Can Gio: Monkey Island and the Mangrove Forest

This was a trip I took on my birthday.  I really could not have asked for a better birthday gift then travelling to an island filled with monkeys.  I was so excited!  Can Gio is home to the mangrove forest biosphere reserve listed by UNESCO.  There is again terrible tragedy related to this forest.  I will get the bad stuff out of the way first and then move on to the Monkeys.

This forest now taking up an area of almost 76000 hectares, was almost completely burned down by agent orange during the Vietnam war.  Thanks to an incredible effort by the people of Vietnam and the Vietnamese Government the forest has almost been completely replanted.  It has incredible biodiversity value and the people who live there have a rich history and culture.

There is a lot of pride from the people for defending against the american forces.  They were bombarded by ships, tanks, and airplanes during the war and managed to fight off many.  We had the eldest man in the village talking to us about the war.  It was so crazy to have translated to us his story of what happened knowing that he had lived through all of it.  The people of this forest were forced to basically live in the water amongst the crocodiles and filth to hide from the Americans while being attacked.  To know that this man in front of me had endured such hardship made me cry, it is so hard to be faced with that kind of thing so closely.

The people would swim amongst the network of rivers and channels for days.  If they came up against the crocodiles they would have to wrestle them.  We were told that the crocodiles did not fear the death around them during the war and would eat the bodies of fallen soldiers.  Needless to say this painted a very vivid picture.

The people would use these structures to catch rain water for cooking and drinking.

This statue commemorates an american ship that the people managed to bomb.  Again sadness for both sides.  The statue also seemed to be a tribute to the fallen Vietnamese.  Despite the fact that the people killed so many of the people from "my" country, I honored their bravery and courage.

I put my in quotes because I am really feeling conflicted about what it means to have a country.  I feel so much that I got very lucky about where I was born and I am so thankful for that.  At the same time I feel that we have to drop all feelings of nationalism and defensiveness about our country if we ever hope to have global peace.  I feel like we need to be able to say to ourselves that this whole world is our world and feel compassion and love for all the people on it, from the US to Vietnam to Libya to Japan to Tibet and everywhere else.  Another thing that often brings this thought to mind for me is the fact that littering is very popular in this country.  I believe just from a lack of awareness.  I have seen many of my fellow American students taking part in this, maybe they are of the "when in rome..."  mentality, maybe they do it in the US too I don't know.  The way I feel however is that this is my world, it may not be my country but it is still my world and if it is not OK for me to litter in the US because it hurts the environment then the same applies here.  It sounds obvious when I type it out and when I think about if I had read about something like this from the US, but being here really makes me think about it.  I think that we need to respect our world no matter the customs or practices of individual places in the world.

So that is what this past trip made me think of now on to the far happier part....the monkeys!

What follows will just be a bunch of monkey pictures because they are wonderful.

 Being here and watching the monkeys interact made me desire more then ever to spend lots of time with groups of primates at some time in my life.  I have always enjoyed going to a party or being in a group and watching humans interact and monkeys are not very different just far more explicit in their desires.  I think language and self consciousness from cultural norms has made humans interactions far more roundabout and less straightforward.  One moment in particular was very interesting.  There started to be commotion and fighting amongst maybe 10 monkeys.  They were running around and fighting.  I couldn't really figure out why.  Then it all stopped and there were two interacting in a corner.  One looked like it was being gentle at first then made the other one have sex.  So stress commotion and then sex.  I don't know if there is anything to it but it seemed that two having sex caused much strife in the whole group.  It is odd cause I feel like I can intuit far more about humans because I share in their motivations and desires so I can get a better idea about what they might be thinking.  But in monkeys it seems like you see very much more obviously the result of all these motivations.

I love watching groups of primates human or otherwise and I cannot wait until get to a point in my life where I can go off and do more of it.

We also went to the beach on this trip but it was fairly unremarkable. The food was good and the sun was nice but no deep observations.  It was nice to just relax after the long day.

