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After having celebrated New Year in Chiang Mai, we crossed the Mekong river into Laos at the Chiang Khong/Houei Sai (Huay Xai) border crossing. From where a two day boat ride down the Mekong river took us to the historic Laotian town of Luang Prabang. <br />

Laos and Vietnam

Odv
2006-04-13 20:10:12

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/>Another attraction near Hoi An is the old Champa ruins of My Son, a kind of miniature Angkor. Unfortunately during the American war (as they call the Vietnam war in Vietnam) the Viet Cong used it to hide in and the site got bombed. A few bomb craters are still visible. The bombing ended when president Nixon was made aware of the historical value of the site by a French archaeologist and ordered the bombing to stop.

An interesting feature of the My Son temples is the way the bricks are stuck together. There is no space between the bricks and they stick together without cement. According to the guide this remains one of the biggest mysteries of My Son. The bricks also do not become moist even after a thousand years, while the bricks used in restorations do.

Our last stop in Vietnam was Saigon (officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City, but most people still seem to refer to it as Saigon) where one can visit the former Presidential Palace of the republic of South Vietnam and the War Remnants Museum, which used to be called the Museum of American War Crimes. Both places are now hotbeds of North Vietnamese propaganda, the museum exposes lengthily on crimes committed by U.S. and South Vietnamese troops. Most of the photos and documents on display are actually of American origin. The museum is silent about North Vietnamese misdeeds.

I was quite surprised by the level of criticism some people dared to express, at least in the south. Sometimes it was quite subtle as one man told us, that his wife was a communist but he did not believe in politics (i.e. he was not a communist).

An elderly Saigon citizen told me: "If you have power over me, and you tell me that that plant is a chicken, I will agree with you." He had spent some time in a reeducation camp after the collapse of the South Vietnamese state in 1975.

The contrast with China where people tow the official party line without a trace of criticism is striking. Which leads to the expectation that Vietnam may well become democratic before China.

One more incident I would like to share with you happened during a bus stop along the road. I heard a bark, when I turned around I saw a truckload of caged dogs pass, caged like pigs being driven to a slaughterhouse! I was shocked!

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