We’ve been enjoying the warm ( by US standards ) weather and learning more about the history and present day region of Vietnam that we’re currently living in.
I think that what’s surprising me the most about Vietnam is how different it is from Thailand. In common, they both have a lot of English spoken by locals, especially those who cater to the tourism market. But the relative lack of temples and Buddhism caught me off guard. There are an amazing number of temples in Thailand. They are absolutely everywhere. I believe that the country is over 90% Buddhist but in Vietnam, it’s closer to 15%.
Yesterday we went on a wonderful tour to visit the nearby countryside and see some of the small farming communities outside of the city.
The feeling of riding through these small towns and being greeted with smiles, wave’s, nods or a simple, “hello” was very touching to me. Still, it’s difficult to process being here when with what I remember from my childhood and what I’m still learning about the war. Oh, and FYI, the Vietnamese refer it as “The American War,” not the “Vietnam War.”
We’re in a city caled Hoi An, which is basically a suburb of Da Nang. It’s a modist sized city with about 100,0000 residents. Not a huge city, so not a lot of museums, but Hoi An does have a local museum and in it there is a sizable section about the American War and their history of occupation and being under the rule of China and France.
Side by side in the museum are artifacts of torture used by the Vietnamese on Americans, and by Americans on the Vietnamese. There are displays of weapons used by Vietnamese martyrs to destroy American war machines as well as explicit lists of numbers of tanks, APC’s and aircraft destroyed by some of the rocket propelled grenade launchers. It’s all quite surreal. There was even the seat of an ejected aircraft that was downed during the war.
There is a disarmed claymore mine in one display with a description label below. The label says that the mine was attached to the inside wall of an American war prison which housed high value Vietnamese prisoners of war. It was setup to detonate if the prison was attacked by Vietnamese forces attempting to free them.
I’m trying to understand the war from their perspective, and trying to remind myself of why we were even here in the first place. It’s all a jumble in my head at the moment.
Reading the (and translating) the exhibits in the museum tells the story of an oppressed people who were fighting to free themselves from outsiders. They refer to what I assume America considers the rightly empowered government, as a puppet government empowered by outsiders. Vietnam had been under the rule and or occupation by outsiders for centuries – initially by China for over a thousand years only to then be ruled by France. French rule lasted for something like 60 years. Vietnam claimed independence only after the end of the American war in 1975 when north Vietnamese forces seized Saigon.
The influence of China on Vietnam is still here based on what I see in the communities. For example, while you don’t see many ornate Buddhist temples here like in Thailand, what you do see are neighborhood shines. Many of which are very impressive in their ornate decorations and size. My understanding is that these bring together aspects of Animism, Taoism, Buddhism and ancestor worship. The ornate decorations always appear very Chinese with lions and dragons, including writing using Chinese characters (Hanzi).
Fun fact: In the distant past the Vietnamese language was spoken, but with no written analog. Under Chinese rule, they adopted Chinese characters and used them for writing their language. Later, when the French came, they adapted the language to use a Latin based character set, which is what they use today. I’m told that no one aside from scholars understand the Vietnamese written using Chinese characters. People who understand traditional Chinese, I’m told, can sometimes understand basic words but can’t make out the grammar since it’s not Mandarin or Cantonese.
Anyway, the story that I see here in Vietnam is that the war was one of independence, and that they won. Their current government is Communist, specifically: “The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an authoritarian state ruled by a single party, the Communist Party of Vietnam, led by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.” People seem content for the most part and generally seem to just be living their lives and are friendly and hospitable to tourists being here. They make great food which is affordable and, much like Thailand, is absolutely everywhere.
If you drive just a few minutes outside of Hoi An you are met with beautiful mountains on the horizon, rice fields everywhere and usually a few water buffalo. Our guide said that the water buffalo are mostly “retired” and just living their best lives on the farms because most farmers don’t use them to plow anymore. I was also told that the other reason that they keep them is as an investment. Because they can be sold if the family needs money later, he actually said, “they are like a bank.”
Seeing the present-day state of the world from different perspectives paints more details onto my appreciation for the impact western colonization on the world today. The impact of being ruled by another nation while you own culture develops changes things. You see it in the French and Chinese legacy in the architecture and food here in Vietnam. I can’t help but wonder what this country would be like had the American side won the war. Would the Vietnamese people be happier? Would they be more wealthy like South Korea? Or would they have become poverty stricken like Haiti or under some kind of extreme religious rule like Afghanistan?
What I see from my time here just feels like a proud people who are building their communities and living their lives. There is a lot of interest and curiosity about the US here. Our music and entertainment are everywhere. And since it seems that most younger people speak reasonable English, they watch a lot of YouTube ,and Facebook is the social media platform of choice. We’ve talked to some who would like to travel and visit the US, but it’s very cost prohibitive. Wages in Vietnam are quiet low by US standards, which is why things here seem so affordable to us foreigners. It makes eating out affordable for locals, but makes travel to expensive places like the US and western Europe unattainable. So they learn about us from movies and Tiktok.
