{"id":3591,"date":"2010-06-12T07:45:16","date_gmt":"2010-06-12T12:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=3591"},"modified":"2010-06-14T16:28:34","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T21:28:34","slug":"our-friend-the-vietcong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/?p=3591","title":{"rendered":"Our Friends the Vietcong"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:justify\">We woke up to the gentle chimes of Sim City 2000 in the roomy coolness  of our digs at the Blue River Inn. We made our way downstairs to the  free breakfast to find that today&#8217;s offering was a kind of smallish <a title=\"Blini\" href=\"http:\/\/ru.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/%D0%91%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%8B\" rel=\"noopener\">\u0431\u043b\u0438\u043d<\/a> . It was tasty, but none too filling. After some deliberation, we  decided that this might be just enough calories to fuel us through the  short ride to the Reunification Palace.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298881.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3706\" title=\"Coffee\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298881.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298881.jpg 525w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298881-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">We collected our things  and climbed on the cycles. It seemed the Speed TRs were getting along  especially well with Vietnam. Mine felt smooth, tight, and responsive as  we wove our way through the surging waves of motor bikes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><iframe class=\"aw-video\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Travel video\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/IG-D4Clq37A\" allow=\"fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The  Vietnamese coffee, in all its cloying sweetness, was beginning to kick  in and we made short work of the ride, purchasing the 85 cent tickets  and entering the palace grounds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3708\" title=\"Reunification Palace\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298884.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298884.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298884-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">To call this place a palace is  both right and wrong. It certainly is a palace in the  grand-structure-with-which-one-impresses-others sense, but it is so very  communist, that one might better call it an official headquarters, or  even a diplomatic reception building.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298906.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Visiting the Palace\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298906.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">You see, dear reader, at one point, on the same ground  on which one now finds the Reunification Palace, there was a very real  palace, made of ornately carved wood. This was destroyed, and a new  palace was built by the French, when they took over the running of  Saigon after a slow but brutal campaign in 1868. The French ruled from  this, though they kept the king of Vietnam around as well, doing some  minor ruling from the old royal capital in the central Vietnamese city  of Hue. During the second World War, the place was briefly occupied by the  Japanese, until the defeat of the Axis in the Pacific and the forcible reinstatement  of French rule in Vietnam.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">The French had a strange habit of calling  Vietnam Cochinchina, which to AsiaWheeling makes about as much sense as  deciding to call Malaysia Varanasiindonesia, and this might have had  something to do with the subsequent troubles that a France still  recovering from crushing defeat and occupation in during WWII had in  establishing control over their previous colony.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">In this time of strife, Ho Chi Minh, and his communist organization, the Viet Minh took  power in Vietnam and eventually, after a string of military victories,  forced France to sign the Geneva Accords, which returned Vietnam to  local control, with the north ruled by the communist Viet Minh, and the  south ruled by the marginally democratic Republic of Vietnam, split  along the fabled 17th parallel. The north was led by Ho Chi Minh (the  guy on all the money here in present day Vietnam), and the south was  led by a fellow named Diem (a rotten, paranoid, murdering dictator &#8212;  heavily supported by the U.S.) Diem ruled from the old French palace, now  dubbing it the &#8220;Independence Palace.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/dong-500.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3752\" title=\"500 Dong\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/dong-500.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"258\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">During the early 60s,  North Vietnamese bombers destroyed the palace that had been built by the French, so it was rebuilt in wonderful 1960s mod South East Asian Art Deco glory. To this day, it still retains the original facade and  interior decoration. It also sports some interesting exhibits and  re-education videos, so we figured it was worth a visit.<\/p>\n<p>Inside  we found it to be decorated not unlike a cooler version of the rooms in one  of our grandmother&#8217;s houses. I&#8217;ll let the photos talk:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Large Room\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298895.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\"><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298889.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3709\" title=\"Gathering Room\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298889.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298889.jpg 525w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298889-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298907.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3714\" title=\"Paneling\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298907.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298907.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298907-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298902.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3712\" title=\"Hallway\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298902.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298902.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298902-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298899.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3711\" title=\"Ho Chi Minh\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298899.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298899.jpg 525w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298899-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298909.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3715\" title=\"Meeting Room\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298909.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298909.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298909-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298922.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3718\" title=\"Angry Cat\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298922.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298922.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298922-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298962.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3726\" title=\"Soldiers and Woman\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298962.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298962.