Nha Trang & My Lai, 9/22-23

The morning was free in Nha Trang, so some students went to the beach, while others slept in. After a quick lunch at a Pho 24 restaurant (Vietnamese equivalent of a fast food noodle shop) we visited the Po Nagar Cham towers on the outskirts of Nha Trang. They were built between the 7th and 12th centuries.

The Champa people were an ancient civilization that controlled the central portion of what is now Vietnam until they were conquered by the Viets from the north in the 17th century. They absorbed Hinduism from Indian traders who came calling.

Today there are two concentrations of Champas (or Cham) left. The ones in the Central region still practice Hinduism, while the group in the Delta are Muslim.

To the right is a view from the tower site of the mouth of the Cai River, and Nha Trang in the background. Fishermen believe the rock in the middle of the river is good luck to them. Most Vietnamese are quite superstitious.

Below is Andrew explaining a Cham statue to Viet, with the main tower in the background.

On the way to Quy Nhon we took a rest stop at this beautiful beach, which is nearly deserted. There are still miles and miles of beach like this in Vietnam that haven't been discovered.

We spent a quiet evening in Quy Nhon, as there isn't much to do there. The next day we traveled to Hoi An, with a stop at My Lai, site of the massacre that gained so much attention back then. It is a moving memorial, again told from the Vietnamese government perspective, but they certainly have a right to be self-righteous in this instance. The students gained a lot by seeing it.

To the right our guide talks about the massacre, which took place in March of 1968, and the listing of the 504 names of those killed. The U.S. government originally claimed 67 VC were killed, without even mentioning civilians. When the cover up was exposed, the U.S. finally said there were between three and four hundred killed. I think the 504 is probably closest to the truth, and they were all women, children, and old people.

On that day the U.S. forces did not encounter any resistant, were not fired upon, and saw no males of fighting age, even though the area was known to be a VC stronghold. Lt. Calley's unit had only been in country about a month, and had not seen any actual combat, although it had taken several casualties as a result of booby traps and mines. The only casualty during the assault was a U.S. soldier who shot himself in the foot so he wouldn't have to participate in the killing. Why discipline completely broke down, and the massacre resulted, is still a mystery. At least we know it was an aberration, although other instances of unnecessary killing occurred in Vietnam, as they still do in Iraq.

A U.S. helicopter pilot was a hero that day, as he saw what was going on, landed, and evacuated some villagers. He essentially put an end to the killing. His report was disregarded.

The museum contained the diorama shown above, as well as many pictures of the area, including ones taken during and right after the massacre.

The plaque that Pam and Kate are looking at describes the actions of the helicopter pilot.

The village was destroyed by the Americans during the assault, but the memorial is built on the location that Lt. Calley's platoon attacked. It's actually a misnomer to call it the My Lai massacre, as My Lai was only one of the hamlets withing the village of Son My, and it wasn't the hamlet that Lt. Calley attacked.



Outside there is the memorial statue to the victims, and what is claimed to be the ditch that so many bodies were found in, as well as a few survivors shielded by the dead above them.

Below Katherine is walking by a tree that still shows damage from the attack.


Mock ups of some of the houses have been reconstructed, supposedly on the original foundation sites.

The walkway around the site is concrete, with imprints of running bare feet, and the soles of American jungle boots.

Eventually the massacre was exposed, first by a combat photographer who had been discharged from the Army, then corroborated by others. Several officers were court marshaled, but Lt. Calley was the only one who was convicted. He was sentenced to life in prison, although he never made it to Fort Leavenworth. He was in house arrest at Fort Benning during his appeal, and was eventually paroled by President Nixon in 1973, under the excuse that he had been made a scape goat for the massacre.

Dalat, 9/20-9/21

Early on Saturday, September 20th, we said our goodbyes to HCMC, and headed north. The first stop was Dalat, which is a resort town developed by the French during the colonial period. It has a distinct alps flavor about it, and at 1475 m, the temperature is much cooler than Saigon. Dalat was virtually untouched during both conflicts, except by the soldiers and officials who came there for some R&R.

We stayed at the Tran Huong Hotel, shown here with the students waiting outside for a walking tour. This narrow, tube type construction in Vietnam is common, as taxes are based on the street front footage, not the height or total floor area.

Our walking tour took us first to the central market, which is much like others we have seen, but not as overwhelmingly big.

As always there were lots of hawkers. This young fellow is trying to sell Pam some water color prints. Note the coat he has on. It was probably 75 degrees out, but many of the locals had fairly heavy coats on.

To the right is a group of shoppers outside the market, and below, Molly has made a new acquaintance.

You can get almost anything you want on the streets in Vietnam, literally from soup to nuts. The lady below is selling grilled skewers. They smelled really good as we walked by.

