Saigon-Hue #9

Chinese character on Mausoleum exterior wall. Hué, Vietnam. 

Vietnamese, unlike most of its mainland neighbors, uses a romanticized alphabet for writing. This makes Vietnam a somewhat easier place to navigate: despite the fact that I find Vietnamese extremely difficult to speak, you can at least read the names of restaurants and streets, which is impossible in Khmer. However, despite the fact that there is longstanding antipathy for China (but not the US, curiously)  Chinese characters are everywhere in Vietnam, usually ornamenting graveyards, pagodas and small shrines. Through Wikipedia, I learned that when Chinese influence took hold in the 2nd century BC, Chinese became the sole script used for official and educational purposes. By the 18th century, vernacular Vietnamese had grown in prestige and was written using both Chinese characters and unique characters that resemble Chinese. An alphabetized system was developed by missionaries in the 17th century, and more formally introduced by the French, who sought to eliminate Chinese systems from the country. By the early 20th century, following more widespread schooling, the romanticized alphabet was the primary written form of the language. It appears that Chinese, or Chinese-looking characters, are used exclusively for religious purposes, à la Latin in the Catholic church.

The French also tried to replace Khmer script with a romanticized alphabet, but a young King Norodom Sihanouk had rejected the idea, marking one of his first conflicts with the French colonial regime that had hoped he would be a pliant figurehead.

Saigon-Hue #7

Lilly pads in Citadel canal. Hué, Vietnam.

Saigon-Hue #6

Citadel walls and moat, at dusk. Hué, Vietnam.

The Imperial City (Vietnamese: Kinh thành Huế) in Huế is a walled fortress and palace in the former capital of Vietnam.

Gate, inside the citadel. Hué, Vietnam

"In June 1802 Nguyễn Phúc Ánh took control of Vietnam and proclaimed himself Emperor Gia Long.  Gia Long confided with geomancers to decide which was the best place for a new palace and citadel to be built. After [deciding] on a suitable site in Huế, building began in 1804. Thousands of workers were ordered to produce a wall and moat, 10 kilometers long. 

View of moat, walls and imperial-era building. Hué, Vietnam.

In the early morning hours of January 31, 1968, as part of the Tet Offensive a Division-sized force of North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong soldiers launched a coordinated attack on Huế seizing most of the city. During the initial phases of the Battle of Hue, due to Huế's religious and cultural status, Allied forces were ordered not to bomb or shell the city, for fear of destroying the historic structures; but as casualties mounted in the house-to-house fighting these restrictions were progressively lifted and the fighting caused substantial damage to the Imperial City. Out of 160 buildings only 10 major sites remain because of the battle." (via Wikipedia)

Saigon-Hue #5

Gate of the Citadel under a full moon. Hué, Vietnam.

My attempts at night photography persist despite quite limited success. Phnom Penh and Saigon's shophouses make both cities look like a clever piece of modern art at night: stacked boxes, some illuminated from within, others spotlit from above. But for obvious reasons, touring (empty) historic sights at night lends an air of mystery to already evocative spaces. While I like this photo's kind of abstract, painterly effect, it doesn't do much to capture the scene. The ceramic mosaics on the gate and the canals below were glittering in the moonlight, while the arches were in dramatic shadow.

Saigon-Hue #4

Tree in the canals of the 'Citadel', at sunset. Hue, Vietnam

Saigon-Hue #3

American 'dog tags' and French military medals for sale as souvenirs. Hue, Vietnam.

It goes without saying that I'm not the first American to note how friendly the Vietnamese are to Americans, and how no one (except government propaganda) brings up the 'American War.' It's 2013. Vietnam is a young country, with most of the population under 30. The US and Vietnam now have a good, even warm relationship. And yet, considering the biggest news story in Asia right now--the territorial conflict between Japan and China, and the subtext of residual anger over Japanese occupation nearly a century ago--it is remarkable that such a long and brutal conflict could be consigned to history.

My American friend working at an NGO in Hue said he forgets there was ever a war in Vietnam, despite the fact that the old DMZ is only a half hour from his house. It says a lot of about the Vietnamese people that they've been able to move on and focus on the future.* In Cambodia, politicians still use the fallout from the Khmer Rouge to explain the country's relative lack of progress on development indicators.

The 'Vietnam War' is similarly absent from public dialogue in the US, but surely for different reasons. As the US looks to finish in Afghanistan and with the legacy of the Iraq War still unsure, I think some soul searching is in order as to what exactly was accomplished in these conflicts and what long term significance they have, beside the loss of life on both sides. 

*It's worth noting that I don't speak Vietnamese, and I've only visited the country for two weeks total, so my impressions are not particularly nuanced. I have heard that returning emigres can face considerable discrimination. Certainly there are some who want to keep the conflict alive in public memory: at every stop on the Saigon-Hanoi railway, a prerecorded English track with nationalistic stories about the war is broadcast.

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Saigon-Hue #2

Incense at Tu Hieu Pagoda cemetery

Saigon-Hue #1

Mosaic at the tomb of Tu Duc

For my third trip to Vietnam, we took the Christmas week to travel from Saigon to Hue and back (with a stop in Daneng/Hoi An on the way) by train. It was great to have the chance to spend some time in Vietnam outside of its busting cities (Saigon IS 'bustling' incarnate), to see some of its breathtaking scenery, and to visit some of its historic cultural site, from both the pre-colonial and French periods.

While Cambodia certainly has the more impressive ruins in terms of scale and grandeur, Vietnam (the southern half, at least) offers visitors more intimate and contemplative relics that are perhaps more closely connected to our current world than Angkor Wat is. They are also much more recent...many of the sites we visited dated from the late 18th and 19th centuries, a period of which almost nothing has survived in Cambodia.

I was also struck by how very different Vietnam from the rest of mainland Southeast Asia. Whereas Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar all share a common religion and related tongues, Vietnam has its own mix of religious traditions and influences (Confucianism and characters from China, Catholicism and romanticized alphabet from the French). The iconography, temple layouts, and even color schemes are quite different (Cambodians have an affinity for acid pinks and pastel yellows, whereas Vietnamese seem to prefer cooler earth tones). 

My favorite historical place we visited is the tomb of Tu Duc, with low rise temples and courtyards set among serpentine canals and tree-lined hills. While apparently much of the art work from these sites was pillaged long ago, I was still drawn to ceramic-plate mosaics that ornamented many of the outer walls.