Our man in Asia, Part 2

Southeast Asia Don is currently in Singapore, but had some time to catch us up on his travels:

My last missive had some issues with matching my remarks with the appropriate photos. It doesn’t matter. You get the idea. Plus, my photos are scanty. I find it difficult to juggle photo-taking with trying to pay attention to the guide. They say that travel is not creative. You only need to be attentive. So, attentive I am. Being attentive to me means not being quick on the trigger with a camera. Plus, it seems I can never get a decent photo without being part of someone else’s selfie. I wish I could collect a penny for every selfie taken.  

My week in Laos after spending the night in a rural “homestay” went on to include Luang Prabang and the capital city of Vientiane. As with all cities in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, the influence of over 100 years of French occupation (or as the French put it, “protectorate”) can be seen everywhere. French food, such as a baguette, is a central part of the cuisine, but filtered through an Asian perspective. 

And the architecture reflects the French influence as well.  One of the people on the tour — a Brit from Sheffield, England — remarked that it all looked like New Orleans. He had never been to New Orleans but made the connection simply from photos. He was right. The French influence was most evident in Hanoi.

But in Laos, the influence includes language choice. The second language there is French, with most Loatians who learn a second language choosing French. Our local guide took the unusual path of learning English, which has turned out  to be much more handy, since far more English-speaking tourists are traveling here than French.  There are, however, still loads of French tourists. I guess there’s an interest among former colonist countries to visit their former colonies. These three countries were, of course, known as Indochina when ruled by the French.  

Hanoi:  For me. Hanoi was the jewel city in all of Southeast Asia. Packed with once-fine (now mostly crumbling) French mansions and teeming with a thrilling street scene of motorbikes and motor scooters buzzing around and weaving in and out of pedestrian and car traffic. The car traffic isn’t very large, in part because there are no garages in Hanoi. A two-wheel motorized vehicle is the most convenient way to get around.  

I looked around this amazing city — so alive, so vibrant — and thought, “Wow, if this is Communism, I’ll take it.” But that needs some explanation. After Vietnam was unified following the exit of the American forces in 1975, the idealogy of Communism was strictly controlled. The result wasn’t very good. 

Before the Communist rule, for example, Vietnam was a rice-exporting country, selling some 95 percent of their excess rice crop internationally. In 1975, as the rice farms were turned into collective farms, the production plunged and within two years, Vietnam was a rice-importing country. After the USSR fell in 1990, the Communist approach in Vietnam was “reformed” and the market economy was restored, along with renewed private ownership of rice production. Within a year, Vietnam became a rice-exporting country again. 

There are some signs of an attempt to equalize societal hierarchy. For example, properties are limited in the width of the space of a house to a very narrow footprint. That is to discourage the building of mansions by the rich. But in the countryside, you can see some massive mansions peeking out from within the jungle.

The street scene in Hanoi is mostly traditional. You see streets of the market area that are devoted to particular market segments, just as it has been for centuries. For example, there is a street has shops selling only kitchenware. Another only women’s dresses. Another toys. My favorite was a street devoted to paper goods — both practical like stationery, to fanciful, like the Asian equivalent of pinatas.  

There is also Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum. (And, yes, I saw the supposedly preserved body of this ubiquitous leader of the Vietnam story. He looked pretty good. Better, in fact, than he looked in life. No photos allowed, of course, and you were hustled through fast with no time to study the body.) The mausoleum was on the grounds where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked. His living quarters were also on view.

Elsewhere in Hanoi was the famed “Hanoi Hilton” where American war prisioners, including John McCain, were held. It’s actually in the center of the city. It was used first by the French to house and brutalize Vietnamese during their longtime struggle agianst the French. This included a guillotine for the ultimate punishment. When the prison was repurposed into a prison for Americans, it apparently was made into a country club. Parties. Basketball games. Wonderful food. There’s no explanation of how John McCain’s arms got broken so many times, but, as a tourist from the vanquished enemy country, you have to just accept the line.  

The victory over the United States is the forefront of the Vietnam national story.  You think that the United States celebrate 1776? You’ve seen nothing until you see the reminders throughout Vietnam of this achievement and the “reunification” victory for the country. 

They acknowledge, however, that they could not have won if it had not been for the domestic resistance to the war back in America.