Virtual-Doug

Off We Go

See the old guy in the middle of the photo?  He’s a long-retired Episcopal priest.

What does he have to do with me?

He is a model for me.  You see, Father Bob and his wife spent many years in Belize.  They organized a seminary, founded new churches, and generally, did a lot of people a lot of good. 

Back in 2002, the MGB and I were getting ready to return to Việt Nam for the first time since the war.  We were going for two weeks – that’s all.  Prior to our departure, Father Bob filled in for our regular priest.  The sermon that Sunday was a simple story – the story of a businessman and his wife in their fifties who made a two week trip to Belize.  After mixing concrete and working hard on some projects Fr. Bob needed done, the couple went home, took early retirement, sold their expensive apartment in New York City, and moved to Belize.  Today, the man pastors the three churches he founded.

Okay – cool story, but I also had the feeling it was directed at me.  After the service, I made a beeline for Fr. Bob.  In the belief that the story was somehow meant to give me a hint, I said “If you think for one minute that I will live in Vietnam, you’re crazy!”

We had a good laugh.  Today, we still laugh about it because the rest is history.  We did, of course, live in Việt Nam.

It was only fitting that this gentle man send us off once more.  The folks from our church gathered around us, put hands on our shoulders, and asked for a blessing on us and our work.  We were sent out into the world to do the work God gave us to do.

You won’t be reading this until we are somewhere over the Pacific.  We’ll see you in Việt Nam.

Cell Phone Madness

Does that young lady driving the car next to you scare you a little bit?  We’ve all seen people eating burgers, putting on makeup, or talking on a mobile phone while driving.

How about talking on the mobile phone while riding a môto?   It was Sunday morning when I took this, therefore I doubt this gentleman was making a business call.  Maybe he was calling his girlfriend to meet him for coffee.  At least the traffic was fairly light on Lê Lọi Street, one of the main drags through Huê.

But not so with this young lady.  She was on another busy street and appeared to be paying no attention to the other riders around her.  I also wondered about the person on the other end of the conversation.  Between the noise made by the wind and the muffling of her mask, I would think she would be close to unintelligible.

This young man was on the same street going in the opposite direction.  He was riding very slowly, trying hard to be safe, yet he occasionally wobbled and almost knocked a young girl off her bicycle.  The saving grace of the Vietnamese using their mobile phones while driving is that the speeds are so slow.  Most of these riders were going about 30 kilometers per hour – about 18 mph.

Scary to think of what it will be like when they have freeways in Việt Nam, eh?

Hungry?

McDonald’s has not made it to Việt Nam - - yet.  KFC has arrived in Sài Gòn and Hà Nội, but there are no western fast food joints in the smaller cities, such as Huê.

Maybe you are like this young man – on his cell phone at 7 AM, and late for class at the university.  (Yes, classes start at 7).  He has his choice of many different foods served up by the street vendors.  Possibly he wants some bún bò Huê, a beef noodle soup , or maybe bún hen, a spicy noodle and mussel dish found only in Huê.  Across the street is a small sandwich shop on wheels.  This is nourishing food – and very cheap.  A dish of sticky rice will cost 3,000 Vietnamese đông– about 18 cents.  Most westerners shy away from street food, and that is a shame.  Its good stuff.

(Be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version.)

The characters change as the day progresses.  In the late afternoon, a new vendor peddles her corn-on-the-cob,  hot and fresh out of the boiling water.  She will stay in place well after dark or until her supply is sold.

The vendors do not make much money.  Most likely each will take home about $1.00 to $1.50 each day.  That is not quite as bad as it sounds as most likely, there is another source of income.  They provide good cheap food for the working men and women of Huê, as well as the students at the nearby teacher’s college.  These girls fuel up before taking a final exam at the end of the semester.

Hey – there are starving students in every culture.

Huê Weather and Traffic

Yuck!  I wish it were not, but the weather is totally normal in Huê, which is to say cold and misty, with occasional rain.  Though I have a rain cover for my camera equipment, the heavy overcast isn’t ideal for taking good pictures.  An old friend is back home for now, so I have been able to borrow his motorbike (and rain suit) for most of the time I’m here

But, its time to quit kvetching.

