We got up and headed to the War Remnants Museum, dedicated to the Vietnam War, or as it's known in Vietnam, the American War. On the way we passed a preschool teaming with motorcycles carrying parents and their children. Some children were in metal seats attached to the motorcycle seats and others were in wicker seats, wedged between the motorcycle seat and the handle bars.
P- I can't get over those wicker seats. That looks totally unsafe!
G- We've been seeing them now in several countries, so apparently it's the acceptable way to transport your child on a motorcycle, and it's dual purpose.
P- I guess so. Maybe they use it as a high chair at home.
G- Since most people sit on the floor to eat, I can't imagine why the child would need a high chair.
P- Maybe it's just to keep them confined. Since they're not use to sitting on anything high, they're scared to fall off so they're still while the parents eat dinner.
G- Maybe that's the case. Anyway, I love the brightly colored, stuffed animal looking pillows that are on the handle bars.
P- I love those too. Yesterday I saw a little boy sleeping on one while sucking his bottle.
G- When you live your life on a motorcycle, I guess you think of all things to make the situation comfortable.
The front courtyard contained American equipment, huge guns, helicopters, jet planes and tanks. Just inside we tried to watch a film, but the sound was of such poor quality we couldn't understand a word that was being said. We left shortly after it started and walked around the museum.
G- As much as I know about WWII, I know very little about the Vietnam War except that it went on too long, killed far too many Americans & Vietnamese, and accomplished absolutely nothing. Wasn't it the first war America lost? Although I don't think our government couched the “withdrawal” in those terms.
P- I'm hoping to learn more about it because I remember it being on the news the whole time I was growing up, but I don't know the specifics of why we were in Vietnam in the first place or the things that happened during the war.
G- Well, this museum should give us a different perspective than what we're told in America.
P- I'm interested to hear it.
We toured the museum with the knowledge that much of what had been done by the American government and American soldiers was just wrong, but the theme of the museum was so blatantly and grotesquely biased that we became more and more aggravated with each new gallery. The signage labeled the Vietnamese soldiers as “patriots” and the Americans as “invaders” with no discussion of the South Vietnamese soldiers who were fighting against the north's or any indication that the war may have been a civil war. By the time we reached the gallery dedicated to America's chemical warfare atrocities, we had enough.
G- Ok, this is now total bullshit! Is it not bad enough that we indiscriminately dropped chemical weapons on the Vietnamese and American soldiers? Do they have to tell blatant lies in this exhibit?
P- This is total b.s.! Some of these birth defect photos do show the affects of Agent Orange, but many of them totally have nothing to do with it.
G- Yes, like the pictures of the people with Down Syndrome, the dwarfs, the conjoined twins and cleft palate. The pictures weren't even taken after the war because they're dated after 2000.
P- I know. It's totally stupid. These birth defects are genetic and occur all over the world. Who believes this shit?
G- I don't know. Let's go. This museum has taught me nothing except to remind me that history is written by the victor, and Uncle Ho's museum doesn't even pretend to be balanced.
P- I'm ready. Let's go have lunch.
G- Did I tell you that yesterday's motorcycle driver told me that he thanks America?
P- No, what did he say?
G- Well, he didn't speak English, but he looked just slightly younger than my daddy, and he touched his chest and said, "Help America war. Thank America." That's all, but I got the point.
P- Yeah, well Uncle Ho and his museum have forgotten that small fact.
We left the War Remnants Museum rather annoyed and we headed to Mien Xian to eat lunch. The wife/owner of our guesthouse suggested that we eat at her favorite restaurant for Banh Xeo & Banh Khot , 2 famous Vietnamese dishes. The restaurant was near our hotel and was full of local office workers on their lunch hours. We were happy to be the only tourist in the restaurant and ordered 2 Saigons and the dishes recommended by our guesthouse owner.
It seemed that most of the patrons were eating the same dishes, so we watched to see how we should eat them. A large bowl of lettuce, mint leaves, and something that looked like tiny clovers was delivered with 2 sauces. Then the Vietnamese pancake was delivered. It was a large pancake made of rice flour, egg & green onion, filled with pork, bean sprouts, shrimp & shredded carrots. As the locals, we wrapped pieces of the pancake in a large lettuce leaf, filled it with mint and the clover things, wrapped it and dipped it in the sauce. It was divine! The second dish looked like little quiches and were just as good.
Half way through our meal 3 individual cakes were delivered to 3 people at a long table table across the room. The woman in charge lit each candle and signaled for the singing to began.
P- Why are they singing Happy Birthday in English?
G- I don't know. It is very peculiar. Isn't there a Happy Birthday song in Vietnamese?
P- Apparently not or wouldn't they be singing in Vietnamese?
G- What? The Happy Birthday song has it's origins in America and was then disseminated to the world? What happened before that? No singing?
P- I guess not. They just threw a cake at you and called it a day.
G- What cake? Doesn't the Happy Birthday cake go with the Happy Birthday song?
P- Shut up, ass! I can't figure it out, but every time we hear Happy Birthday sung in another country, it is always in English. It's very strange.
G- And check out the chick in charge. She's Denise from my office. She obviously arranged the lunch gathering.
P- Hahaha! Yes, that's Asian Denise.
G- But Asian Denise never shuts up.
P- I know. Look at the other people, the looks on their faces say, “ok, shut up and sit down”, but Asian Denise never shuts up.
G- My Denise wasn't like that. It's fun to watch this. It's exactly like every office birthday lunch celebration at any restaurant in America.
P- Funny!
G- Ok, let's go back to the hotel and get our souveniers together and go to the post office. I can't wait to get rid of this stuff.
P- Me too. Let's go. But I think we should stop at that big market first in case we buy something that we want to ship home.
