I’m writing this on Sunday at 7.30 am on the coach, simply because last night everyone crashed out at about 9 pm, after dinner. That was because we had cycled 102 kms in beautiful, hot sunshine.
We left Nha Trang at 7am and the bus drove us out of the town for ten minutes. We then cycled along Highway 1, following the coast for most of the 75 kms that we covered before lunch. It was absolutely beautiful. Let me tell you a little bit about Highway 1. It should be the equivalent of our M1, as Vietnam is a long, thin country that stretches for 1000 miles and Highway 1, goes the full length of it. So, it is the major road in Vietnam and largely follows the coast.
But it’s not at all like our M1.Water buffalo are herded along, oxen pull carts,
street food is cooked and sold all along the side of the road, the motorbikes and scooters carry everything on their back seats from fridges, to televisons, a toilet, to bales of hay and produce that is ten times wider and ten times higher than the driver. Children line the route to wave to the English tourists, say Hello, Sinchow and giggle. And all the while, we are going through the most fantastic, picture-postcard scenery, Coastal scenes with pristine, empty beaches, fishing boats, junks, pearl and shrimp farms and paddy fields, with women working in their Vietnamese conical hats. It was a wonderful journey under a beautiful blue sky. And it was flat – in all of the first 75 kms there were some gentle ups and downs that couldn’t really be called hills. So, perfect for cycling.
And although it is Highway 1, the stretch we cycled is the least busy section. It’s a single carriageway road with a wide-ish section specifically for bikes and motor bikes, so very safe. But very hot. Not a humid heat though, as fortunately, we’re here in the dry season.
At lunch, on one of the beautiful beaches, Chi warns us that the final 25kms is ‘undulating’ and even admits that there are some steep hills. And there were, with the final hill being a real killer before dropping down to the coast, to the Seagull hotel where we stayed last night. Oh, and I did it, and did it without too much of a struggle. Another 102kms clocked up, so I’m obviously getting stronger and fitter as days go on. We arrived at the hotel in time for a quick shower before dinner, which was the first mediocre meal of the trip. We ate in the hotel and the Seagull Hotel is reminiscent of Soviet days gone by. Long, dark corridors, and a Fawlty Towers kind of service. Then everyone was totally bushed and called it a night. It was the only one night stay of the holiday as Nuy Quon is not really much of a town, just a convenient stop on the way to Hoi Ann where we’re headed now.
I’m back at the Hoi An Hotel now, after dinner on Sunday evening. The transfer from Nuy Quon was some 300 miles so a lot of today was spent on the bus.
Except for around three hours where we left the bus and cycled for just 10 kms to the My Lai museum. It felt strange driving through the villages of Son My, the region of the 1968 massacre and, in fact, the 500+ people who were brutally killed were from a number of hamlets with My Lai being just one. Again, young children lined the road along the villages to say Hello, and Whatsyourname (one word for them) to the tourists. We worked out that the reason they come out for us, is because although they see a number of tourists, they are just on coaches whizzing through their villages and it is only us cyclists that they can come out and talk to. Anyway, the reason it was weird was that you realised that these women and children would have looked almost exactly the same as those killed those 40 years ago. They could have been the women and children you see in all the photos.
As we approached the museum, we were in sombre mood. Then we watched a very moving video which showed that while it was US troops who were responsible for the massacre, it was also some of the US troops who refused to take part and within months of it happening, uncovered it to the world. It was a very balanced video including footage of interviews with some of the Americans who now fund the school in the village and provided the finance for the Peace Gardens. Walking around the site was spooky as there were the remains of the houses that had been burned to the ground in an attempt to cover up what had happened there.
But there was also footage of the Vietnamese who survived, meeting with the Americans and that reinforced what we have found since we have been here. The Vietnamese do not want to forget what happened, but they don’t want their present to be just about the wars they have been involved in over a period of around 1000 years. They want to look to the future and move on.
It was also interesting talking to Chi quietly at dinner last night. I asked about his family, something I had wanted to do for a while, but I was waiting till I knew him better, had some time alone with him and the time was right. He is 32 years old. His father is 67 and was a watchmaker or watch repairer. Chi said his father just wanted life to be normal – he wasn’t active in the war as he was an only child and so not required to do national service. He was not political but was not unhappy either with the South Vietnamese government and so did not oppose the US being here. But he also could not condone the terrible things that happened. The worse time for him however, was the ten years following 1975 and the end of the war. Everything was in demand and unavailable in the South and there were real problems even getting enough food for his family. Then things relaxed and today he and his family have a better life.
Today, I’ve had a streaming cold. Don’t feel ill with it, just uncomfortable and not too worried as I think it will pass quickly and is not stopping me doing anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment