Vietnam Travel Notes (Facts/Observations)

Observations from Travel:

- It’s against the law for little kids to accept handouts, but they can sell things. The same goes for the cave tours that they used to provide for a small fee, the government has said that is illegal, but they can sell trinkets and “junk” instead.
- I was told by a high school kid, as well as a middle school aged girl working in a restaurant, that it costs $40/month to attend high school. It’s cheaper for the younger students, but everyone must pay. It’s similar in Thailand, but I was surprised in a communist country where things would be run in a more socialist fashion, that one would have to pay for school.
- In the 80s it was illegal to study English and in 2005 I bought an English newspaper, Viet Nam News which included the following:

o 2010 Socio-Economic Development Agenda stating that tertiary education will be had by 200/10,000 people and there will be telephones in 35/100 residences
o Malnutrition in children under 5 will be below 24% (seems way high!)
o The Prime Minister was quoted saying, “Through democracy, material strength, the intelligence of the people and the spirit of renewal, the country will continue toward sustainable development.” Doesn’t sound very communist, actually??
o The HCM Drug Treatment Facility offers free services. You may stay for up to two years and receive free education (looks like they should all hit the drogas!), medical, counseling, and job training
o In HCM City, 300,000 students study at 61 State-owned colleges and universities on student loans
o Hoang Minh Chinh traveled to the US for “health” reasons and ended up speaking out against
Vietnam at Harvard calling Vietnamese soldiers and police “tools of the State”. The article in the Viet Nam News wasn’t happy about this and compared the US’s handling of Hurricane Katrina to Vietnam’s handling of Tropical Storm Damry where winds up to 133 km/hr blew through, but over 200,000 people were previously evacuated to safety by soldiers and police, the “tools of the State”. It was an interesting perspective and I found it quite sad that the US botched the care of its people in such a way as to make countries like Vietnam think that they do a better job at serving the people.

Notes from the both the Lonely Planet and The Vietnam War by McDougall Litell:

- In pre-war Vietnam, the Vietnamese were so curious of the Catholic religion that priests had to issue “members only” passes for midnight mass due to the need for crowd control. It wasn’t unusual for people to climb pillars for a better view of the mass!
- Words in Vietnam are split into syllables. For example, Hanoi is really Ha Noi meaning between rivers (it sits in between the Red River)
- The Ben Hai River marks the demarcation line, near the 16th parallel where, during the Potsdam Conference involving the USA, UK, and the USSR in Berlin in 1945, it was decided that the Japanese below this line would surrender to the British, while those North of the line would surrender to the Chinese.
- In April 1954 in Geneva, Ho Chi Minh and the French agreed to two temporary zones, not a political boundary. Elections were due to be held between HCM and Diem, but Diem had no support from people on either side, so he refused to have elections. The US threw their support behind Diem and the battle between the North and the South began, splitting the nation at the 17th parallel.
- Since 1975, 5,000 people have been injured or killed by the ordinance left over in and around the DMZ. Villagers take the risk, digging for scrap metal to sell to tourists and end up getting blown up. Thanks to the cattle in the area, it’s becoming much safer as they’re getting blasted into pieces instead of people…watch where you graze!
- The HCM Trail is actually a series of roads and trails running perpendicular to Highway 9 from Dong Ha to Laos, in the middle of the Vietnam. Highway 9 is lined with Camp Carroll, The Rockpile, Dakrong Bridge, Hamburger Hill, Khe Sanh Combat Base (used as a diversion in the Tet Offensive), Lang Vay Special Forces Camp, among others.
- There is a large number of war vets suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, mostly American, but some Aussies, returning to Vietnam for “therapy”. There are also Vietnamese soldiers suffering from PTSD, but there is little help for them in Vietnam.
- The battle at Khe Sahn took place in early 1968. Despite opposition from Marine Corps brass to General Westermore’s strategy, locals were trained and a base was set up in 1966. Hill fights took place in 1967 and late that year, movement was detected of tens of thousands of NV troops. Westermore believed a decisive battle was being planned. President Johnson was so convinced he had a sand-table model of Khe Sanh build in the White House situation room. Westermore assembled an armada of 5000 planes, helicopters, and 6000 troops, even checking into the feasibility of using nuclear weapons. The 75-day siege began on 21 January 1968 and was brought to global attention when it became the cover story in both Newsweek and Life. It was clear that it was a diversion from the Tet Offensive, but Westermore thought the opposite, that the Tet Offensive was a diversion for Khe Sahn! In this small town 500 American soldiers, 10,000 North Vietnamese (NV), and countless civilian bystanders died in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Westermore’s tour of duty ended in July 1968 and American forces were redeployed, deemed unnecessary to hold Khe Sanh. The US Military has returned to this site looking for MIA, but has only been able to find the remains of the Vietnamese.
- Truong Son National Cemetery is where a small portion of Vietnam’s 300,000 MIA are named.
- Hué, which sits on the Perfume River, was taken over for 3.5 weeks during which civilians were shot, clubbed to death, and 3000 people were buried alive by the NV troops. Approximately 10,000 people died during the Battle of the Tet Offensive, including 150 Americans.
- After Hué fell, a truckload of NV drove into Danang and declared it “liberated”. The only “battle” was the one fought by civilians fighting for space on ships and planes out. The President of World Airways, Ed Daly, ignoring explicit government orders, sent two 727s from Saigon to Danang to evacuate refugees. About 1000 desperate people mobbed the tarmac, soldiers were firing at each other and at the plane, a hand grenade damaged the right wing, as it taxied down the runway with 200 soldiers (elite Black Panthers) and only two civilians, a woman and a baby that was thrown aboard by a mother left on the tarmac. People had climbed into the landing gear and were televised falling into the South China Sea.