World Religions and World History

First full day in Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City, depending on who you talk to. We took a bus tour to two interesting destinations: To the Cao Dai Temple at Tay Ninh and to the Cu Chi tunnels north of the city.

I had been fascinated with what I read about Cao Daism (a true "world" religion) in a book I got for Christmas: A Dragon Apparent: Travels in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam by Norman Lewis. He wrote of his introduction to Cao Daism in 1949 that he encountered:

"...a cathedral that looked like a fantasy from the brain of Disney, and all the faiths of the world had been ransacked to create the pompous ritual, which had been grafted on an organization copied from the Catholic Church."

The inside is about the most colorful place I've ever seen, with dragons swirling around pink pillars, blue cloudy skies painted on the ceiling, and a large orb with a big eye in the middle of it over the "altar." Apparently past consultations have been held via seance with the likes of Victor Hugo (who happens to be one of the patron saints), Joan of Arc and William Shakespeare.

Odd doesn't even begin to cover it.


Next we changed gears COMPLETELY and went to see the Cu Chi tunnels, which was a network of 125 miles worth of underground tunnels dug by peasant guerrillas and Viet Cong during the war. The network had three tiers and in some places went down to 30 feet underground. Approximately 18,000 people were living in these tunnels during the war, and they included kitchens, dining rooms, hospital rooms...basically anything you might need to live underground for an indeterminate amount of time.

There were two particularly hard things about seeing the tunnels. First it was the claustrophobia. We were allowed down into one. We could make the choice to circle out at the second tier down or continue to a third tier. These tunnels are small. You have to crawl through them in places. I opted out after tier 2. That was enough for me to see.

The second difficult part was seeing the intro video that was filmed as part of Vietnamese propaganda in 1967. It was a little over the top, even for me. I may have my own conflicted feelings about the US involvement in Vietnam, but it's still hard to hear about peasant guerrillas being awarded as "American killer heroes." Our tour guide himself had been conscripted into the Viet Cong for 3 years.

Vietnam still hasn't healed it's own wounds from the war. Those who fought for the South Vietnam Army (and sided with the US) and actually stayed in Vietnam (instead of fleeing after the fall of Saigon) still face discrimination and persecution. It's pretty sad to see the aftermath from this side of the world. It's clear that there really were no winners of the war, no matter what the Vietnamese government thinks.

Tomorrow we are off to the Mekong Delta.