Our very long flight was smooth and uneventful, just the way I like it. frequent flyer miles that I have been hoarding for a long time upgraded us to first class and we had our own little sleeping pods with flight attendants pampering us the whole way to South East Asia with good food and wine.  I couldn’t help but think of another time when our young men, boys really,  were  drafted, torn away from their families and friends and on a troup plane heading for he same destination as we were but with a terrifying uncertainty about how they would return home–alive, injured, or in a body bag ?

There was a bit of a layover in Tokyo and we saw people wearing face masks for the first time.  Feeling self conscious we put ours on.  Ugh, not comfortable.  National Geographic picked us up at the Ho Chi Minh City airport and took us to our hotel.  With the 12 hour time difference we tried to get some sleep but ended up getting up at 4:00 a.m. for the day!  We had a couple days on our own before the official tour was to start so we took a taxi to the Ben Thanh Market.

It’s like the Rochester Public Market on steroids or Pike Place in Seattle on acid.  There Is every thing you could imagine including live fish, frogs, chickens, vegetables, clothing, watches, and flowers, on and on.  One tiny little lady cornered me and we ended up bartering over a purse that I really didn’t want but had such fun bickering back and forth with her.  She was a little pit bull and I guess she won because I still don’t want that purse that I ended up buying with my Vietnamese “dongs”.  I noticed gangs of bad ass, street-wise feral cats.  Always been a cat lover but these felines looked like they would tear your throat out given the chance.  Survivors.

Jet lag was getting to us and dodging the crazy thousands of scooter riders  we made our way back to the hotel.  Traffic lights aren’t taken real seriously and they drive on the sidewalks!  Crossing the street is a death wish and once you start you have to continue;  to stop midway is sure disaster.  The scooter people carry unbelievable things on their bikes, including very small children that can barely sit up, many without helmets.  There are few cars which is a good thing or it would be constant grid lock.   We fried our pasty white selves around the roof top pool until it was time for dinner.

The street food smelled wonderful but being afraid of Ho Chi Minh Revenge we didn’t try any.  We felt comfortable walking around the streets and it was clear that about 98% of the population were wearing face masks.  They are taking the whole Corona virus thing very seriously.

We found a neighborhood restaurant and had out first Vietnamese dinner.  Lucky for us we both love the food and frequent Mamasan’s in Rochester often.

Next morning we went on a day tour to the Mekong Delta that I found on Trip Advisor.  Love Trip Advisor.  It was a two hour bus ride and the total cost for each was $20.00 US dollars, including lunch!  I didn’t expect much at that price but what a bargain!  We had three great boat rides on the Mekong River, super lunch with entertainment, snake wine, saw many Buddas and Bonsai trees, coconut candy and a great little guide the whole time.  I enjoy riding through the country side and getting out of the city.  There were many beautiful and ornate burial shrines next to little meager homes.  Our guide said that their dead are treated well and with respect because it is believed that if you do so you will have a better life.  The shrines are out in rice paddies because they want their ancestors near them while they work.  There is great respect for their living elders too.  It’s common for three generations to be living in the same house.   Nursing homes are not a thing there.  Family is everything.

Next morning we met our fellow travelers and expedition leader, Vu Dinh Quang; we called him “Q”.  Our expert was Ken Hammond, PHD in Asian studies, Harvard, an old war protestor who was a student at Kent State on that fateful day!  He was also featured in the Ken Burns Vietnam series. Highly recommend that you watch it if you haven’t. Out of the 25 who originally booked the trip, 5 chickened out. Too bad for them.  Rather surprised that there were no Vietnam veterans among us.

Maybe once was enough for them.

We jumped right into the whole “American War” thing bummer.  The next few days would end up being pretty heavy and intense.  I think Dave was searching for some validation on our involvement there from 1954-1975 and was disappointed not to find any.  Dave had a close boyhood friend and a brother in law get drafted and die there so he feels some survivor’s guilt I think.  He had a very high draft lottery number so he was spared and got to live a great life.  58,220 of our boys (out of the 2.5 million who were deployed) did not have that opportunity.  Not to mention the thousands who came home not only physically damaged but  mentally damaged beyond repair.  They never left Vietnam in their minds. The Vietnam war was the end of blind faith in government for me so perhaps that explains my cynical outlook on anything that comes out of Washington all my life.

First stop on the war tour in the blazing heat and humidity was at the People’s Unification Palace.  Now a museum, it was the former home of the president of Vietnam.  The South Vietnam White House.  It is a splendid mid-century style rebuilt in the 50’s.  Very opulent and stately.   During the war it was the command center in Saigon complete with bunker.

We stopped at the Saigon Post Office.  Big deal huh?  It was a gorgeous building and looked like a French train station since it was built by the French when they colonized Vietnam.  Again, everyone was wearing masks.

The War Remnant Museum was next and it cut right to the nerves.  What we saw there was not what we saw on the Evening News back in the 60’s. Nothing was glossed over for the American public.   The photos and exhibits were very graphic and emotional.  It portrayed us as the Nazis at Nuremburg and was tough to get through.  I think we were all glad to get that out of the way.  Doesn’t feel good being the bad guys (my opinion…remember?)

Once outside we saw the rooftop where the iconic evacuation of  April 30, 1975 occurred.  Overloaded choppers with people trying to flee the city before the North Vietnamese took complete control of the country.  It was on top of our CIA building and a very small space to land a helicopter really.  Weeks before the inevitable end they had shored up the roof so choppers could land there.  They also had been playing “White Christmas’ on the building speaker system as code to let the American’s know that the end was near and to pack-up and shred things that should be shredded before the exit.  How haunting that must have sounded playing through the offices.  It was my Dad’s favorite song from the World War 2 era and always makes me cry when I hear it.

Trying to move on from the past, the young population of Vietnam don’t really care to talk about the war according to “Q”.   Most of the population was born after 1975 and the war belonged to their parents and grandparents.  Q’s wife’s family is South Vietnamese and his family is North Vietnamese.  The country is unified now but there is still that North-South difference, similar to our Yankee-Confederate divide still felt today in our own country, or East/West Berlin.

After a very emotional day revisiting our past involvement there we had a rooftop dinner at our hotel and the sparkling lights of the city and the good food and wine eased our conscience.  Until the next day…

Still in Saigon–The Charlies Daniels Band

Got on a plane in “Frisco and got off in Vietnam
I walked into a different world
The past forever gone

I could have gone to Canada or I could have stayed in school
But I was brought up differently
I couldn’t break the rules

Thirteen months and fifteen days
The last ones were the worst
One minute I’d kneel down and pray
And the next I’d stand and curse

No place to run to where I did not feel that war
When I got home I stayed alone
Ad checked behind each door

“‘Cuz I’m still in Saigon
Still in Saigon
I am still in Saigon
In my mind

The ground at home was covered in snow
And I was covered in sweat
My younger brother called me a killer
And my Daddy called me a Vet

Everybody says I’m someone else
And I’m sick and there’s no cure
Damned if I know who I am
There was only one place I was sure

When I was still in Saigon
Still in Saigon
I am still in Saigon
In my mind