Indochina and Bangkok, January 2016

The brutal Vietnam War, along with its sidebars in Laos and Cambodia, fixed Indochina in the collective memory of our generation, even for those of us who were not in Southeast Asia.  This shared memory was largely responsible for our interest in visiting the region, although we knew little of its history and culture.   Stanford Travel/Study was our preferred vehicle since Eli Hazlip, the proprietor of Bamboo Tours, would lead the Stanford tour there in January 2016.  Eli had impressed us in shepherding our Stanford trip to China in 2002.  He told us then that Indochina was his favorite destination.

We flew from Sun Valley on January 4, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City (neé Saigon) on the 6th, one day before the other 31 members of our group.  Our itinerary took us from Ho Chi Minh City to Hue, the old imperial capital; Da Nang, site of the giant Marine base during the war; Ha Long Bay with its picturesque limestone islets; and Hanoi.  We then flew to Luang Prabang, the former capital of Laos, and on to Vientiane, the current capital.  Our next stops were Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and Siem Reap, the city closest to Angkor Wat and the other temples in the Angkor region.  The tour ended in Bangkok, Thailand, where we stayed for two extra days, departing for home on January 27.  With the exception of one bus trip, all our inter-city travel was by air.

Cultivating rice between Hue and Da Nang

Ha Long Bay with sister ship of our cruise vessel

Rather than providing a day-by-day report, we want to highlight the discoveries that made lasting impressions on us.  Most of these involved more than one of the countries visited.

Indochina

This collective noun for Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia underscores the fact that the cultures here are influenced by both Indian and Chinese civilizations.  We learned that there is a definite split between the two spheres of influence, marked by the chain of mountains that divides Vietnam on the east from Laos and Cambodia on the west.

Mountains dividing Laos from Vietnam, seen from the Mekong above Luang Prabang

Vietnam has been under the sway of China for centuries, sometimes under close political control and sometimes more independent.  Until French missionaries devised a Latin-based alphabet, Chinese characters were used for written communication.  The Chinese dragon is the dominant symbol, appearing on everything from beer cans to bridges.  Religious practice follows the branch of Buddhism imported from China.

With Vietnamese dragon at the imperial palace at Hue

Dragon boats on the river near Hue

Dragon bridge near Da Nang

On the western side of the mountains Indian culture has been dominant.   The Lao and Cambodian languages (and also Thai) are written with alphabets derived from Sanskrit.  The dragon’s place of honor is occupied by the naga, a huge serpent associated with both kings and buddhas.   Buddhists there practice a form of the religion shared by Thailand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Buddha seated on naga in Bangkok temple

The history of Indochina and Thailand in the Common Era is as complicated as that of Europe, for tribes moved southward from China, fighting the indigenous peoples and each other.   The current boundaries owe much to the French colonialists who paid scant attention to ethnic divisions.   For example, there are more Lao outside Laos (primarily in Thailand) than in the country.  All three countries have sizeable ethnic minorities whose rights are not always respected by the majority groups.

War and Remembrance

Having arrived in Ho Chi Minh City a day early, we visited the War Remnants Museum, which was not on the Stanford tour, probably because the experience would have been distasteful or distressing for some Americans.  We found the museum’s presentations to be generally accurate but certainly one-sided.  The large collection of US military hardware outside the building would be the envy of central parks in American cities.   Most of our fellow visitors were westerners.

The Stanford program did include a visit to the renamed Reunification Palace, the official residence of the South Vietnamese president, and Cu Chi, a complex of tunnels outside Saigon where the Viet Cong took refuge during the day from foot patrols and aerial surveillance.   The palace is a sterile place, apparently used for nothing but kept as it was when a North Vietnamese tank slammed through the front gate on April 30, 1975, ending the war.  Cu Chi was stranger still, originally preserved to show Vietnamese children how their parents suffered but now visited mainly by western tourists.  With its rebuilt tunnels, campsites, and booby traps, it struck us as a Williamsburg-in-the-jungle.

Even stranger, in another sense, was Da Nang, Vietnam, site of the giant US Marine base during the war.  A member of our group, who had spent a year in Da Nang, went out one afternoon to find some landmarks he could recognize.  Aside from a few concrete aircraft hangers he came up empty.  China Beach, a magnificent oceanfront section of the Marine base, is now the site of ultra-high end resorts.  We stayed in one, which featured, in addition to the surf, superb cuisine, an infinity pool, and extensive spa services.

Remnants of the Marine base at Da Nang

The most sobering relic of the war or, better said, its aftermath was the infamous Tuoi Sieng Prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  During the reign of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1980, this converted urban high school was used as an interrogation center for high-level “bourgeois” opponents of the regime.  The walls are plastered with pictures of the victims, who were tortured for information on family members and associates and then trucked to the “killing fields” where they were executed, often by clubbing.

