The Hindu Business Line : Far from those war days...

Who ever said Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam was not for tourists? If it's a different experience that you are seeking, then head for this city that is trying to move away from its gory past.

A busy square in downtown Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam," exclaimed friends, "but we thought you were off on a holiday."

"You see," I said in apologetic defence, "we're visiting Bangkok and Angkor. Vietnam is just across the Mekong... no harm in seeing the place... "

The Fokker 70 with its load of just 15 passengers deposited us safely in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City. We picked up our large bundle of local currency — one dollar translates to 15,000 dongs — and headed for the city determined to make the trip memorable. Our modest but cosy hotel — the Kimdo Royal City — was a stone's throw away from the Saigon river. We started to stroll to the river, but realised soon enough that strolling was about the last thing that one could do on the streets of a city in Vietnam. Vehicles of all kinds whizzed past around us in a mad frenzy, while the locals walked unperturbed along the river, feasting on their repast of roasted corncobs and ice-cream.

The only way to cross a road in the city of Saigon is to do it with your eyes closed. Get on to a pedestrian crossing (if you can), assess the distance across, close your eyes and walk straight on. Badly in need of sustenance by then, we rushed into the Seventeen Salon with its Wild West interior, and thirstily partook of its happy hour offerings. From our protected and vantage perch, the street below looked like a carpet of rattan conical hats. The bicycles — there are several thousands of them in Vietnam — made up the greater part of the traffic. The riverfront had three multi-storeyed boat-restaurants berthed alongside. Dinner was already in full swing on the decks, with music and dance in attendance. A wedding reception had taken over one deck. Every 15 minutes, a large ferry with people and vehicles crossed it, emptied its load, and filled up again for its next crossing.

After having quickly turned over the pages of a menu, which was guaranteed to turn anyone's stomach with dishes made of various unmentionable parts of a variety of animals, we triumphantly selected chicken fried rice ... that at least could not go wrong. When our order arrived, it was one heap of steamed rice, next to which was a full roasted chicken!

We had a whole day of sightseeing to indulge ourselves in. Engage a taxi with an English-speaking driver, was the advice we got at our hotel. Our soft-spoken driver was the politest person I've ever met. The War Remnants Museum was our first choice. For an entrance fee of about half-a-dollar, you pass through several halls displaying photographs and pictorial representations of war time atrocities, the weapons and artillery used and acclaiming the heroes of the conflict. The place left us with a feeling of deep sadness and, though the annotations may be biased, no one could disagree on the general theme of the total futility of war.

Particularly touching is the display titled "Requiem - the Vietnam Collection", a series of pictures contributed by journalists and photographers who survived the war, and those of their friends who were not so lucky.

The Reunification Palace — Independence Palace as it was earlier called — was a disappointingly ordinary building, though it was obviously a place of great importance to the Vietnamese judging from the entry fee. This is hailed as the venue of the French handover in 1954, as well as the spot where the flag of reunification of the two Vietnams was first raised in 1975. We walked through the large halls and the rooms used by Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem when he lived there. More eye-catching were the guides — pretty young girls dressed in the traditional `ao dai', a close-fitting long tunic with side-slits and white silk trousers. We'd had our surfeit of pagodas, so we settled for viewing just one, the Emperor of Jade pagoda believed to be the most spectacular. It had huge gargoyle-looking figures guarding the sanctum sanctorum, within which however was seated someone calmly smoking a cheroot! We could only get an outside view of the Notre Dame cathedral, but the Mariamman temple with its strange assortment of devotees — Chinese, Vietnamese and Hindu — was a full-fledged South Indian place of worship, priest et al.

We were weary because of the heat and it was time for lunch. But how could we leave Saigon without feeling the bitter struggle of almost 10 years that crippled the country and resulted in unpardonable bloodshed, both for the attacker and the attacked? So, we hurriedly picked up some snacks for lunch and headed south-west outside the city. Our destination was the Cu chi district where the Vietcong operated from during those long years of conflict. As we left the city outskirts, a cloudburst drenched the countryside, washing it clean and highlighting its colours. To our amusement the cyclists remained dry — literally. Like magic, the raincoats came out — long gowns of the most brilliant and thinnest of plastics, no doubt disposed off after one or two uses — and the pedalling continued unabated. Little tiled houses and shops dotted the landscape all along the 84 km, one-and-a-half hour drive to Cu chi.

We were first taken into the hall of a modern building, and shown a video on Cu chi, the people who lived there, how their lives had changed with the war and how they acquired the skills to protect themselves. A model of the intricate tunnel structure — 200 km of it at three levels — was on display. Thereafter we were led into the forest to see the real thing. There is only one word to describe the camouflage — amazing! The whole place looked like any lightly forested area would, with neat paths. Suddenly our guide stepped out and prodded at a bit of grass. A trapdoor of about six ft in length and two ft wide opened up in a trice. Our gasps were enough applause for his cleverness. Needless to say, no further effort was required on his part to keep us strictly to the paths!

Entrance to the Cu chi tunnel

The most astonishing sights were the entrances to the tunnels. If the traps were large, the entrances were the smallest imaginable. A one-ft square wooden plank strewn over with dried leaves turned out to be the entrance to several feet of tunnel. Deftly lifting the cover, our guide slipped in and disappeared from sight. The carefully replaced lid gave no sign of any disturbance at all! The strapping American soldier would have been no match for the slight Vietnamese. No wonder then that the war was lost.

We were invited to enter the tunnels and see for ourselves. If you have a fear of closed places, decline the invitation — the tunnels could not have been smaller. We were shown the kitchens, with the smoke ingeniously emerging at a distance to fool the enemy, and the emergency exits, one of them leading into the river. In what served as the dining hall for the Vietcong, we were served boiled tapioca with peanut powder, and small cups of tea. The hospital area had quick exit passages, through which whole stretchers could pass. The second and third levels of the tunnel went down to six and nine metres. How these tunnels were accessed and served as homes for human beings was a thought that could make a normal person claustrophobic.

To top the entire experience, the souvenir shop had rows of bottles of liquid stuff which supposedly had medicinal properties. Inside each one floated a dead lizard, an eel or a snake!

Did someone say that Ho Chi Minh City was not for the tourist? If a different experience is what you are looking for, and if you have a couple of days to spare, hop across when you make that next shopping halt at Bangkok — rest assured you will have no regrets.

Picture by the author

Fact file

How to get there: Vietnam Airlines flies into Saigon from both Bangkok and Singapore frequently

Where to stay: Budget /reasonably priced accommodation — $40 and above available. Booking is possible through the Internet.

How to get around: City tours are available. Whole-day taxi hire costs about $25. Entrance fee to Cu Chi tunnels is $5.

When to visit: It is a year-round destination.

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