Weekend in Saigon

TRAVEL is indeed a good teacher. From history to anthropology to linguistics, the amount of diverse knowledge you can gain just by crossing oceans is tremendous. My college friends and I recently went to Ho Chi Minh for some bonding time. Since there are now numerous budget airlines operating in Southeast Asia, traveling can now be a spur-of-the-moment activity.

This was actually my second trip to Vietnam. The first was in 2010 on a backpacking trip to Hanoi, Siem Reap, Bangkok and Phuket for Chinese New Year. Since Cams, our friend with incredibly itchy feet, enticed me with the pretty cheap airfare, and since I haven't explored Saigon/HCM that much, I happily went along. Because we would be staying there for only one night, the plan was to just hang out, relax and have coffee. No guided tours, no Cu Chi Tunnels, just idle time with weasel and baguettes.

Photos by Camille Venturina

The streets of Saigon are flooded with motorbikes and its sidewalks lined with peddlers and food stalls luring you to buy fresh tropical fruits, tasty salad, and delicious baguettes. Vietnam for me has one of the best and cheapest coffee in Asia. The $1 coffee we had by the roadside was just heavenly - rich and slightly bitter with a tinge of coconut taste.

taken by Camille Venturina

 

 

The hotel we stayed in is located near Ben Thanh market so shopping was definitely included in our itinerary. I must say that Vietnam is slowly catching up with Bangkok in terms of being a shopping destination. The clothes I saw in Saigon mall were fashionable, cheap and of good quality. The jewelry we found were classy and modern. We even found a very gorgeous 120-dollar long gown inside one of the small boutiques. Cathy, who initially planned to have her dress custom-made in Singapore, didn't need to think twice and bought it right away.  

A clean room for S$56 a night

 

Beef pho

 

A dozen of shopping bags and a gallon of caffeine later, we found ourselves headed to the Fine Arts Museum and the War Remnants Museum expecting to see some French-inspired art pieces and photographs of pre-/post-war Vietnam.

taken by Camille Venturina

When we arrived at the War Remnants Museum (Bảo tàng chứng tích chiến tranh), we were greeted by an exhibit of large tanks and fighting planes parked before the main building. There were a number of Caucasians taking photos and doing a selfie beside the artillery on display so we followed suit.

taken by Camille Venturina

 

I vaguely remembered what Vietnam War was all about. All I could remember from history class was that it was between North and South Vietnam and that the United States was a major player that stepped in to quell communism in Indochina. (No) thanks to Broadway entertainment, romance always comes to mind when Vietnam War or Fall of Saigon is mentioned. Rhoda and I even sang the chorus of Sun and Moon while waiting for the two girls to finish their photo session with engines of dusty black-painted metals as backdrop.

 

 

 

I was not prepared to see the photos that were waiting for us on the second floor. Hanging in a wall painted in orange were photographs of disfigured infants and children, most of them with missing limbs, mental disorder and other physical deformities.

 

collage by Camille Venturina

It turned out that these people were victims of a deadly chemical called Agent Orange used by the United States army during the war.

U.S. troops covered with metal masks in preparation for the spraying of Agent Orange in Southern Vietnam

In 1961, President John Kennedy approved the use of herbicides to defoliate the dense jungles of Vietnam. This decision turned a bitterly fought war into an illegal, immoral, and humiliating contest for the United States and an ecological catastrophe for Vietnam.

The Americans sprayed the forests and rice fields of Vietnam with Agent Orange, a concoction of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D, two exceedingly toxic weed killers. One of them, 2,4,5-T, was contaminated by TCDD-dioxin, the most potent molecule in the industrial world's chemical arsenal. - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/evaggelos-vallianatos/vietnam-in-the-aftermath-_b_2989215.html

More than four million of the population were exposed and the effects of the toxin manifested until the third generation of post-war Vietnam. Until now, there is still an ongoing lawsuit against the United States government and continuous lobbying for a thorough cleanup of Vietnam from the chemical. My heart broke into pieces as I looked at the faces of the innocent victims who were unfortunate to be born in that decade of the Cold War.

War is ugly. War ravages a nation and its people. War strips dignity off a human being.

I was born in the 1980s and grew up in the time when beauty pageants became popular as every home saw the arrival of the television set. I remembered the all-too-familiar answer to the standard question, "What is the most important thing you would wish for the world to have?" Suddenly, it didn't sound so much of a cliche anymore.

Good thing our trip didn't end on that very sad note. We had another round of coffee and more servings of spring rolls afterwards. But as I remember the city of Saigon, I promise not to forget the lessons and the new information I received. I will surely include Vietnam in my prayers and may the coming generations really achieve what every living soul desires to have - peace.