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298962-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298924.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3719\" title=\"Desk\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298924.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298924.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298924-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">We also  were sure to watch the re-education videos in the basement, which tell  the story of the Vietnam War from the North Vietnamese perspective (to  them it is the American War). It was very interesting and embarrassing  to see how sinister and destructive my country could seem through the  eyes of our one-time enemy. While I am sure that in reality the truth,  as always, lies somewhere between the version of the Vietnamese War that  we are taught in American schools and the one taught in Vietnamese  schools, one thing is for sure, it was an ugly, wasteful, crying shame  of a war.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298961.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3725\" title=\"Th\u00edch Qu\u1ea3ng \u0110\u1ee9c\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298961.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298961.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298961-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Before we left, we made sure to tour the basement of  the building, which was set up somewhat like a level from that old  Nintendo 64 game, GoldenEye.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298951.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3724\" title=\"Radio Equiptment\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298951.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298951.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298951-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">This video should corroborate:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><iframe class=\"aw-video\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Travel video\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/2HO7aRcuZ3w\" allow=\"fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nWe  left the Reunification Palace hungry, and climbed on the cycles to weave our way back into the wild traffic of Ho Chi Minh City, looking  for a place to eat. When we spotted a Vietnamese crushed rice  restaurant, we called a waypoint, but were for one reason or another  tempted even more by a restaurant across the street advertising Hue <a title=\"Hue\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Hue.ogg\" rel=\"noopener\">(pronounced &#8220;Hway&#8221;)<\/a> food. Hue food is from the central part of Vietnam, and since we had  bought tickets that skipped right over that part of the country, we  figured we had better try the food.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298964.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3727\" title=\"Hue Restaurant\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298964.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298964.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298964-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I ordered a bowl of thick  square yellow noodles with a spicy sesame broth, Scott got a clear soup  with round white rice noodles. We shared a plate of tiny fried clams that we spread on pieces of toasted rice paper, sprinkled with fresh  garlic and hot peppers, and scarfed down.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298971.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3730\" title=\"Bowls of Noodles\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298971.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298971.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298971-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">As we ate, a man came into the  restaurant, and noticing that there were no more tables left, planted  himself next to us. We exchanged greetings, but he did not appear to  speak much English. It was not until we had finished eating and begun to  take turns reading aloud the Vietnam War section from the <a href=\"http:\/\/thewikireader.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Wikireader <\/a> that our table partner spoke up.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">It turned out that, in fact, he  did speak quite good English, and presented himself to us as a Vietnamese journalist. He was  interested in what two young chaps, interested in Vietnamese history  were doing riding folding bicycles in this city. For one reason or  another, we intrigued him enough that he agreed to meet with us later  that day, at his hotel, and allow us to interview him about his life and  perspectives on Vietnamese history. As you can imagine, dear reader,  Scott and I were tickled pink at the opportunity, and spent the next few  hours wheeling around Saigon, brainstorming questions to ask the man,  and hunting down a fresh supply of pens and paper.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298983.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3735\" title=\"Hunting for Pens and Paper\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298983.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298983.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298983-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When we met up with the man, he had changed his clothes and was welcoming us  into his luxurious room at the New World Hotel.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298994.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3740\" title=\"New World Hotel\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298994.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298994.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298994-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>He called for a maid to assist him in making coffee for us. With steaming mugs in hand, we sat down in his heavily air conditioned room, and he and began to tell us his tale, and  perhaps more exactly, the story of Vietnam in the 20th Century.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298993.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3739\" title=\"Hotel Amenities\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298993.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298993.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298993-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And this  was it:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">His father was born shortly after the turn of the  century (the 20th). He was of wealthy intellectual background, so he  studied at a good French school, eventually becoming a lawyer and  securing a position within the administration of the last Vietnamese  king, who still held a fair amount of power and popularity with the  people at that time. Our friend was born during this time, as his father  was rising to his final position as the Chief of the Office of the King.  As you can imagine, this is a rather high position, and our friend&#8217;s  father had become a trusted adviser to the king.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/emperorbaodai_1933ceremony1.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3750\" title=\"Emperor Bao Dai\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/emperorbaodai_1933ceremony1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"756\" height=\"500\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/3207829.