Corinne's (somewhat) Weekly Photo: Vietnam

Showing posts with label Vietnam. Show all posts

jan 09 glimpses of Vietnam

the narrow buildings of Hanoi, a city packed with people and life

early morning around Hoan Kiem Lake, thousands of Vietnamese are exercising in hundreds of ways

graduates in traditional ao dai; so much lovelier than caps and gowns

the Chinese influence on Vietnam is strong

fishing boat in Halong Bay, World Heritage site

dec 08 - jan 09 Sins of Our Country Tour

I've been thinking about this post for 6 weeks, since the day we climbed to the cave where 500 people lived for 6 years during the Indochina War. I've hesitated to write because I'm not a student of history and might get facts about dates and alliances wrong. But the facts of war are all the same -- innocent people get hurt, killed, their lives shattered, their countries ruined. I was ignorant about the Vietnam War before this trip and didn't even know the U.S.'s role in the war in Laos. These topics weren't covered in my high school history class. All I knew came from Oliver Stone.

I'm convinced that Americans support wars because we can't picture the people who will be hurt. We give in to fear mongering and the idea that "they're out to get us." If we traveled more, we'd know that most of the people of Laos and Vietnam are just struggling to feed their families and get by. The same is true of central America and other poor countries where we have mucked around with governments, trying to get the structure or ruler that will be most beneficial to the US.

After visiting Laos and Vietnam, where we tried to fight communism on two fronts, it's hard not to think about our current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where we are trying to fight terrorism on two fronts. Laos and Vietnam both became communist, despite the money we spent and soldiers we sacrificed. What will happen in Iraq and Afghanistan? Al-qaeda and its ilk have had no more successful attacks on our soil, but can we say that we've reduced terrorism? We've overthrown truly brutal regimes, yet lawlessness, warring factions, and loss of basic services have plagued the citizens in these countries. How do we measure victory in places with cultures and histories that we can barely understand?

I don't have the solutions to these problems, but I'm convinced that War is not the Answer in the many places we've applied it. Maybe if we pictured the children in these countries, we'd reconsider sending in armed soldiers to address the problems and think about how aid for education and poverty elimination might gain us a country full of allies.

7 jan 09 Biking Vietnam

Our traveling companions may have thought we were crazy to rent bikes in Vietnam. Sometimes it seems like you need a helmet just to cross the street here. The rental bikes only come with one gear; helmets are definitely not part of the package. We were getting anxious to get out of town on our own power, other than our feet, however, so I threw my helmet rule aside and we rented a couple of bikes in Hoi An one day.

Atypical intersection in Hanoi -- they actually stopped for the light

Biking almost seemed easier than walking in Vietnam. Instead of trying to cross the flow of bikes, scooters, and cars, we were part of the flow. The courtesies and protocol that apply to wheeled vehicles now applied to us and it no longer seemed like everyone was out to hit us. When the road gets a little crowded, overtaking vehicles give a quick toot of the horn to let you know they're going to pass. You can look to see what's oncoming to determine if you have to get far to the right or hit the ditch.

the famous China Beach, a great bike get-away mid-week in the "winter"

We pedaled out to the beach, about 5 kilometers out of town, and explored the coast north and south for another 10 kilometers. This was the winter season and mid-week, so the beaches were almost empty (except for a few of us from northern continents). As we passed a school, kids were hopping on their bikes to go home for lunch. We followed a few who turned off the main road. We rode through a small village and found a stretch of beach with a dozen almost-empty restaurants that were trying to get a little business in the mid-week, winter season lull. We wheeled to a table, toed the kick-stands into place, and sat down for a stir-fry of fresh fish.

Asama City cruiser, my first foray with a single-speed in 35 years