Lest We Forget

I don’t think the lantern displays last night were in any way better than previous nights but nevertheless were enchanting

adding an almost mystical and ethereal feel to this old city. Being near the water adds to the charm of course – and the commercial enterprise.

The owner of this boat runs river tours by day and then turns his boat into a BBQ restaurant at night. Very ingenious.

It’s very much business as usual during the daytime when the market is, once again, in full swing

and the people and motorcycle traffic just as chaotic.

I couldn’t quite work out what was going on here but I think it was some sort of charity free for all for second hand clothes.

It’s difficult to imagine that these seemingly cheerful, charming and happy people were in the middle of a devastating conflict not that long ago – well, to me it seems quite recent anyway.  Depending on which report you read, it is estimated that upwards of 3 million Vietnamese died in the conflicts between 1955 (French war) and the mid 70s (USA/Vietnam war), up to 50% of these being civilians.  I have visited other countries (especially in South America) that have endured wars of ‘independence’ where monuments and statues celebrating great victories and struggles are everywhere.  But considering this area was in the middle of some of the worst fighting – and atrocities – there are few reminders here. One little collection box caught my eye though

lest we forget about the dreadful Agent Orange. It is estimated that around 20 million gallons of this highly poisonous and toxic herbicide and defoliant was sprayed on trees and crops by the Americans, destroying around 5 million acres of forest and many more millions of acres of crops. The idea was to give the Viet Cong enemy no hiding place and to effectively starve them into submission. This failed completely but did create a huge famine for a vast number of peaceful and law abiding locals plus a longer term legacy of cancer, leukaemia, deformed births and other diseases which has affected close to 4 million Vietnamese. How these people remain so outwardly happy after what was done to them, their parents and families is beyond me.

To ensure there is no smugness in thinking that we, the British, played no part in such inhuman acts it must be remembered that the Americans based some of the legality for using this method of ‘fighting’ on the fact that we British had used herbicides and defoliants successfully against the communist insurgents in Malaya in the 1950s (albeit with significantly fewer casualties). So, a precedent was set which made it alright then, didn’t it?! Man’s inhumanity to man never ceases to astound me

I have just collected my laundry from the charming lady across the street and her dog, Lucky

as it’s time to pack up again. Tomorrow I leave this lovely country with its smiling people,

 so outwardly tranquil

and yet inwardly industrious

and take a trip down memory lane to the Philippines where I used to do business in the Marcos and immediate post Marcos era. It was a pretty lawless country then. I wonder if anything has changed.

I will find out.

Phileas

Correction.  I wrote in an earlier blog that one of the many things I liked about Hoi An was that I had neither found a McDonalds  nor chips with everything. Happily I still believe there are no McD’s here but I did find some chips!