The Streets Part 1

I just wanted to comment on the traffic here.  The traffic can get crazy here.  There are no crossing rules or laws and stoplights are only kind of followed at some intersections.  I remember when I first got here I would try to wait for a break in the traffic, for no body to be driving down the street, it just doesn't happen.  The best way to cross a street here is to just start going across and move slowly and straight forwards.

You have to be aware at all times.  This is something I have always struggled with in the US.  When riding my bike I am totally oblivious.  When walking down the street people I am with always get worried because it seems as though I am not paying attention at all, which is probably true.  I get lost in daydream land.  Here there is no room for that, you would be owned by a motorbike or taxi.  I have become a lot more aware around traffic and my surroundings in general.  I think part of this is due to necessity, but I think it is also due to the fact that I am getting used to being in a city and all the noises and sights so I am less distracted.

The obvious thing about the traffic is that it is mostly motorbikes.  Vietnam has a history of bikes.  Back in the days of very poor Vietnam it was considered a privilege to have a pedal bike.  Everyone got around on pedal bikes.  People would buy bikes in pieces if they did not have the money to buy a whole bike right away.  This seems to have a had a natural transition to motorbikes.  You still see pedal bikes on the road which seems incredibly dangerous to me, but they are far less common then the motorbikes.  I am not sure why it bikes have had this evolution here but it is pretty unique.

There is also a possible economic reason.  Imported cars are heavily taxed here to try to support domestic industry.  Cars are taxed at the rate of around 250% their value.  So it is far too expensive to buy cars.  This is also why you only see very nice cars here, because it is only the very rich that can afford them.  To me it is one of the more obvious indicators of the income gap in Vietnam.

The traffic is crazy and walking across the road even crazier, but it can be very interesting. There is a lot you can learn about a city and its culture just from its streets and traffic.  Next installation of streets will deal with public transportation in the city.

Cu Chi: A poor family, a school, and the tunnels

Where to start with this post. This was a fantastic trip in many ways. It was my first time out of the city which was a huge deal for me. When I spend too much time in the city I really feel cut off from my self. So first we visited a small school in Cu Chi. Sadly I have no pictures of the wonderful children because I was too busy acting. We put on two plays for the youngsters. The first was a well know children's folk tale, The Legend Of Son Tinh And Thuy Tinh.  It was a story about two gods who wished for the Kings daughter's hand in marriage. I was one of the mountain kings servants, a horse!  It was my debut on the acting circuit.  The next play was a dental health skit that tried to teach the kids about how to brush their teeth.  I was chocolate, and very bad character.  I enjoyed trying to entertain and teach the kids but I really despised acting.

Next we went to visit a very poor family in Cu Chi.  This family could not even afford to buy uniforms for their only child let alone school materials.  One of the daughters of the program had decided to give her lucky Tet money to the disadvantaged girl in the family.  The exchange is shown below, it is blurry because I felt awkward taking pictures of people in their homes like they were on display.  Even though in truth they kind of were on display.

Their home really was very rudimentary.  They lived very much in the middle of nowhere and had no means of transportation besides their feet.

I was sad that on this trip we were given so little information about this family.  I know little or nothing about their way of life and how they survived.  I do know that it made me deeply sad to come their with the kids in my program.  Both the Vietnamese kids and the American kids complained about how hot it was, how hungry they were, how their cameras were not working, and when we were going to leave for the Cu Chi Tunnels.  I know that we all have different concerns and priorities but it made me sad to see such lack of concern. 

Next we ate at a nice restaurant. It was outdoors and very tasty. Pictures of the tasty food.  Yes their was a great deal of regret going here after visiting the family that probably struggled to feed themselves.

This was a cool alcohol called snake wine and scorpion wine.  I had a bit,  it was pretty good.

Again coming here after the poor family was a bit difficult for me.  All of it got me thinking about the numbers we draw in the lottery of life.  I am so lucky just because I was born in America, it is a privilege that I have truly done nothing to earn.     

Next we were on to the tunnels of Cu Chi. The tunnels were the site of many an offensive operation by the US military and the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tet Offensive.  Some pictures of the tunnels follow.

