A Trip to Saigon...Part II
Mac
<< http://home.earthlink.net/~2551/id7.html >>
Presidential Palace, now styled "Reunification Hall"
Finally, we were able to contact VietNam Tourism. Our guide and driver
were named Hiep and Humg. They picked us up at 09:30 and off we went,
past the old U.S. Embassy, scene of that famous attack during Tet of
1968. The first stop was the Museum of History. Our guide explained
with pride the ancient peoples who lived here and the continual
invasions from China and elsewhere. He traced the efforts to unite the
countryside and the peoples of north and south. It is history our
leaders could have used in the 60's. The passion for one country was
not a recent idea of the communists, but is considered an ancient
destiny, or so goes the party line. (Actually, the people of the
south settled VietNam from the Cham west, and are very different
people than the Chinese who settled the north.)
Also traced were artifacts and civilizations in various areas going
back 200,000 years. A great bronze drum was used all over Asia 2300
years ago. The scholars have long wondered where they were cast, since
they seemed to be from the same family of molds. The answer was
discovered when the molds were found here.
Interesting also was the history of battles to free the country from
the Chinese, who ruled for 1,000 years, especially in the north. The
north was settled by tribes moving down from southern China, bringing
Buddhism of the Greater Vehicle. The name Viet Nam means southern man,
which is what the Chinese called them. The people of the south were
from Cambodia and brought with them Hindu practices and the Buddhism
of the Lesser Vehicle. They include Chams and Khmers, both of whom
left their marks upon the land.
The next stop was the "Reunification Hall". I had seen this modern
state house when it was first opened in 1966 as "Independence Palace"
(Doc Lap), the residence of President Thieu. Diem, who began the
project, was killed in 1963 with CIA and President Kennedy's blessing,
and never got a chance to use it. The visit was interesting. The
guide, Heip, showed us the subtle oriental signals used in power
politics. Colors, designs, heights of chairs, arrangement of
furniture, etc were all used to send messages to visitors, diplomats,
subordinates, and so forth.
One of the most interesting discoveries was that the president did not
live in the nice top floor living quarters. He left his family up
there and slept in the bomb-proof basement. On the roof are two large
red painted circles where two bombs hit when a North VietNamese pilot
captured a F-5 Freedom Fighter. A plane of that type sits today in the
trees near the building, as does a tank which entered the grounds on
the day Saigon fell. At that late hour, President Thieu's political
opponent became president for a few hours while Thieu and his family
got their gold out of the country. His name was General Duong Van
(Big) Minh, who waited in the large main level hall of the Palace to
surrender the country. The NVA officer was Colonel Bui Tin, who
replied, "You cannot transfer what you do not possess." Ironically,
Bui Tin is now a defector living in Paris, as is General Minh.
In the basement of the palace was the war room. It was interesting to
see the maps still on the walls showing intelligence estimates of
1975. What struck me about the maps was that the names of places were
familiar to me. they were in use prior to the communist take over.
Afterward, the names of places, streets, etc. were changed.
On the way out, we found a display of the fall of Saigon. One of the
displays was a map showing the battle plan for taking the city. One of
the northern thrusts was begun through Phu Loi, where I spent much of
my time in 1966 and 1967. I felt something very powerful as I looked
at a large arrow thrusting through my place. I pointed to it and said,
"They finally came for us, John."
The palace was built on the site of the old French Administrative
center of the mid 19th Century. In the time of the war, it was
discovered that the building was constructed on the head of a dragon
and that the French designed boulevard which led to the front entrance
represents a sword aimed at the head of the dragon. This is a bad sign
and insures the downfall of the hours and its master. Calling in an
expert Geomancer, it was determined that the threat to the dragon
could be mitigated by placing a turtle on the end of its tail. That
location was skillfully determined and a building containing a giant
turtle was constructed some 4 blocks away. Even though the regime fell
in 1975, there was an explosion destroying the turtle house in 1978
when counter revolutionaries sought to increase the risk to the dragon
and thereby overthrow the communist government. When this did not
happen, Geomancers explained that eh dragon had now moved to HaNoi.
The really interesting part of this story is the discovery of
counter-revolutionary activity after 1975. We certainly heard nothing
of such.
We went to Cholon (Chinatown) for lunch, not very good. John and I
ordered the cheapest dishes at 15,000 dong each. The bill came to
81,000 dong, however. We were mystified until we found that the
largest part of the bill was for air conditioning. We visited a
Chinese temple, built in 1760, about he time Saint James was finished.
There, we discovered that our guide is Chinese. He was 19 in 1975, but
was a student and not called to the army. I wonder if it was because
of VietNamese distrust of the Chinese.
Walking around the streets, I discovered why bicycles and motor bikes
come from all directions. When making a left turn, things get blocked
up in the intersection, so bikes begin to cross over to the wrong side
of the road 1/2 a block ahead of their turn. Then, they turn left,
again facing oncoming traffic. Finally, they cut across to the right
side of the road. It happens for all left turns coming from all for
roads entering each intersection, so the result is unbelievable. We
are not talking about a few motorbikes doing this, but as many as a
hundred at one time in one intersection. This doesn't count the fact
that many people just use the wrong side of the road anyhow. There
also is no expectation that anyone stop before entering an
intersection, such as at a stop sign. Everyone just enters any road or
turn without looking and then deals with the result. It makes crossing
streets a memorable experience.
Old Sarge
shortly after I arrived in Nam in 67. I was looking for a hop to Saigon and
he just happened to be visiting the 9th ARVN commander at the time.
Did you see any black market activity on the streets? Such as old U.S.
gear, dog tags, etc? Remember they raided the Exchanges and Commissaries,
plus office buildings after we left. I'll continue reading tommorow.
Rich
On 1/1/10 6:44 PM, in article 8m5tj5t7ebupof6q1...@4ax.com,