Free Going Back by Gary McKay Page B

War.
    Today Ho Chi Minh City is a sprawling, industrious, madcap metropolis of over 6 million people—and many of them are on 120cc motorcycles. Noisy, energetic and colourful, it is the commercial capital of Viet Nam and a bit more expensive than the rest of the country.
    There are still many sights and places of interest to see in the city and the reader is directed to books such as the Lonely Planet guide and Australia’s Battlefields in Viet Nam 1 for greater detail than can be included here. Saigon is a great place to kick off a pilgrimage because a few days in this vibrant city allows you to acclimatise, adjust to being in an Asian environment where road rules are totally ignored, and for those who want to shop it allows a quick comparison to be done early so best buys are guaranteed later in the tour. It also allows the traveller to conduct day trips to places like the Cu Chi tunnels, an overnight trip to the Delta and to visit the various museums in the city itself.
    Visiting Cu Chi just north-west of the city can be unsettling as the veteran will find himself back in the bush again walking down jungle paths to visit various aspects of this now popular tourist attraction. The Vietnamese are particularly proud of their achievements during the American War, especially the fact that a Viet Cong division was able to operate and survive so close to Saigon for the duration of the war. However, there are times when the veteran will feel insulted by the way the war is portrayed here, especially in the propaganda film that is shown in a theatrette at the tunnel site. And veterans should also be aware that even though the tunnels have been widened to accommodate larger Westerners, they can be claustrophobic for some, and a bitter reminder to others who had to enter and clear tunnels during the war. Just outside the Cu Chi tourist complex is a large shrine that honours some 50 000 Viet Cong soldiers from the region who lost their lives; it is well worth a visit.
    The veteran is also warned that the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City is particularly confronting and clearly biased in its approach to war atrocities, where only the ‘American imperialists’ and the accompanying ‘puppets’ are portrayed as committing misdeeds. There is no coverage of Viet Cong terrorism, or the savage National Liberation Front butchery in cities like Hué during the 1968 Tet Offensive. But that is something to be accepted as part of Viet Nam’s reunification and not intended as a slight against the individual veteran.
    As Peter Isaacs wrote after his visit in 2005 about the official government slant on history and events:
    I didn’t read anything in the War Remnants Museum in Saigon that was an obvious lie—but the story portrayed is totally one-sided. At the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison in Hanoi, there is a marble tablet which proclaims how US POWs received ‘adequate food and clothing’ and were treated humanely. They won the war, why do they feel it necessary to lie? The short history of Vietnam printed in the tourist guide in the seat pocket of the Vietnam Airlines aircraft that conveyed us from Da Nang to Hanoi states that the country has had three distinct periods of history. The most recent was the declaration of Independence from colonial rule by President Ho Chi Minh in 1945. No mention at all of subsequent events. 2
    But a visit to Ho Chi Minh City is not all doom and gloom. It is a city that unrelentingly pulsates with life—24 hours a day. There is non-stop traffic, non-stop activity and it boasts good restaurants, interesting attractions and represents Asia at its most colourful.
    Peter Rogers has been back to Viet Nam several times and his first return to Ho Chi Minh City simply stunned him: ‘we couldn’t get over the number of motorcycles and when you want to cross the road, you need steely resolve: just step off the kerb and just go for it and don’t stop.’ 3