A Trip to Tay Ninh City...
Mac
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We headed for Tay Ninh City, through the beautiful countryside. John
nodded off as John can do. I couldn't. I didn';'t want to miss one
face, one tree, one flower. Ox carts begin to replace 3 wheeled cyclos
and the beasts work in the fields as they have for thousands of years.
Suddenly, Nui Ba Denh, the Black Virgin Mountain, popped into view
from behind a Betel Nut Grove, and I awakened John to show him that
sight, rising almost 3,000 feet, straight out of the flat plain. You
aren't going to climb that mountain, dad, was all he said.
Our guide had a special restaurant chosen for us in Tay Ninh, perhaps
it was the only one. This isn't much of a city, but it is
strategically located on the Cambodian Border and was the southern
terminus of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The U.S. Army Camp where I spend a
number of anxious nights was nearby, but our guide didn't know where.
We were served an 8 course meal, things kept coming, on and on. I kept
my eye on a 5 gallon gar full of snakes, but the lid stayed on for us.
Desert was cold pig lard cubed in 1 inch chunks, wrapped in rice
paste. "Very good," said a middle aged woman, who ordered our waitress
to bring more of the revolting stuff.
The woman was the owner of the restaurant (I flicked a red ant off the
calf of my leg where it was eating better than was I.) Her husband is
the local judge, our guide interpreted. That should have been the
giveaway, but I was dense as to just where John and I had been
brought. The woman in broken English and pointing to John, said, "Your
baby?" I said yes, and she smiled, then saying, "You were here before,
I think." I said yes. When? she wanted to know, giving me a piece of
paper and a pencil on which to write the years. I wrote "1966 and
1967". She smiled and pointed to the ground. "I here then," she said.
Then she went to a drawer and brought back two medals in boxes. One
was a "Hero of the Revolution" Medal, and our guide gasped. The other
was a campaign ribbon for the invasion of Cambodia. This lady was hard
core VC with NVA political connections.
Through our guide, she explained that she was a fighter and that after
the war had built up this business and owns the building and does very
well. I told her that she had become a very good cook and an excellent
capitalist. Our poor guide, Heip, almost had a heart attack, but she
laughed heartily, and almost - just almost - hugged me as we departed.
"Come back tonight," she said, "I will cook you lizard." Heip declined
to have us return.
Earlier, Hiep and I had been talking as we waited in the new growth
jungle for John and the tunnel guide to scurry around in those tunnels
far to small for my frame. He said that he has an idea about the
difference between communism and democratic capitalism. Please go on,
I begged. He said, "It is like these trees here. Some are tall and
strong and some are short and weak. Communists some along and cut off
the top half of the big trees so all are the same size, but you leave
the tall trees and try to fertilize and care for and water the weak
ones so they can catch up."
We rested in our bunks at Tay Ninh City's Anh Dao (and perhaps only)
Hotel in the heart of the afternoon. A Gecko lizard squeaked in alarm
as he walked along the window sill and suddenly saw me lying there.
They once climbed all around tent in those long-past days, when in the
rains, only my cot kept my frame above the water in the night.
Cao Di is a religion started in 1928 as a meld of all religions of the
world. It has architectural expression from each of them. They had a
pontiff who proclaimed himself the first pope, but he was jailed for
embezzlement. The see had a private army and was outlawed by President
Diem in the early 1960's. They teach Confucism, Buddhism, Taoism,
ancestor worship, and Roman Catholicism, all meshed together. They
hold seances with Moses, Jesus, and Victor Hugo. It is very tacky to
look at, but the temple holds three services, called masses, each day.
There are 2 million adherents. We arrived at the Holy See and toured
the Temple and gardens. It teemed with people, all arriving on foot or
bicycle. We were the only folks to arrive in a car. The people were
very kind, but I can't help but think of Gram Green's comment that,
"Cao Dai is a joke gone very bad."
We rested back in the hotel and listened to the giant drum and gong,
one in each tower of the Temple, a mile away. Our lizard friend
brought some friends to protest our presence in his hotel room.
Otherwise, I discovered, we are the hotel's only guests. The food was
terrible. Few tourists come here to this border town with no crossing.
Those who do come to see the spectacle of the Temple. I went to climb
the mountain which is the sentinel of the border. They say a young
person can climb it in 6 hours and it is going to be hot, so we might
go only part way up. It was getting dark when I noticed that we have
two 10 watt bulbs in our hotel room. It was enough. It had been a good
day.
Pepperoni
http://home.earthlink.net/~2551/id11.html
I first saw the mountain in early '69, when it was heavily forested.
It was in view to the south of us for 8 months. From my position on LZ
Jamie, I watched as it was transformed to bare blasted stone. I can
see it turning green again, but not close to the heavy cover that it
had. Camp St. Barbara and LZ Grant were within range, too; we all
shot missions on the Mountain.
Pepperoni
B 2/19 Arty, 1ACD