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3751\" style=\"margin-left:10px;margin-right:10px;margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:5px\" title=\"Ho Chi Minh\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/3207829-243x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"243\" height=\"300\"><\/a>With the end of  WWII, and the aforementioned unstable power switch between the Japanese  occupiers and the old French colonialists, Ho Chi Minh&#8217;s Viet Minh had  come to power. It was actually our friend&#8217;s father who, in light of the  growing communist power in Vietnam, suggested that the king resign once  and for all, appealing to Ho Chi Minh. The king did this, and in  response, Ho Chi Minh offered him a position in his new communist  government, as supreme counselor. So with this, our friend&#8217;s father found  his way into the Communist Party, and our friend moved from Hue to the  northern communist capital of Hanoi.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Meanwhile, while the English  and French are invading the south of Vietnam, attempting to  re-establish colonial rule. Our friend is 16 at this point, and along  with his father, joins the resistance. They worked in the military  administration, with our friend eventually reaching the rank of Chief of  Company. In 1954, the French and English are defeated, and the country  is split according to the Geneva Accords along the 17th parallel. Ho  Chi Minh&#8217;s administration is new, and the country is war-torn. He  realizes that in order to catalyze development, he must educate his  people in the ways of science and industry. And with that, our friend  was assigned to be sent to Beijing (they called in Peking then)\u00a0  to learn metallurgy. After spending a year in Hanoi learning \u4e2d\u6587, he made his way to Beijing  where at the Vietnamese Embassy, he overheard a conversation that would  change the rest of his life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">A telegram had just come in from  Hanoi requesting that five students be selected and reassigned to learn journalism rather than their respective scientific or industrial  vocation. He promptly presented himself as a volunteer and the officials  agreed. It was in this way that our friend became a Chinese-trained  journalist.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">He returned to Vietnam four years later, in 1955, to  find the U.S.-supported Diem regime in the south to be unstable and  losing popular support, while meanwhile the communist Vietcong  insurgency was slowly, under the direction of Ho Chi Minh, eroding the  power of the Southern State. Meanwhile open war had broken out between  the Soviet- and Chinese-supported North and the U.S.-supported South. By  now U.S. forces were playing an active role, not just training and  advising South Vietnamese military, but engaging directly in ground  combat and devastating bombing of the north. Even the U.S. became fed up  with Diem&#8217;s inability to lead, and he was assassinated in a U.S. supported  bit of regime change. Unfortunately, subsequent leaders were no better, and  were instantly seen as puppets of the Americans, which of course they  were.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">In the meantime, our friend is working for the North  Vietnamese newspaper. Interestingly, we later noted that this fellow had a\u00a0<a title=\"Military Journalism\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RDr9IuDckhQ\" rel=\"noopener\">parallel occupation to the protagonist of Full Metal Jacket, &#8220;Joker&#8221;<\/a>, who wrote for the American wartime newspaper Stars and Stripes, telling stories of American valor and the failings of the North Vietnamese Army. \u00a0When we asked him if he felt the press was free in  North Vietnam, he explained to us, &#8220;I was free to write anything which  would raise the morale of our people. I was not told what to write, and I  did not write lies.\u00a0 I just only wrote stories that were uplifting for  our struggling citizens. You may call it what you would like, but I will  call it free.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">America, of course, lost. And when Saigon fell to  the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong, the official moment is often  considered to be when an NVA tank bulldozed its way through the gates  of the Independence Palace, taking over. They renamed the place, Reunification Palace. As soon as word of the fall (or liberation) of  Saigon made it to Hanoi in the north, our friend made his way down to  witness the event. He told us the story of walking into the old U.S.  Embassy, which was now in ruins, riddled with bullet holes and stained  black with the soot from burning vehicles. He walked through the  interior, which was in shambles, having been ransacked by the Vietcong.  Amidst the sea of documents that covered the floor, he saw a bolt from  an American rifle on the floor. He picked it up and has kept it since as a  paper-weight.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Since the war, our friend went on to work in  Vietnamese television news, traveling the world, and even visiting  America five times, to such exotic locales as Nebraska, Kansas, San  Fransisco, and Washington. On his trip to Washington, he was  accompanying the Vietnamese prime minister, taking an historic image of  the American and Vietnamese flags side by side on the president&#8217;s  limousine.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Our friend now works in a senior capacity at Viet-My, a Vietnamese-U.S.  relationship magazine published by the <a title=\"Viet-My\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hoivietmy.org.vn\/index.php?newlang=english\" rel=\"noopener\">Vietnam-USA society.<\/a> His magazine now works to build good faith and  friendship between the people of the two countries. AsiaWheeling would  flatter itself to think it is working to do the same.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">Many people  have told us not to disclose that we are American while traveling. It&#8217;s  safer they say. But also, as our dear friend Mr. Stew Motta so  eloquently put it, &#8220;You&#8217;ve got to represent, man.&#8221; And we agree. In  traveling, AsiaWheeling has enjoyed so many more positive experiences  connecting with people from other countries than we have negative ones.  And in many of these, we are playing the role of representatives of our  country and our race. With so many jokers out there, and so many idiotic  things that have been done by Americans in the past, it would be a  crime for all of us decent folk to hide behind Canada or England, rather  than starting to rack up a few more positive interactions on behalf of America.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298995.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3741\" title=\"Street Corner\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298995.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298995.jpg 700w, https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/P4298995-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify\">With  that I&#8217;ll sign off. From the AsiaWheeling mobile offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, good night and good luck.<\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color:#0000ee\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We woke up to the gentle chimes of Sim City 2000 in the roomy coolness of our digs at the Blue River Inn. We made our way downstairs to the free breakfast to find that today&#8217;s offering was a kind of smallish \u0431\u043b\u0438\u043d . It was tasty, but none too filling. After some deliberation, we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4,39,10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scott","category-video","category-vietnam","category-wheeling","category-woody"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3591"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3754,"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions\/3754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asiawheeling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}