“Speak not what your country has done to you but what you have done to your country.”
This t-shirt for sale in a shop across from my guesthouse is either:
a) what happens when JFK is translated into a language then translated back to English
b) the product of a local t-shirt maker making a political statement
Sunday I went on a tour of the DMZ here. It’s completely opposite of the DMZ that I visited in South Korea. Actually, it never was really a DMZ…don’t know why they even use that name anymore. Ah, well…
The full-day tour took me and a busload of other folk to see the borders of the North and South, a US Marines base, and some village tunnels among other things. I’m glad I went, as trying to better understand what happened here 40 years ago was one of the main reasons I came to SE Asia. But it was also quite unsettling. My pictures of the sites are few and far between…even if all it is now is a rusted, bullet-marked army tank, taking photos of it seemed kind of like taking a photo of a fatal car wreck. As I looked at the bombed-out relics and land-mine pocked fields, I couldn’t help but realize that these were not just sites, but places where a family lost a son or father or a man’s life was forever altered. So at most sites, my camera stayed tucked away inside my little green bag.
One photo I did snap, however, was of the back of our bus. I noticed that there were “U.S.A.rmy” holographic stickers everywhere inside of it. As they were all carefully placed, I’m pretty sure the tour company put them there. There were also a few stickers of other countries that participated in the war but only one of the local flag. Odd to see a go, America! type of sticker, especially while listening to our guide give the “Vietnamese version of the war.”
While letting my brain rot from too much television in Hanoi, I watched one of the MTV stations that came on late at night. I discovered Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls,” which I bought from iTunes. Man, that song is way too catchy…it’s been stuck in my head all flippin’ day.
I went to the Ho Chi Minh Museum before I left Hanoi. One of the exhibits there used “documents and artistic images” to explain how the world was during the Industrial Revolution. “These changes had a great impact on Ho Chi Minh’s thinking in his quest for national liberation,” explained the sign at the beginning of the exhibit.
What kinds of items represented the Industrial Revolution? A $34.95 buggy from Sears, Roebuck & Co., of course.
The boat ride through Vietnam’s Halong Bay was basically gorgeous. With only about 15 people on the boat at any given time, it was pretty quiet, too. That was unless the staff decided to put on some music to cure their boredom. However listening to their choices was always entertaining. My favorite pick of theirs was The Carpenters’ “Yesterday Once More.”
Ah, boating, swimming, and kayaking around limestone karsts for nearly three days with Karen Carpenter’s voice providing part of the soundtrack…can’t get more relaxing than that.
*Above photo is the view from my open door the morning after I woke up on the boat…
While in Halong Bay this week, an adorable young girl rowed up alongside our junk (boat) and began sing-songedly yelling out, “Oranges? You want to buy some oranges?” I have to admit I was a little tempted. There was little snack food on the boat and fresh fruit sounded nice; I also felt a bit bad that such a small being was moving around such a big load.
A few of the other riders went down to investigate the produce. As I watched them go down toward her rowboat, I noticed her pink tank top. Her crisp Bebe shirt and clean green plaid button-up were evidence that she probably does fairly well selling the fruit fares.
I watched as the French man on our boat bought a bunch of bananas from her. The American guy who had also went down decided not to buy any oranges. When he turned back toward the ladder, she started yelling out, “Why?” As he ascended to join the rest of us, she whined furiously: “Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” Paddling around the perimeter of the boat near the rear, she didn’t even try to convince the rest of us to buy any of the produce but just kept yelling toward the one American guy “Why?”
I began to think her and her family hadn’t afforded the Bebe shirt because of her young puppy-dog eyes but instead because possible customers just wanted to shut up her insistent whining.
Yeah, with all the whining, I’d have to say she didn’t look so adorable any more.
Attempting to follow my newest travel rule, I revisited a western bar/restaurant in Hanoi last night. I’d had pizza there before and while sitting at the bar I had noticed a small portrait of the original G. Dub next to the entrance. Given the rest of the posters in the place, I thought it was just another attempt at some American kitsch.
But last night, while sitting at a table and eating a grilled cheese, I looked up and realized there was a portrait of “Uncle Ho” on the other side of the door. Given the not-so-distant history between our two countries, I have to say I was fairly surprised at the juxtaposition.
Turns out the place is owned by an American man and Vietnamese woman (who are married). I guess the portraits are a little devotional to each of their country’s “founding fathers.”
And I do say little…as you can see the tributes to Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Garcia are much bigger.
