Mekong Delta

One who grew up on the place names of Vietnam could not pass up a trip to the Mekong Delta. The river even upstream was huge in spots, with significant populated islands in it. We bused up to somewhere in the My Tho area, going south on the main highway that also leads up to Da Nang and Hanoi. A very busy highway indeed, with lots of roadside stands, bicyclists, the ever-present motorbikes, and cars. Also alongside the road was a lot of housing, explained to us by the fact that property taxes are lower close to the road. We also saw some quite new and modern housing a bit farther out. Most houses are only 14 feet wide as that is how land is zoned. They then may go up several stories, housing generations of family members. In the rice paddies that line the roads, there are often burial monuments – they like to keep their deceased relatives close by.

Alas, all my pictures from this trip somehow disappeared. Digital cameras have their limitations, for sure. We stopped at a large market, with live and dried fish, chicks and ducklings, meats (no refrigeration), all manner of fruits and vegetables, crafts, hardware, notions, whatever. I petted a cat there, as I am wont to do everywhere. We took a large boat (25 seats) into the river and up a canal in one of the islands. The islands still support very traditional existences, though they do have electricity and plumbing (at some point I will go into an extensive discussion of plumbing and sanitation around the world). Our first stop led us into a small “factory’’ where they made a chewy coconut candy, very addictive. We also had honey tea made with a local “longan” honey, very thin and tasty. We also had some of the royal jelly from the hive, what the workers feed the queen, supposedly very nutritious. Eat it, put it on your face, a multi-purpose substance.

We then boarded tiny boats of 4 of us with 2 drivers to go through true jungle. These narrow canals were lined with vegetation and little homes just off the water. We ended up at another little place at which we had some tea and fruit, including jackfruit and dragonfruit. Every place had some things for sale, and this was one of our first exposures to snake wine, in which a whole snake (varying sizes in various bottles) is pickled in a bottle of wine. Of course, students were not permitted to bring that on board, as they are not permitted to bring alcohol on, but at last count they were told the bottles contained: water; oil; vinegar; and benzoyl (sp?) peroxide. What a strange substance, and the scary part is that people actually drink it! In fact, we were told the snake is good for two refillings; after that, “Snake no good.”

I just thought what that jungle must have seemed like to 18 year old kids, soldiers in the 60s and 70s, fighting an invisible enemy in unbearable heat and awful conditions. I saw bamboo cut at angle along the river and canal banks, and flashed back to some of what my father’s letters had described of various weapons and booby-traps. I suppose this is the segue into our visit to the War Remembrance Museum, previously known as the Museum of American and Chinese War Crimes, then the Museum of War Atrocities. All seem to apply. The bottom line for me is that no group has cornered the market on wartime cruelties; even that terminology understates it. At the same time, no group was without sin, either. “We” gave as good as we got in many circumstances. Perhaps the longest-enduring legacy was the use of dioxin, “Agent Orange.” There’s still a great deal of denial going on even with folks in this country who were exposed as soldiers or otherwise in-country. The denial extends to Vietnam where the effects continue to be felt through generations. I saw the lush growth now and tried to imagine both what it was before the major burnings and deforestations, and also what that must have looked like.

I’m not one to lecture on this war; besides, we’ve go all sorts of new wars to lecture on! But I do try to read about it and develop some understanding, particularly since my father was here during that time. (I don’t think people have much understanding of it at all, and have a particularly difficult time with other perspectives of it, such as the Vietnam perspective; an important one, I feel, since it is their country). As some of you know, my father was here as a civilian contractor in support of the war effort, think Halliburton/Fluor/KBR and other now/again-familiar names along that line. He met and married a Vietnamese woman and brought her entire family over before the fall of Saigon, including her (!) daughter. Enough said about that; for one thing, that’s about all I know.

There’s yet more on Vietnam, but I’ll give it to you in small doses.