but I assume that they spend a lot less money to get there. India and Vietnam are similar in a lot of ways, because things seem to run OK, but you still run into some substandard roads and bad trash collection. Also, while some people in these two countries are doing very well, others are left behind in substantial poverty. Cambodia's one-party democratic government is basically a failed state. No one has any confidence in the government to do anything, and almost every road and school in the country has a sign out front thanking the country or NGO that built it for them, usually Japan.
The interesting thing about all these countries, as well as the US, is that a good number of people in all of them think the government is run by a bunch of crooks. Most of the time these thoughts are backed up by evidence. The accusations very from the money just disappearing, like in Cambodia, to the usual shady government contract deals that exist pretty much everywhere there are politicians with money to spend. Pork barrel stuff also shows up pretty much everywhere, like Shinkansens (bullet trains) to nowhere in Japan. However, even if crooks run the show everywhere, their output quality varies immensely.
The aggravating thing about this is that although the competence of government matters so much, I am not sure how one controls it. Why should India and Vietnam have similar public services despite the fact that one government is elected, and the other is authoritarian? As a voter in the US it is annoying that this never even really comes up as an issue. We know politicians positions on almost every philosophical issue, but not if they can build a decent airport.
My last thought is as to how the US fits within the ranking of countries above. Overall our government is fairly competent at basic service. We have very good roads, there are a reasonable number of cops and garbage does not stack up in the streets. However, we also pay a lot of money to achieve this decent level of service. I think our biggest problem is that our expectations for the final product of the things our government builds is so low. I am sure in Japan, Japan Railways (JR) is a giant pit of patronage and wasted money. I am sure there were all sorts of shady dealing with building the new airport in Bangkok. But, at least in these places they get an incredible train system and a really nice looking new airport. The most upsetting thing is that we get ripped off, as every country does, but often do not even get a world class product.
I guess my conclusion is that Americans should raise their expectations of government and not buy that things cannot be done, or cannot be done well. If the semi-authoritarian government in Thailand can build a nice new subway line, why can't we do so in New York or Boston? We might get ripped off, but it is better to at least get something for your money then nothing at all.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Thai food II
Here were a few of our favorite meals:
Steamed Sticky rice in Bamboo - Our guide in Chiang Dao brought us to this road side place where a woman makes steamed rice in bamboo. The rice, sugar, and coconut mixture is stuffed into a hollow bamboo segment capped with hay. It is BBQed over a wood fire until steamed. The outer husk is then hacked off, the rice left to cool, then it's ready to eat by peeling away the bamboo from the rice. Simply amazing.
Crispy Aromatic Duck - This was tasty take on Peking duck that we have many times in Chinatown. - Chopsticks, Koh Tao
Malee's Buffet - We stayed in Malee's Guesthouse in Chiang Dao, north of Chiang Mai. The first night we went to the renowned Europen-Thai fusion restaurant next door, which was fabulous. The next night we dined on Malee's buffet. She served my favorite Thai curry, Green curry with chicken, mashed squash with egg, a huge platter of fresh fruit, and many other dishes. It was like dining in someones home. Not to be missed - Malee's GuestHouse in Chiang Dao
Thai Iced Tea - I am self-proclaimed iced tea snob. Northern restaurants on good days make me laugh with their version of iced tea, on bad days make me scream with horror. Thailand is where I surprisingly found excellent iced tea. They brew it extra strong, stronger than even the South. They they pour it over crushed ice and finish it with condensed milk!
Family meal at the Highland Restaurant - The restaurant at our resort in Raliay was the best in the area. We had no idea what to expect with the "family meal." You know a meal is going to be great when it starts with "maybe you should move to a bigger table." Our came a hot charcoal cauldron with a grille on top, a bowl of broth, a platter of veggies and rice noodles, and a plate of beef, chicken, fish, shrimp, and squid. We were instructed to coat the top with butter and then grill each. The resulting soup made from the meat drippings was delicious.
- Highland Resort, East Railay
Coke Zero out of a Glass Bottle - For fellow Coke Zero lovers, no more needs said.
You may notice on this list the abscense of Thai dishes in served in the US. They were there and we liked them. However, most good Thai resturants are very similar in the US. Therefore, it's just plain boring to write about Pad Thai.
- Nisha
Steamed Sticky rice in Bamboo - Our guide in Chiang Dao brought us to this road side place where a woman makes steamed rice in bamboo. The rice, sugar, and coconut mixture is stuffed into a hollow bamboo segment capped with hay. It is BBQed over a wood fire until steamed. The outer husk is then hacked off, the rice left to cool, then it's ready to eat by peeling away the bamboo from the rice. Simply amazing.
Crispy Aromatic Duck - This was tasty take on Peking duck that we have many times in Chinatown. - Chopsticks, Koh Tao
Malee's Buffet - We stayed in Malee's Guesthouse in Chiang Dao, north of Chiang Mai. The first night we went to the renowned Europen-Thai fusion restaurant next door, which was fabulous. The next night we dined on Malee's buffet. She served my favorite Thai curry, Green curry with chicken, mashed squash with egg, a huge platter of fresh fruit, and many other dishes. It was like dining in someones home. Not to be missed - Malee's GuestHouse in Chiang Dao
Thai Iced Tea - I am self-proclaimed iced tea snob. Northern restaurants on good days make me laugh with their version of iced tea, on bad days make me scream with horror. Thailand is where I surprisingly found excellent iced tea. They brew it extra strong, stronger than even the South. They they pour it over crushed ice and finish it with condensed milk!
Family meal at the Highland Restaurant - The restaurant at our resort in Raliay was the best in the area. We had no idea what to expect with the "family meal." You know a meal is going to be great when it starts with "maybe you should move to a bigger table." Our came a hot charcoal cauldron with a grille on top, a bowl of broth, a platter of veggies and rice noodles, and a plate of beef, chicken, fish, shrimp, and squid. We were instructed to coat the top with butter and then grill each. The resulting soup made from the meat drippings was delicious.
- Highland Resort, East Railay
Coke Zero out of a Glass Bottle - For fellow Coke Zero lovers, no more needs said.
You may notice on this list the abscense of Thai dishes in served in the US. They were there and we liked them. However, most good Thai resturants are very similar in the US. Therefore, it's just plain boring to write about Pad Thai.
- Nisha
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