Dawn came in bleary, forecasting another day of mist and rain.   Việt Nam awakes early, and even at 6 AM, the streets are busy and noisy.  I had a full day scheduled of seeing old friends and former students.  An important part of the Vietnamese culture is the giving of small presents to friends after an absence.  The Mystery Guest Blogger and our former teammate Miss July sent along a lot of gifts, and I’m in the process of  giving them out.  It’s a nice duty.  But it has not been nice to see my friend Cu confined to his bed at home.  Despite quitting smoking, the headaches continue.  We’ve decided to just be two old men and sit around and gossip all day.

(Be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version.)

It was rush hour when I left his home, which is inside The Citadel.  Think of Huê as being two cities – the old city inside the eight-feet thick walls of the Citadel, and the new city, started by the French on the other side of the Perfume River.  As folks drove home from work, the streets were still damp from an earlier rain, which is why the lady has on her green rain suit.  The gate is one of eight into The Citadel, which can be thought of as a “gated community.”

As the economy of Việt Nam develops, more people can afford to buy motorbikes and automobiles.  Most bicycles are ridden by kids too young to ride a motorbike.  Notice the girl is bundled up against the cold.  It seems strange to think of 65 degrees as cold, but coupled with the very high humidity, the air feels raw.  She is riding by six large ceremonial cannon that once guarded kings, while the old royal flag tower looms behind her.

Back on the other side of the river, near my hotel, is an intersection I call Five Points, so called because of the same name for a five street intersection in a city where I used to live.  Its near the university and is clogged with young people.  Why the mask on the young lady?  She, like others, thinks the mask will block some of the air pollution.

Traffic is chaotic in Việt Nam.  A rapidly developing economy combined with an very young population makes it seem as though the streets are full of sixteen year olds.  Visitors are advised to ride bicycles for awhile before renting a motorbike.

But hey – its fun!

Coming Back Home

Something is missing.  I’m back in my beloved Việt Nam, and I feel like I’ve returned  home, yet its not really home without the Mystery Guest Blogger next to me.  I miss having her with me while I reunite with old friends.

The trip from deep south Texas to Ho Chi Minh City (still known as Sài Gòn to most Vietnamese) was the usual tedious boring trip, interspersed only with the normal irritations of international air travel.  The nut cracker sent along as a gift for our friend Thành was pulled out by security twice – both in Texas and again in Tokyo.  But, even though the plane arrived 2 ½ hours late at 2AM, there was my wonderful former student waiting for me with flowers in her hand.  It was delightful to see Trang, and to enjoy a long lunch and catch up with old times.  As often happens after graduation, her real education has begun.

I had one night to wander around Sài Gòn, which while not my favorite city, is still a neat place.  The People’s Committee House (City Hall)  was once an opulent French hotel, and today looks out upon a little park with a statute of Uncle Ho playing with children.

(Be sure to click on the photos to see larger versions.)

Readers of “The Quiet American” or viewers of the marvelous movie “Indochine” will recognize the old Continental Hotel, which housed international correspondents during two wars.  It is on Đông Khới Street, once  known as Tu Do Street back when it had many bars and massage parlors frequented by American GIs.  Under the French, it was known as Rue Catinet.  Today it is the center of high-end shopping in  Sài Gòn.

I stayed at the Rex Hotel as I have before.  The Rex is also an old landmark, and it housed senior American officers back in the 60s and 70s.  Atop the building is a rooftop bar.  My association with that bar goes way back to 1967, when as a young 2nd Lieutenant in a dirty field uniform decided to irritate the khaki-clad office workers by going into that bar and downing a beer.

I’m in Huê now, and just as expected the weather is cold and wet.  Its winter here, and the temperature is about 55 degrees F, its raining, and the humidity is 99%.  I’ve already connected with friends and former students, and its nice to be here.

I just wish the MGB were with me.

Việt Nam Needs You

I’m not sure I know why, but I’ve had quite a few inquiries from various people thinking about going to Việt Nam.  I’m not talking about tourists – I’m talking about people who have a deeper interest in the country, and want to do something productive there, or who want to get off the beaten tourist track and see the “real Việt Nam.”  For that reason, I have four different non-government organizations (NGOs) I have personally dealt with, have full faith and confidence in, and am proud to recommend if you want to go to Việt Nam.  All of these groups work in Central Việt Nam.

