Modern Vietnam is a nice place to visit.. and you wouldn't mind
staying there for a while.
Being an American and growing up during the Vietnam War era, I
always wanted to see what the post war Vietnam was like now a
days. During the Vietnam war I was to young to be drafted but I
clearly remember all the hype in the USA over Vietnam and war. I
can even remember my older brother actually joined in the
anti-war protests and burned his draft card.
As luck would have it, one of the companies that I often free
lance worked for secured a submarine cable laying project in
Vietnam and asked me if I was interested to go there. Most
definitely I wanted to go there.
As our plane touched down in the now Ho Chi Minh City, I tried
somehow relate back to how the soldiers would have felt when
they had landed there in Saigon back during the war. I can tell
you this, the feelings they would have had wouldn’t have been
good at all knowing there’s a chance that they could be killed
there.
While driving from the airport to our hotel I even saw several
of those old concrete machinegun bunkers. Even though the war
had ended over 20 years ago, it was still clear that Vietnam
still had many reminisces of it’s war era days.
Traffic was chaotic at best. Many intersections didn’t have
traffic lights and it also seemed that some people drove on
whatever side of the street they pleased. Definitely, anyone
from any western country wouldn’t want to even attempt to drive
a vehicle on the streets of Vietnam.
The architecture in Ho Chi Min City is a major reflection of
French design with a mixture of Asian influence. The government
buildings and churches were all beautifully designed and up kept
quite well throughout the city center.
Vung Tau
The following morning we headed down south to the port town of
Vung Tau. Vung Tau is at the entrance to the Saigon river. It is
about a 6 hour drive from Ho Chi Min City to Vung Tau. During
the Vietnam war the American soldiers used Vung Tau as an R&R
area (Rest & Recreation).
Since the war ended the Russians have turned Vung Tau into an
Offshore Oilfield supply base. They even have a large compound
there where all the Russian’s oilfield workers and their
families reside.
There’s also a few bars along the street directly opposite this
huge Russian compound. The Russian’s visit these bars for
drinking, socializing and shooting pool, etc. I would shoot pool
there also and I happened to meet a few nice Russians there.
They were oilfield workers on their time off.
Back to the bars.. there were several bars on the main strip
there [which runs along the beach]. Most of the bars also served
good western food and had pool tables in them also. Of course
there were some beautiful and sexy Vietnam ladies there also.
I can’t exactly put my finger on it but there’s something about
Vietnam girls that makes them extra sexy. Almost all of them
have the typical long black hair (very long, in fact) and that
alone makes any woman sexy in my opinion.
But, the Vietnamese ladies have their own special dress, the
Vietnamese Long Dress, known locally as the Ao Dai. It is a one
piece dress and the color is usually white. What’s really sexy
about this dress is the extremely high slit up both sides of it.
Wow.. it seems like the slit is going all the way up to and even
pass their asses and it makes the ladies look so very sexy when
you see them walking or riding their bicycles down the street.
To top off their sexiness, they are usually dawning a typical
straw coned hat on their pretty little heads while outdoors to
protect them from the sun also. Great combo and when you
personally witness it, it would bring the average horny man down
to his knees in no time.
Jam Packed Beaches
Our project was not on the same beach with the rows of bars, but
on the other windward side beach. We couldn’t work there during
the day time on weekends cause the beach was always jam packed
with people sunbathing, swimming and having a great time..
Unlike so many other Asian countries I’ve visited where hardly
any of the locals seemed to sunbath or even swim at the beach,
it seems that the Vietnamese people really do love the beach and
sun. On weekends it would get so crowded that you could barely
even find a space to sit.
Also packing the beaches were the assorted food vendors selling
everything from cold drinks to fresh lobster. Beach chairs and
large umbrellas were also available for rent there.
Unfortunately, all good things come to an end so when we
finished that cable laying job I had no reason to hang out in
lovely Vung Tau anymore so we packed our bags and headed back
north to Ho Chi Minh City.
American War Crimes Museum (now the name has been changed to
Remnants of War Museum)
When I heard about there was a museum in Ho Chi Min called the
American War Crimes Museum, of course I had to go to see what it
was all about. Well, as you can all imagine just by reading the
name of the place I think you already have a pretty good idea as
to what to expect there.
Inside this museum you will find all kinds of items dating back
from the Vietnam war. Most of the items, if not all, were of
American manufacture. Outside of the museum were such large
items as tanks, anti-aircraft guns, helicopters and even one or
two old American aircraft.
There were also numerous smaller items such as a large variety
or old USA ammunition, plane wreckage (from shot down American
airplanes) and downed helicopter parts.
Inside the museum there were many items which included small
arms such as guns of all sizes and calibers, knifes, ammunition
and a variety of other artifacts. All USA made of course.
The most disturbing items in this museum, at least for me, were
the numerous photographs which were hanging on the walls
throughout. When you see photo’s of American soldiers smiling
and holding up their trophy’s (being a couple of cut off heads
of dead Vietnamese soldiers) that’s enough to turn anyone right
off. Of course, that’s the reality of war and I’m sure this kind
of shit was done on both sides and probably even considered
normal at the time, but, it’s not the kind of thing I needed to
be reminded of at the moment. I’d much rather be sitting in some
bar with a couple sexy Vietnamese ladies on either side of me
whispering sweet nothings in my ears!
I’d seen enough so decided to try and look for this street which
was selling antiques which a friend of mines had told me about.
“Not only were there some great antiques for sale there”, he had
told me, “but there’s also American war items which were left
after the war for sale there”. When the Yanks suddenly pulled
out of Nam in 1975, apparently they left behind entire
warehouses full of new and used military goods. My friend had
actually bought a brand new Helicopter Pilots helmet (still
wrapped in its original plastic)!
I didn’t actually see his supposed Helicopter Pilots helmet or
know if he was kidding me or not but I definitely wanted to go
find this place. When I arrived there I did see a hell of a lot
of antiques for sale, including US military stuff.
I could handle being offered the assorted collection of old
brass and stainless steel USA Zippo cigarette lighters but what
was a bit disturbing to me were the numerous USA soldiers dog
tags they were peddling. Why in the hell would I want to
purchase an old dog tag? Especially if they were real.. and were
taken off of dead US soldiers. Hell, some of them even appeared
to still have blood stains of them so I had to tell them ‘thanks
but no thanks’ to that offer.
No, at the street I was on I definitely didn’t see them selling
anything as good as a Helicopter Pilots helmet so now I’m
wondering whether my friend was pulling my leg or not.
The following day as we flew out of Vietnam I just had to think
once again how happy any soldier would have been to see that
site and know he’d survived the jungle, the VC and most of all
his commanding officer screaming in his ear everyday. LOL
Would I go back to Vietnam? Heck yes. I had a great time there
and I’d recommend if for anyone who needs an adventurous place
to go in Asia.
About the author:
Tony Wells is an American who’s first Asian eye-opening
experience was in 1982 when he went there to work as a
Commercial Oilfield Deep Sea Diver. He’s currently writing a
book about his life’s story as the only Black American
Commercial Diver in SEA and all other his wild and crazy
experiences in Asia.
He has also written articles for airline in-flight magazines
such as; Silver Kris, Wings of Gold, and Hemispheres as well as
some local Singapore newspapers.
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