We continued our walk to the lake, where Viet explained the origins and history of the town.

The weather had looked fine when we left the hotel. so we didn't bring rain jackets with us. As Viet was talking, ominous clouds rolled in, so we headed back, but didn't make it before the rain started falling. We took refuge in a bus stop enclosure for a few minutes until the rain let up, then traveled as fast as we could back to the hotel. We arrived a little damp, but more knowledgeable about Dalat.

The next morning we visited Bau Dai's summer palace. He was the last Emperor of Vietnam, but was a puppet of the French, and a playboy. He abdicated his throne at the end of WWII, when Ho Chi Minh declared independence. Most of the Emperors are revered by the Vietnamese people, but not Bau Dai.

Viet is explaining that most of the walls in the palace are yellow, because that is the royal color.

Here Michael and Julia pose be a cut glass map of Vietnam.

Below is our whole group out on the veranda.

Next we headed for the Truc Lan Buddhist monastery. It is almost new, and a very beautiful spot.

The gardens and grounds were very peaceful, so we enjoyed just walking around. The following few pictures show some good shots of the students. Tom managed to sneak into three of them.

Before going to lunch, Viet showed us coffee growing, and discussed the whole process. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee.

Below he is explaining about "weasel" coffee.








We had lunch at the farmhouse of Mr. Qui. He is supplementing his farm income by hosting tour groups for meals.

Viet is explaining about the alter in the house honoring the ancestors. Many Vietnamese believe that the spirits of their ancestors life on in the house, so they pray to them and leave them food on the altar. That is one of the reasons the relocation campaigns in both conflicts were disastrous.


To the right is one of the tables, with Mr. Qui in the background. The food was delicious.

On the way out of Dalat we passed more farms. Here covered beds back right up to new houses. Many of the fields are covered to keep insects and birds away from the produce. Dalat produces much of the fruits and vegetables consumed in Ho Chi Minh City.

On the way to Nha Trang we took a new road that winds through beautiful country, and some of the remaining mature forests. This area was too remote to have any strategic value in the conflicts.

We stopped to take a picture of a water fall cascading down a bare rock slope.

Vinh Long, Mekong Delta, 9/14

After a delicious breakfast at the home stay, we re-boarded our rocking boat for a trip to another floating market. Mr. and Mrs. Muoi bid us farewell.

On the way we passed several boats carrying rice husks to the brick kilns.


We also went by a bamboo store. They still use bamboo for some scaffolding in construction projects. It is also use for all sorts of other frames and such around houses.

This floating market is in Cai Be, near Vinh Long. It is a different type of market from the one we visited the day before. Here the people come and stay until all of their produce or whatever is sold. Some stay as long as a week. At the previous market the people were local, and usually went home by noon or early afternoon.

And of course there has to be a refreshment boat. Notice the mask the lady is wearing. You will see numerous people wearing them, mostly women, when driving motor bikes to prevent breathing in the dust and other pollutants. I'm not sure why this lady was wearing one, as the air is very clear in the Delta. Even in the cities I have never found it to be offensive. But there is a lot of dust on the roads.

Another thing you will notice in both of the previous pictures is the propellers on a long shaft sticking up in the air. These are the Vietnamese equivalent of an outboard motor. The straight shaft is so they don't need a lower gear box to change the direction from vertical to horizontal. They are powered by Russian engines that make a thump-thump sound when they are running. Smaller boats often use the motor for directional control also, while larger boats usually have a rudder.

Coming into Vinh Long we passed this row of houses. Note the TV antennas. Nearly every house in Vietnam has a TV, no matter how poor. The cities all have cable, but apparently they don't down in the Delta.

We got off our boat to visit some local "factories." On the way we passed this church with children out front having sack races.

The first factory we went to was for making rice paper. It was a true, small factory. Women here work eight hours a day over hot pans making about 2,000 rice paper cakes. For this they receive the equivalent of about $6, which is good wages for Vietnam. The base salary for teachers is about $100 per month. It was so hot inside that it actually felt cool when we went back outside.

As you can see, the workers are used to having tourists traipse through their workplace. Evidently the owner gets some kickback from the tour companies.

Next we went to another shop that made a different type of rice paper, large and thicker than the previous shop.

To the left our local guide is explaining the process. I put "factories" in parenthesis before, as it is clear that most of these shops are set up to demonstrate the process to tourists. They only have one station for each type of work. We also visited candy and rice bar making shops.

Each of these shops had an area where you could sample what they made, and buy it, or other assorted tourist paraphernalia.

We visited an actual sea salt factory before taking our boat back to the bus for our return to HCMC. The sea salt factory used rice husks for fuel, as did some of the stoves in the shops. It isn't clear how many husks might be left for Dr. Ni's logs. The logs do have the advantage that they are easier to transport than the bulk husks.