Think About the Children is the newest organization on this list.  Founder Tom Murray is a veteran whom I had the privilege to meet on his very first trip back to Việt Nam.  Like The Mystery Guest Blogger and I, he fell in love with the people and the country.  During my teaching time in Huê, one of my most enjoyable times was working with Tom to link up his students from the College of Charleston with six Vietnamese students of ours.  I was tickled to see two of my students on the History page of the TBTC web site helping to carry food into an orphanage in Huê.  Tom takes things personally.  During the recent typhoon in Huê, he heard that one of the Vietnamese students’ families had lost the roof of their house.  (Vi is pictured on the right end)  That put the energetic Tom to work.  In short order, he raised the $1,000 needed to replace the roof and had it wired to her.  Think About the Children also works with the Blue Dragon Foundation  to help kids who are trafficked and sent to the big cities to sell postcards to tourists – and kept in virtual slavery.  If you want to see Việt Nam – the real Việt Nam, and you want to see it with a vet, Tom is your man.  I will send you his email if you request it.

MEDRIX.  Not all NGOs in Việt Nam are run by vets.  Bob and La Relle Catherman have an incredibly deep love of Việt Nam – especially in and around the Huê area.  La Relle is the medical person who works with the hospitals in the area.  She put the MGB to work last spring teaching English medical terminology to the physicians of Huê.  She also does a lot of work with health education.  Last spring, she supervised a group of American student nurses doing the public service portion of their degree program as they worked in the hospitals around Huê and in the A Lưới area (what vets remember as the A Shau Valley). Bob is “The Water Man.”  He has developed an inexpensive system to produce safe water and works with the College of Science and the People’s Committee of the province to install systems in schools. If you are a medical type or a technical type, MEDRIX needs you.  And you won’t find two finer people to work with the Bob and La Relle.

Vets With a Mission  is a group we can not only recommend – but have actually worked with.  Our first return to Việt Nam was in the summer of 2002, and we did it with this outstanding group headed by Chuck and Joette Ward.  A major part of their work is to reconcile the people of Việt Nam and the United States, as well as American vets to their experiences.  They do medical trips as well as trips working in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity.  If you are a vet, we can think of no better group to return with than VWAM - - because you will have the camaraderie of being with other vets.  They’ve been doing this a long time – since 1988 when Việt Nam was just beginning to open up.

Peace Trees International  If you want to see more of “The Real Việt Nam”, take a citizen diplomacy trip to Việt Nam with them.  My connection is through Mike Fey, a veteran and a dentist who makes frequent trips.  Peace Trees works in Quảng Tri Province, the site of the old DMZ and still one of the poorest provinces in the country.  Peace Trees does educational work, as well as environmental restoration and de-mining.  Yes, Quảng Tri is full of unexploded ordnance, and people are hurt to this day when a farmer’s plow hits an old artillery shell.

These are all excellent groups you can travel to Việt Nam with and do some good while you’re there.  Obviously, there are lots of other groups, but not all would be suitable as a means to travel to Việt Nam.  Việt Nam has hundreds of NGOs working throughout the country.  One such agency is the Blue Dragon Foundation, run by Australian Mike Brosowski in Hà Nội .  I never met Mike in person, but as a fellow expat blogger, we swapped many an email.  Blue Dragon Foundation and Think About the Children have begun cooperative programs in dealing with the problem of child trafficking in the rural areas around Huê.

But - - if you travel to Hà Nội , you are commanded to eat at KOTO (Know One Teach One), another Australian NGO that provides training in the restaurant and hospitality industry to street kids.  If you eat at KOTO, you will enjoy one of the best meals you’ve ever eaten, and you will have helped another kid learn both an employable skill and self-respect.  Their fund raiser is a Brit, and I’ve swapped many an email with him as he is the author of Our Man in Hanoi.

Travel to Việt Nam if you can – any of the above groups will serve you well.  Can’t go but would like to be involved?  Blue Dragon and KOTO would love your help.

And if you travel to Huê, then you must visit the unofficial hub of NGO activity there.  Go by my friend Cu's Mandarin Cafe for a bite to eat - and meet the other NGO workers in Central Việt Nam.  Tell him Doug sent you.

Thanh Toàn Bridge (Updated)

Most tourists call it “The Japanese Bridge,” but its not Japanese at all.  I suspect some call it that for its resemblance to the covered Japanese bridge in Hoi An. 

