Vietnam - Part 4 & final thoughts

Day 8: Back to Ho Chi Minh

Our last day in Hoi An started very early with a tour of the My Son ruins. The ruins are a UNESCO heritage site that is about 30 minutes inland of Hoi An (which is already about 30-40 minutes inland from the coast). Based on what I had read online, the ruins are very hot, and often busy in the middle of the day. So we decided to book an early morning tour. Not only was it well reviewed, but we would be back before noon, giving us enough time to check out of the hotel, and head to Justin’s tattoo appointment. I may not have mentioned this before, but pre-trip, Justin decided he wanted to get a tattoo in Vietnam. He found a place in Hoi An ahead of time and he booked an appointment for our last day there.

The My Son tour picked us up very early in the morning. The group of us was small, maybe 10 people? Our guide was a local, who was born and raised about 15 minutes away from the ruins. On the way there, we stopped at his place for coffee (his wife ran a restaurant out of their house). He also gave us a ton of history and context about what we were about to see. The My Son ruins date back to somewhere between 400 and 1300 BC, depending on the structure/site. The ruins are in a part of Vietnam that used to be known as the Champa Kingdom, home to the Cham people. Da Nang & Hoi An are also part of this region. For reasons that aren’t entirely clear to me but I’m pretty sure have to do with trade, there was heavy Indian influence in the Champa region. The My Son ruins are a reflection of this influence, with many of the monuments depicting Indian gods (Shiva, Vishnu, and Krishna) and symbology (lots of elephants). 

When we arrived at the ruins site, there was only one other tour going, and it was run by the same agency. Essentially, we had the ruins mostly to ourselves. From the main gates, it was a quick golf cart ride to the actual ruins sites. The ruins look like something out of a tomb raider movie.  I hate describing them like that, but its honestly the best thing I can come up with. There were a couple of different sites we walked though. Each site had multiple structures, all in varying levels of decay and preservation. The structures themselves were made of red clay bricks. But they were so old, all the edges were smooth and rounded. Various mosses, lichen and small plants have taken root in many of the structures, making them look even more ancient and mystical. The sides of the buildings were carved with filigree designs and statues of all different kinds of gods. Some details were still really easy to see, while others had been worn down over time.

Our guide explained all the different structures to us, how each cluster of buildings was organized in a similar fashion to Hindu temples. Honestly, he was so full of information about the site, I don’t feel like I absorbed nearly as much of it as I would’ve liked to. The guide also pointed out where the Cham people put their own spin on things: imagines of lion masks that more closely resembled characters you would see in China rather than India, and the presence of phalluses. 

So here is a weird fun fact about ancient civilizations. One of the less common but totally valid ways to categorize an ancient civilization is by whether they are robust or bashful in their depiction of phalluses. And the Cham people love a good phallus depiction. They were everywhere. Specifically, each temple had a fertility altar in it. The base of the altar is a flat square with a bit sticking out on the side (that’s the female part). In the middle of the square there is a domed shape with a small depiction of a man on the side (that’s the male part). There was a groove cut in the domed shape and square that were aligned. As a sacrifice, the ancient people used to pour milk on the top of the altar. It would run down the groove, which would lead it to drip off the side of the square that had the bit sticking out. As soon as the guide explained what we were looking at (fertility altar), it was all you could see. There were penises everywhere.

One of the other really interesting things about the ruins was how many statues were missing heads. The ruins were only rediscovered in the earlyish 1900s, and they have only been a UNESCO heritage site since around 2009. Since the original rediscovery, there have been lots of challenges to preserving the site. Some of the statue heads were removed by looters looking for gold (which many of the statue heads were made of), while others were moved to Vietnamese museums for preservation and display. Our guide told us a story of a statue head that was made of about a kg of solid gold. It was found by a looter, who then tried to illegally sell it in Ho Chi Minh. The purchase was intercepted and both the looter and the buyer ended up going to jail for a very long time. Apparently they take their historic sites very seriously here.

