The Silk Road: Good Morning Vietnam

Tues Nov 13

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Again I was up early before we pulled into port to take pictures.

Warning!! The following is a Anti Vietnam war political opinion that was in part made with 20/20 hind site and the fact that I feel fortunate to have come to this country and the only shooting I had to do was with a camera instead of a gun. (skip if you wish)

As I was taking these pictures I was amazed at how a place were so much death and misery had occurred could be so beautiful and peaceful. 258,00 American and 3 million Vietnamese victims died during the Vietnam war and growing up during that time I was always aware that there was a chance that I could have been one of them. I call them victims because that's what they were. Victims of those in authority on both sides who made poor decisions like France,China. Russia , and the United States becoming involved in the internal affairs of a country because of monetary or political gains. For all the money spent and sacrificed lives, all we have to show for it is a memorial wall in D.C. Growing up I would hear politicians who were in favor of sending troops to and escalating the war in Vietnam. That the spread of communism threatened our way of life and those soldiers that died were dying for their country. As far as I was concerned the only soldiers dying for their country were South Vietnamese. It is also my opinion the South Vietnamese were less willing to fight than those in the North and relied on too heavily on the U.S. As we all know, North Vietnam eventually took over the south and nothing much happened after that. I think leaders at that time thought that they could accomplish the same thing in Vietnam that was accomplished in the Korean war by preventing communist to take over. Only this time the result was the opposite but nobody argues that the Koren war was a waste of lives and money. The more things change the more they stay the same. The reason I mention this is because of what happened during and at the end of our tour to Saigon (now called Ho Chi Min City)

I didn't expect to see this. I guess they still like America in the south part of the country. While I was in Vietnam I didn't see anybody wearing t-shirts with the Chinese or Russian flags.

Our first day in Vietnam was to the resort town of Nha Trang which is on the southern coast of the country. Most people I know would not consider Vietnam as a resort destination. I know I didn't until I visited there. But During our tour I did see some westerners there on vacation. Not a lot but some. Our tour guide told us that you can get a room in a fairly nice hotel overlooking the beach for $20.

I knew I should have brought my surfboard.

In Nha Trang we first visited Hon Chong Promotory which over looked the South China sea.

Hon Chong Promontory Visitor Center

Here we saw an older woman who was doing natural sand paintings inside glass and selling them as souvenirs.

The sand paintings are done but carefully adding layers of different colored natural sand which eventually creates a picture. I bought one which was done in a circular glass and has a picture on two sides.

From there we went to the Ponagar Cham Tower complex overlooking the Cho river. the complex was built by the Champa Kingdom centuries ago and is made of sun dried mud bricks.

Deity Goddess Uroja inside Cham Temple

Our next stop was a tour of the Buddhist shrine at Long Son Pagoda. At the top of over 100 stairs sits an enormous white Buddha built in 1965. This Buddha commemorates those monks who protested the the abuses of the Diem regime by setting themselves aflame.

That's not a swastika. The Nazis took this symbol and reversed it.

Please let go of my hand before you set yourself on fire Mr. Monk. (Actually he is not a monk. I asked.)

Climbed all those stairs in 90 degree heat and 85% humidity just to take this picture. I must be crazy.

Our next two, and final visits were to a local market and a silk embroidery workshop that does the ancient Vietnamese art of picture embroidery.

Inside this makeshift building is a maze of merchants selling their wares. There is so much merchandise and so many merchants crowed together I got lost and was a few minutes late getting back to the bus. The temperature inside was stifling and I don't see how anybody could spend all day in there. No air conditioning what so ever.