Remaining reminders...

When deciding that I would travel to Vietnam, it came across my mind that I would probably learn about some of the immense history this country has. Through our trip, we've heard bits and pieces, but very recently I have learned a LOT.
One great day of learning was on a bike tour in a town called Dalat. In Vietnam people often make money by just randomly offering a service, or things/food for sale, to people in the street. A common example is offering a ride to somewhere on their motorbike. In Dalat, the most common offering one will get is for Easy Rider tours. There are, probably, some sort of official easy riders, and then every other person that owns a motorbike in the town who claims to be an "Easy Rider" tour guide. We found someone who seemed quite legit actually, as he had a jacket, could speak vietnamese, english, AND french, and had a very thick book of written references (always a great thing to find). Anyways, we chose him, he and two friends picked Karen, Sara, and myself up the next morning, and took us on a full days tour. We saw some amazing things such as:
- A dragon pagoda
- Where all of the vegetables are grown (a neat city center farm land kind of deal)
- A flower farm (Dutch inspired green houses)
- A silkworm farm
- The Elephant waterfall
- A coffee plantation
- A tea plantation
- A strange way of growing mushrooms
- How rice wine is distilled

The real learning however was throughout the day while our guide Stefan told us about Vietnam from his personal perspectives. Hearing his struggles through life, and how hard it is to make money to keep a family going was crazy to hear. Like that even though Vietnam is reunified, North and South are one, he still sees areas of unbalance.

Hearing his perspectives on the war really brought things closer to home for me. For example, he mentioned seeing his village evacuated and then bombed as a child. He mentioned being a soldier during the Vietnam war and because of that had some interesting comments. For example, he pointed out this bare looking patch that covered a hillside. To the uninformed eye, it just looked like a large area of grass, which it is. As he explained though, the area is like that because after the hill was lit up with napalm, the jungle could not grow there anymore.

My knowledge has grown from other days as well. Yesterday we went to the "War Remnants Museum" which is a museum of just that; remnants of the Vietnam war. I realized while being there that I really have no idea about what happened during that war, or almost any war for that matter. I learned in detail about so many things that I previously had no clue had happened. For instance, I now know about the mass quantities of chemicals used on Vietnam that caused not only immediate effects, but had repercussions on the environment and the people for years after they were used. I also found out about the massacres that happened in various areas, like the one in a place called Son My.

I guess before finding these things out, I didn't know why the war happened. I didn't know the extent of what went down, why the whole world was opposed, or what effects anything had. I now know more, but feel like I am just beginning to understand a history that is incredibly tragic. Learning hand in learning hand, I also recently have been reading about the Khmer Rouge occupation of Cambodia, the next country we are headed to. All of this makes me appreciate South East Asia so greatly. For countries with such brutal and horrific pasts, they are thriving so much now with such a commendable mentality. After all my findings, I get why Vietnam is SO PROUD, and I get why Ho Chi Minh is SO RESPECTED.

All in all, I will continue to learn onwards in my journey. Tomorrow we set off down the Mekong Delta with the destination of Phnom Pehn, Cambodia.