The other massive issue that impacted this site is, of course, war. Da Nang, Hoi An, and the My Son ruins are all in what is now central Vietnam. But pre-1975, these areas were in South Vietnam, relatively close to the Northern border. Da Nang was home to a massive American air base (I will possibly have more to say about this later), and these areas were very clearly impacted by the American war. There were multiple temples with bullet holes in them. Keep in mind that even during the American occupation of Vietnam, there was no one living in these sites. They were purely religious and cultural heritage spaces. In one of the temples, there were two bombs. One was 3 feet high, the other was closer to 5 feet. They were both found on the site after the war, and were still live when they were found. They were later disarmed, but kept on the site. There were multiple 20 to 30 foot craters in the ground between sites that were clearly from bombing by the Americans (some of them were even labeled ‘bomb site’). Our tour guide, who was maybe in his mid 40s, told us about how when he was a kid his dad would go around looking for bombs/other arms that had been left behind. If you found them, the government would pay you for them. They would disarm them and then recycle the metal. He said lots of farmers in the area did it. It was dangerous work, but it paid well. He also told us about how when he was a kid, him and his friends would look for bits of scrap metal or leftover bullets. If they found any, they could trade them in for ice cream. 

Overall the ruins were really interesting. It was the kind of site I wish I could have taken in over a few days. There was so much history there that I feel like I missed. We spent quite a while at the ruins. By the time we were leaving, lots and lots of tour buses had arrived, and the site was filling up. We were glad we went early. On the way back from the site, we stopped at the tour guide’s house/restaurant for Me Quang, another noodle dish. These noodles were thin and flat, kind of like fettuccine. And instead of coriander and lemon grass, the greens we added were lettuce and banana flower. They also made us some kind of fried black bean dessert. Normally I’m not a huge fan of bean based desserts, but these ones were awesome. They were the size and shape of a flattened tim bit. They were definitely fried, so they had a crispy crust on the outside. The inside had some kind of smooth black bean paste that was sweet and very creamy. Both Justin & I agreed we could have eaten a whole plate of them.

We headed back to Hoi An, checked out of our hotel and grabbed a coffee before the tattoo appointment. It had been drizzling a bit when we were at the Hoi An ruins, but now it was properly raining. Luckily, the tattoo shop had some very comfy couches where I was able to chill for a while while Justin got his tattoo. The tattoo is of a cassowary. It's pretty big and definitely the most colourful tattoo Justin has ever gotten. Luckily we had lots of time for the artist to finish before we had to head back to the Da Nang airport for our evening flight to Ho Chi Minh.

Day 9: Ho Chi Minh

For our last day in Ho Chi Minh, we went back to a couple of the places we didn’t fully have time to explore in our first few days. We bought some art on the book street, and sent a postcard from the post office. We decided we were finally ready to take in some more modern history, so we headed to the War Remnant museum.

Originally called the Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes, the museum documents the history of the occupation of Vietnam through the 20th century, as well as the American war. The grounds in front of the museum are filled with American military equipment that were left behind when the American’s withdrew. These include multiple helicopters, multiple tanks, unexploded ordinances and fighter jets.

For those of you that followed along when Justin & I backpacked Europe, you may remember that we went to a war museum in pretty much every country we went to. Turns out war is a near universal experience. By the end of our backpacking trip, we could no longer stomach tragedy tourism. I distinctly remember being in an exhibit about the Irish potato famine when I realized I no longer had any capacity to learn about war and genocide (they very often go hand in hand). When we were first looking into how to fill our days in Vietnam, we specifically avoided all the war museums and exhibits. Both of us still have pretty much no interest in war history. But by our last day, we had learned enough about the recent history of Vietnam to make us curious. Plus there is a part of both of us that feels there is a responsibility to learn about the history of the place we are in. So we tried the war museum.

Some parts of the museum were open air, while others were indoor and air conditioned. We started with the open air parts, which unfortunately were some of the more graphic. I don’t know if it was the 35 degree heat, or the content we were taking in, but I started to get really nauseated. We moved into the air conditioned parts. Learning about agent orange and chemical weapons was pretty horrifyingl. But learning about the 20th century history of Vietnam and the events preceding the American was actually really interesting (and intensely frustrating). Overall we made it through about three quarters of the museum. We skipped the exhibit on war crimes because we both knew we had already reached our limit. Looks like the aversion to tragedy tourism will continue for at least a few more years.