In fact, the original bridge was built in 1776 by a lady of the village who had the good fortune to marry a wealthy mandarin.  Taking pity on her former neighbors, Trân Thị Đạo built the bridge with her own money so they would not have to wade or ferry themselves across the small creek.  However, she also wanted a son, and building the bridge was part of her prayers.  Another local legend has it that she indeed had a son who fell deathly ill at the age of sixteen.  The illness was traced to the ghost of a young girl who had died before she married and had children, and being unfilled, her spirit fell in love with the young boy, inhabited his body and made him ill.  To this day, some local people make offerings to the girl at the small shrine in the middle of the bridge.  Regardless of which of the two stories you believe, it is recorded that her good deed brought great fortune to the village.  The King noticed her virtue, and in November 1776, proclaimed that from henceforth, the villagers were exempt from being drafted into either the army or doing forced labor for the government.

The bridge was severely damaged by typhoons in 1844 and 1904 and rebuilt each time, and restore in 1954 and again in 1971.  Today it’s a great place to sit on the benches that span the length of the bridge. enjoy some conversation, and watch Việt Nam go by.

The village used to be named Thanh Toàn, hence the name of the bridge.  The name was changed to Thủy Toàn some time ago, but near the edge of the village is a shrine dedicated to venerating Trân Thị Đạo - - the lady of the bridge.

(My thanks to Steve Boswell for the information about the bridge and its builder.)

Huyên Không Sỏn Thương

West of the city of Huê, in the foothills of the mountains, lies one of the most peaceful and placid places I have ever been.  It is a pagoda, but unlike most pagodas around Huê, it is not ancient.  It is fairly new, and most of the money to build it came from Viet Kieu – overseas Vietnamese.  It is a place where families go for picnics, and young couples to stroll.   I was shown this out-of-the-way place by two of my first year students.

As always, be sure to click on the picture to see a larger version.

The place is lush – and very well tended.  The entrance to the main pagoda ushers you to a small bridge over a stream.  In the background you can see the main building, which is flanked by two smaller structures.  The whole scene exudes serenity.  Looking into the main pagoda, where the monks meditate early in the morning, one sees richly finished wood, and an altar.

The remainder of the grounds is quite large – there is a pond with a small island, and it is normal to see the monks out tending the area.  There is even a small bamboo bridge – sometimes called a “monkey bridge” because of the dexterity needed to use it – that can add a little fun to the day’s walk.

But the pagoda is about serenity – and meditation.  Its everywhere you look.

Điện Biên Phủ

For almost 100 years, Việt Nam was a colony of France.  Actually, it was just part of a larger colony called French Indochina which also included present-day Cambodia and Laos.  The colonization ended with the decisive battle between the Việt Minh, led by General Võ Nguyên Giáp, and the French, led by Colonel Christian de Castries, when Điện Biên Phu fell on May 7, 1954.

Be sure to click on each photo to see a larger version.

Điện Biên Phủ is in the extreme northwest, almost into Laos.  Back in 1954, it was not much more than a village. Today, it is a regional city of almost 100,000, served by two flights daily from Hà Nội.  It has done a marvelous job of preserving the old battlefields, many of which are in the center of town today.  It has managed to avoid the kitsch of the Cu Chi Tunnels near Sài Gòn, and there is much more to see than on a tour of the old DMZ.

It was pure accident that the trip was planned for the 52nd anniversary of the fall of Điện Biên Phủ, but I’m glad it happened.  This old gentleman was helped by his son and grandson to clamber atop an old French tank.  But, it was his eyes that caught me – he appeared to be lost for awhile as he gazed into the distance.  I wonder if he was reliving the battles of his youth.  I wonder if he pondered friends long lost.  I’m sure many of them rest here in the beautifully tended cemetery of 640 soldiers – only four of which have names.  The remainder have never been identified.

Inside the military museum is an excellent map depicting the battle.  Narration is in Vietnamese, French, and English and covers the entire time span from the initial parachuting of French troops in November, 1953 until the surrender in 1954.  Outside is a static display of the some of the weaponry.  Some readers may recognize this as an American 105 mm artillery piece and therefore assume it was used by the French.  Not so – while the French did indeed have this piece, the 105 was also the primary artillery of the Việt Minh.  The guns had been captured during the Korean War, then transported south and given to the Vietnamese by China.

While there were numerous battles all over the valley, the final ones were fought on French strongholds atop small hills inside the city.  This is a recreation of an old French bunker that was part of the defenses of Point A1, one of the last to fall.  It was overrun, recaptured, and overrun again a total of three times in mostly hand-to-hand fighting.   Today the barbed wire gives visitors some idea of the difficulty in assaulting this hill.  Note the nearby mountains.  In an incredible miscalculation, the French did not believe the Việt Minh could haul artillery into those hills.  The result of their arrogant miscalculation was to have their fortifications pounded into rubble, lose the use of the airfield, and have hundreds of their troops killed.