US Military Equipment:

A booby trap in the forest and many models.  I am sure that these killed many US soldiers while at the same time saving many Vietnamese lives.  This is the kind of thing that really send me into conflict.  I recently talked to a friend who said that it was natural to feel this way, if I didn't it would mean I wasn't really thinking.  I feel this is true, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Me in a tunnel

Me in the medical station.  This too would have been completely underground during the war.  All of these places were connected with nothing visible above ground.  It is really incredible.

We also ate some of the food they ate underground.  It was like a sweet potato, it was the root of a common tree.  It was neat to try but I could not imagine eating it day in and day out.

This whole trip to the tunnels was a troubling experience for me.  I knew that many of my fellow Americans had died in this place and so naturally I felt sad about that, but I also felt strongly that they had no place there to begin with.  I felt terrible that the people that had occupied these tunnels had been so harassed that they had been forced under ground.  To force another human being to a life underground in the dark seems unimaginably terrible to me.  I found the site incredibly gripping and interesting.  But found it hard to feel happy in this place.

My First Pagoda

About three weeks ago I visited a pagoda for the first time in my life.  It was the Pagoda of the Jade Emperor.  The Jade emperor is the Taoist god of Heaven.  This Pagoda did not seem terrible impressive from the outside but the inside was stunning.

There is a story associated with the above photo.  The man is the guardian of the Pagoda.  He is said to have searched everywhere for donations and offerings to the Jade Emperor, but found none, so instead he cut out his own intestines and offered them.  This is a great story of heroism and self sacrifice.  I thought it was funny that as the guardian he is facing the Pagoda not facing outwards on the watch for potential enemies.  Either way, for me, it set the tone for entering into the courtyard of the Pagoda.

  

There were was a pond of fish and and a pond of turtles.  It is good Karma to buy a fish or turtle and then release it back into the water.  Luan, one of my Vietnamese friends, said that he never really understood why it was bad karma to catch them in the first place.  I thought that was a great point.  I still loved seeing all the fish and turtles.  Some of the turtles had writing on their shells.  The idea is that if you write a wish on the shell and then release the turtle, your wish will go to heaven and be granted.  

The horse above was the horse of the emperor and was said to be very very intelligent.  Many people would come in and touch its head and then touch theirs.  I did it, it cannot hurt right?

This is the God of Money!  He wears black and white because he was a very bad child.  His mother just wanted him to go to school, but he never did.  Eventually she passed away with him never doing a single thing that she wished.  Obviously he regretted this after she died so he wore black and white in mourning thereafter.    Pray to him if you need wealth, and preferably give money.  I wonder who takes the money in the end?  Sounds like a head of the temple scheme to me.

These reliefs were amazing.  There were very many.  I only show a couple.  They depicted the judgment in hell and the sentencing to your punishment before rebirth.  The whole thing reminded me so much of Dante's Inferno.  Crazy how the traditions overlap.  I wonder if the people who made these reliefs also came to the conclusion that Dante did, that Gods love or just love in general, depending on how you want to think of it reaches even down to the furthest pits of hell.  

These are the fertility gods.  All women here.  You come to them if you would like to have a baby.  There are 12 lining the sides one for each month.  Very interesting.

Overall the Pagoda was beautiful.  But it did not put me into a spiritual place at all.  Maybe it is because I was a tourist and just learning about the things around me.  I feel the real reason though is that everything seem so modernized and slightly superficial.  God of money, and gods of heaven and hell.  It all seems slightly pandering and taking the metaphors too literally.  Chances are thought that I just was not in the right state of mind.  

Very late first post

So this is my first post for my Vietnam blog.  Its not a very impressive first post and it is very late.  I promise however that I will do a number of posts that recap the adventures I have had from my time here so far so it wont even seem like anything has been missed.

This is just an introduction to get things started, because I know that once I put out the first post I will be very eager to keep going.  Vietnam has been fantastic so far.  I have learned alot about myself, american students, Vietnamese students, Vietnamese people and culture, and Vietnamese language.  I look forward to sharing my past stories and my future experiences.

Stay Tuned!