Along time ago, when I was in university, I read a novel entitle Novel Without a Name. The tittle intrigued me--it is a great tittle. Novel Without a Name is the story of a young platoon commander, Quan, who struggles to find his identity in the confusion of the last days of the Vietnam War. . It is written from his perspective and opens at an unknown date during 'the War'.
Quan joins the army with his boyhood friends, Bien and Luong. Each represents a different response to the search for identity in the chaos of war. Luong has risen in the ranks of the army; he is an officer at division headquarters and deputy to the commander. He accepts and disseminates Party ideology, finding a space for himself in the bureaucracy of war. Bien, on the other hand, never rises above sergeant. The deprivations of the war lead him to mental illness, and he is imprisoned as a lunatic.
The heart of this novel is Quan’s journey, taken under Luong’s orders, into the interior of Vietnam to free Bien from his imprisonment. As Quan travels, he reflects, dreams, and hallucinates about the horrors of the war. Quan recalls the glory showered on the three friends when they joined the army, contrasting it to the death and destruction around him.
And all I can say is the author of this novel really captured the pain, sorrow and loss of innocence that faced young Vietnamese men during these decades of war.
After read that novel, I really curious about Vietnam. I wanted to see the tunnel where the Vietnamese stayed during the war; see its nature; and meet its people. Finally, on July 4, 2010, I had the chance. I went to Vietnam for holiday. I stayed there until July 9, 2010.
First Day
After about three hours flight from Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia, I arrived in Saigon Airport. At first I felt a bit nervous since it was my first trip to abroad and most of the people in the airport can't speak in English. But since came to a new place was an adventure itself, language challenge won't make me afraid. I could use body language and gesture. Those languages were really helpful in this situation.
After I came out from the custom office, I tried to find a taxi. There were many taxi drivers who approached me as I walked to the front of the airport. I made a bargain with one of the taxi drivers. We deal about the price. I would pay him 95.000 dong from the airport to my hotel in Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. But, I was a bit shocked as I arrived in Ditrict 1, the taxi driver asked me 100.000 dong again. Damn, it's too much and he was cheated on me. I complained about it, but it didn't work well because he can't speak in English well (or pretend I dunno) and he kept asked me 100.000 in Vietnamese. Okay, I was too tired that time and I didn't want to fight too long, so I paid him 195.000. It was a bad experience with my first taxi driver in Vietnam. But, I learnt something from that experienced. Don't ever use a taxi from the inside of the aiport if you want to get a fair price. I think it's almost happen in every country, so I won't complain it anymore. It was only my unlucky day. LOL.
The first day in Vietnam, I spent it in Nga Hoang Hotel and went around 269/19 De Tham St. Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1.
Second Day
It was four in the morning. I woke up and get ready to Mekong Delta. I went there with my dorm mates, Laura and Blanca from Spain. We didn't follow tour to go there. We wanted to have a fun as well as a challenge trip, so we took a taxi to the nearest bus station and went to Mekong by public transportation. It was fun because we can interact with the local people and saw the view freely.
Laura and Blanca asked me to stay in a hotel in Mekong Delta. But since I already paid the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, I can't stay with them. I went back alone to HCMC. It was another fun story about my way back to HCMC. The boat that took us around to Mekong came to picked us in the next morning. So, I should found another boat. But, unfortunately I can't find any boat. I walked around the village to found the harbour. My Spanish friends accompanied me to found it. We already walked for about one hour, but we didn't see any harbour. It was only field and local houses that we saw. We almost felt desperate until we met a motor rider with his little kid. We stopped him and asked about the direction to the harbour. He can't speak in English but he knew what we were asked. He offered me rode to the harbour. I said bye to my Spanish friends and went to that place with that kind man.
As I arrived in the harbour, I asked to a woman where I could buy the ferry ticket. I tried my best to speak in Vietnamese. She answered it but I didn't understand what she said. I didn't see any office or lockets and no officers asked me for the ticket. So, I got on the ferry freely yay...
Third Day
I went around HCMC with my new dorm mates, Steven and James from UK. In the morning, we visited the zoo, Reunification Palace, War Museum, and went around the park. In the evening, we went hangout around District 1. We tried Vietnamese and Mexican foods and drinks like phở, bánh cuốn, banh mi, taco, saigon beer, BGI, and 333.
Steven and James moved to another hotel. But we kept in touch. They came to picked me up for hangout together.
Fourth Day
On the fourth day in Vietnam, I had new dorm mates. They are Lynden, Nick, Lee, Zac, and Jordan. My new dorm mates, Steven, James, and I went to Cu Chi Tunnel together with other travelers. We went there by tour bus since it's a bit far away.
As we stepped our feet on Cu Chi, the rattle and pop of automatic weapons greet a visitor. Young women in the black pajamas of the Vietcong flit through the woods. A man in green fatigues picks his way down a narrow trail, leading a small platoon of foreign tourists.
The Cu Chi Tunnels is one of the most famous battlegrounds of the Vietnam War. Today it is one of the country's prime tourist attractions. The Cu Chi Tunnels lie 75 km northwest of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).
The tunnel system let the Viet Minh and later, the Viet Cong, control a huge rural area. It was an underground city with living areas, kitchens, storage, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centers. In places, it was several stories deep and housed up to 10,000 people who virtually lived underground for years.... getting married, giving birth, and going to school. They only came out at night to furtively tend their crops.
The planning and construction of this tunnel was incredible. People dug all this with hand tools, filling reed baskets and dumping the dirt into bomb craters. They installed large vents so they could hear approaching helicopters, smaller vents for air and baffled vents to dissipate cooking smoke. There were also hidden trap doors and gruesomely effective bamboo-stake booby traps.
After we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, our tour went back to HCHC. We arrived in the city in the afternoon, so I used my time to visited Ben Thanh Market. This market was closed to my hotel. I could walk to my hotel easily.
This market is one of the best places to pick up conical hats. The market and surrounding streets make up one of the city's liveliest areas. Everything that's commonly eaten, worn or used by the Saigonese is available here: vegetables, meats, spices, sweets, tobacco, clothing, household items, hardware, coffee powder and souvenir worthy items.
This market reminds me to Pasar Beringharjo and Pasar Klewer in Indonesia. You would get good stuff with pair price if you could make a good bargain.
P.S. If you don't like to bargain, you can buy the stuff from the government seller. The last time I went there, they wore uniform--blue shirt and black pants/black skirt.
Fifth Day
Early in the morning I checked out from my hotel in HCMC. I took a bus to Mui Ne beach. On the bus, I met French traveler and Canadian travelers. We had the same destination. So, we decided to stay in the same hotel. In Mui Ne, I shared a room with Lolo from France. She was a surfer. She went to Vietnam after had a long holiday in Indonesia. We had nice conversation about Bali, Jakarta, and Java. Lolo said, she would love to visit Indonesia again.
Frank and Marc who knew that I came from Indonesia also said their interest in my country. Frank told me that this summer he planned to see the archipelago. Frank and Marc had been to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. They love Asian cultures and its nature.
In my hotel in Mui Ne, I also met Julian and Nicole. Julian is an Australian surfer who ever stayed for quiet long in pulau Rote, Indonesia and he said that he loves Indonesia so much. He seemed very happy when he knew that I came from Indonesia. Nicole is physiotherapist from New Zealand. She stayed in UK for some couple years but decided to back to New Zealand to start her new life and continued her study.
Sixth Day
It was around eight o'clock in the morning. I said goodbye to my roommate Lolo. I went back to Saigon and flew to Jakarta. I had great time in Vietnam. I met kind local people and nice travelers from other countries.