General Giáp ran the whole show from his mountain command center some 25 kilometers from the city.  Well hidden in dense forest, the old compound has been preserved.   In the valley, Colonel de Castries held out in his command bunker until the end came with ignominious surrender.

Today a huge statue, built for the 50th anniversary of the victory, towers over the city.  But also, not far from de Castries’s bunker, is a small memorial to the French soldiers who died at Điện Biên Phủ.  Also dedicated in 2004, it was built by an association of members of the Foreign Legion.

Do you suppose that one day there might be a memorial to the American troops who died in Việt Nam?  One day in the future when the war is forgotten, and life goes on for everyone?

(Note to new readers of this post:  be sure to read the comments.)

One Province North

A visiting American was a good excuse to travel a bit north into Quảng Trị Province.  During the war, it was the northernmost province of the old South Vietnam, and probably saw the most destruction of any province in the country.  The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was there, though little remains of it today.

Quảng Trị is bucolic little country lanes.  It is also a very poor province, though undoubtedly the peasants have a much higher standard of living now than they did thirty years ago.  Motorbikes are common, and irrigation in the rice fields is done by electric pump.  Though an occasional wattle hut can be seen, most people live in sturdy, yet very basic, concrete homes with cement floors.  They have electricity, and with rare exception, have television sets.  Inside is one big room, with an adjunct kitchen.

I admit it – this picture is doctored.  I highlighted the poster on the wall.  I was amazed to see it, but later, when in the market in downtown Quảng Trị Town, I saw others like it.  Don’t ask me why she is so popular in Việt Nam – I have no idea either.

The central feature of any home is an altar.  Ancestors are respected and worshipped here, and often have pictures of the departed.  In this case, the owner has only a picture of the Buddha.  He is also a bit more prosperous than most farmers – he is recently retired, and earns a small additional income from a little store he and his wife own.  Some nights they sleep in the back of the store, and sometimes at home.  More prosperous than others?  Yes.  Rich?  Most certainly not, but they treated us royally.  The family fed us two meals – both delicious, and in far greater quantity than we could eat.

They also took us out sightseeing.  Our first stop was at this pretty little fishing lake.  I loved the little bamboo “bridge” out to fishing platforms.  The wicker enclosure is where you toss your fish to keep them alive – think of it as a large creel.

Then on to Quảng Trị Town.  Once the provincial capital, it was reduced to rubble in the spring of 1972 during what the Communist forces called the Nguyên Huê Campaign, and American historians call the Eastertide Campaign.  By that time, very few American ground combat troops were left in Việt Nam, and the southern Army had a difficult time repulsing the revolutionary forces, who captured Quảng Trị and the old provincial citadel (similar to, but smaller than the one in Huê).  The Americans used airpower to help dislodge them.  The resulting B-52 strikes were successful, but after 81 days, the Citadel itself was flattened – literally.  Today, inside the remaining walls, is a peace memorial dedicated to the thousands of revolutionary soldiers who died there.  It is a rather poignant place – not dissimilar to The Wall in Washington, D.C.  People pay their respects by leaving flowers and lighting incense atop the memorial.

Nearby is the Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of La Vang.  In 1798, during a widespread persecution of Catholics at the hand of the ruling king, a number of Catholics went into the jungle west of Quang Tri to await their martyrdom.  Mary appeared, protected them, and today, she is honored throughout Việt Nam.  The church building constructed in 1928 was almost totally destroyed during the Eastertide Campaign, leaving only the steeple and front edifice intact.  Mass is celebrated in a temporary aluminum and glass enclosure.

Long time readers of this blog know I have been consistent in saying there are few reminders of the war in Việt Nam.  That’s not quite true in Quảng Trị Province.  As these stark and explicit signs attest, there is still a lot of unexploded ordnance in the area.  Even today, people are killed and maimed by old bombs and mines.  To the best of my knowledge, there are three demining teams working in the province, but they have job security for a long time into the future.

The eastern part of the province – the coastal plains – are filled with sights like this, whereas the western part is gorgeous mountain scenery.  Take your pick - Quảng Trị Province is another example of The Real Việt Nam.