After the museum we headed out to get some bahn mi, and then grabbed a seat outside of a very hip cafe to do some people watching. We had tickets booked for a show at the opera house that night. It was billed as the Vietnamese version of Cirque du Soleil. Overall I wouldn’t say that the show was as acrobatic as Cirque, but it was very fun. They did all kinds of cool things with the circular woven boats that Vietnamese fishermen typically use. After the show, Justin and I both independently came to the conclusion that this show was actually about sexuality and gender identity in Vietnamese society. We went back to the very hip cafe to discuss this over a few drinks. We got so into the discussion of what we thought everything meant that we looked up actual reviews of the show. Officially, its about the contrasts between old rural Vietnamese traditions and the rapid urbanization and resulting changes of modern Vietnam. While we could both see this in the show, we do still think there was some pretty overt nods to queer culture and experience in Vietnam today. Whatever the subtext was, it was enjoyable. Very fun.

After a few drinks and some final hot takes and thoughts about the show, the trip, and the year in general, we headed back to the hotel for our final night. 

The next morning we left for the airport relatively early, this time armed with the knowledge that we have to check in at the desk. We joined the first of many airport lines, and despite having frustrating slow people in front of us, we made it through without too much trouble. The same was true for passport control, airport security, and then the additional airport security section specific for people flying to Australia. 

Australian customs is wildly restrictive. We learned this the first time we entered the country. But it still takes me by surprise. There was a special area with two gates that were designated for Australian flights. In that area, at the request of the Australian government, you could not buy bottled water. Tourists in Vietnam are recommended not to drink tap water (its probably safe, but we don’t have the appropriate gut bacteria to handle it), so we were waterless until we were on our flight. We learned on our way to Vietnam that the carrier we were using, Vietjet, was in fact the discount airline for the country. So while we could buy meals on the flight, nothing was provided free of charge (remember, its a 9 hour flight). That’s not the worst part of the whole flight experience (which actually wasn’t too bad. Mostly just long). The worst part was the song that they played on loop while we were boarding and then unloading. Just imagine listening to this on a loop. Over and over again. It was stuck in Justin & I’s heads for days afterwords.

But we survived. Made it through the Melbourne airport in record time. Grabbed a bus into the city, and then splurged on an uber home. Absolutely worth it.

Some final thoughts on our trip to Vietnam:

• There were a ton of Russian tourists there. While this may not sound strange at first, this is the only place that Justin & I have ever been where there have been more than a handful of Russian tourists. It was kinda strange. We just aren’t used to seeing Russian families on holiday.

• Vietnamese women are formidable. I was actually told about this before we left, but I didn’t fully understand until I experienced it. Especially in contrast to other countries in the area, the women of Vietnam are getting things done. There were multiple times when you could tell that they were the ones running the show in businesses, restaurants, families, etc. This dynamic was present even when there were men around. These women do not mess around.

• Our experiences with taxi drivers were incredibly varied. While there was only one who was a bit questionable with his driving, our favourite drivers were the ones who wanted to practice their English with us. They would tell us about their lives and families, and ask us questions about where we were from. We had some really lovely conversations in the back of cabs

• I learned this on our backpacking trip, but continue to be in awe of it. Doesn’t matter where you go, some types of behaviours and communications are exactly the same in every language. Specifically, the way people interact with kids & babies. I will never get tired of watching parent-child interactions in other languages. Honourable mention goes to the idle way people sing along to background music.

• Everything on social media is fake. This is another one we learned while backpacking, but is waaaay more apparent today. Every seemingly effortless and spontaneous picture on social media is the result of an ultra posed, intensely curated shot. It's often obnoxious and frustrating to watch people take these pictures, as they line things up to strategically avoid bystanders & street vendors. If you ever see a very casual or candid looking picture in a tourist area with no one else around, just know that a lot of work has gone into making things look that candid. 

• This one is more from Justin than from me, but Vietnamese youth have fantastic taste in rap music. It's not like we heard it everywhere, but there were some cool places that had rap playing in the background and it was always incredibly well curated.

• In a similar vein - very large cities give rise to intimidatingly cool people. This is as true in Ho Chi Minh as it is in Melbourne, London, New York or any other very large city