Tuoi Sieng Prison

Politics

The politics of the three Indochina countries present interesting contrasts.  Vietnam and Laos are still avowedly communist, but Uncle Ho (as Ho Chi Minh is affectionately remembered) would not recognize the movement’s transmogrified form.  Yes, the national flag is still paired with the hammer-and-sickle on lamp posts in both countries, and Vietnam was festooned with additional proletarian symbolism in preparation for the Twelfth Congress of the Communist Party.   However, these brave displays were overshadowed by the advertisements of international capitalism, and the more chic sections of the major cities were replete with Chanel, Cartier, and Prada shops.  Vietnam seems only a few years behind China economically, and its ruling party is experiencing similar problems in riding the economic tiger.  Laos, a poorer country, is playing catch-up, and its Chinese neighbors are helping with the construction of a railroad from Kunming through Luang Prabang to Vientiane.

The ostensible outlier is Cambodia, where a supposedly non-communist government was installed after the Vietnamese drove out the Khmer Rouge in 1980.  There is even a political opposition with seats in parliament, but the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has managed to win election after election, reportedly by fraudulent means.  Cambodia comes complete with a king, whose royal complex we visited, but he does not wield the power once exercised by the late Prince/King Sihanouk.  In short, the differences between Cambodia and its two neighbors seem more apparent than real.

Floral traffic circle in Hanoi celebrating 12th Congress of Vietnamese Communist Party

Laotian and Communist flags in Vientiane

Not as flashy as Communist placards but ubiquitous in the villages we visited, these gentlemen are  leaders of the Cambodian People's Party

Mekong River

Called “the mother of rivers” in Lao and Thai, the Mekong plays a major role in the economies of Indochina and Thailand.  The river’s navigability is limited, but its migratory fish are an important source of food throughout the region.  Silt from the river makes the Mekong Delta extraordinarily fertile.   However, ecologists warn that a number of dam projects, mainly in China, may undercut these benefits.

We motored up the Mekong from Luang Prabang to visit a small village that recently received electrification and now enjoys the delights of television.  The population there relies on the river for transportation to the city as do many other villagers on the river.  En route we spotted two boys with an elephant on the opposite bank.

Young salespersons at Mekong village

Bamboo huts and satellite dish in a newly electrified village

An interesting and important feature of the Mekong region is Tonle Sap, a Cambodian lake that fills from the Mekong during the monsoon season and then releases the water back into the river during the dry months, thereby keeping a relatively constant flow to the delta.  We visited an arm of the lake to see one of the floating villages of fishermen, whose homes, some with vegetable gardens, move from place to place as the lake grows and ebbs.

Floating village with mangroves beyond

Making delivery to floating home

City Life

“Bustling” is too mild an adjective to describe Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and Hanoi.  In the former, squadrons of small motorcycles (Honda 50’s and larger) swarm through the streets—and sometimes the sidewalks.  Most are designed for two passengers, but we saw families of four on some machines and merchants carry extraordinary quantities of goods.  When the Vietnamese economy permits these motorcyclists to buy cars, the streets of HCMC will be impassable.

HCMC skyline from Saigon River


People's Committee Building in HCMC with statue of Uncle Ho

Waiting for the light

At risk pedestrian

The traffic in Hanoi is less raucous but nonetheless vibrant. Our entire group was treated to an hour-long pedicab tour of the town’s historic heart, largely untouched by the war—a real E Ticket ride, where only our driver’s skill avoided serious accidents since other vehicles came at us from all directions. As the capital of a communist country, Hanoi has features reminiscent of Moscow’s Red Square, but as in HCMC, a number of old colonial buildings have been preserved.

Photographed from our pedicab

In front of Uncle Ho's tomb and parade ground

Vietnamese guards at HCM Tomb--far more friendly than their Soviet counterparts in the 1970's

Presidential Palace, former residence of French Governor-General of Indochina

Not surprisingly, the cities of Laos and Cambodia were less busy than Vietnam’s, but even there we found surprises.   In Phnom Penh, for example, we spotted an extraordinary number of Lexus automobiles—Sun Valley on the Mekong.   And Siem Reap, a city with only 20,000 inhabitants after the depredations of the Khmer Rouge, has grown to 250,000 and attracts some four million tourists a year, three-quarters from Asia, to see the surrounding temples.

Hotels and Meals

Everywhere we went the lodgings were superb.  In HCMC we stayed in the Caravelle, frequented by American journalists during the war, but recently updated to five-star standards.  Our Hanoi hotel was the Metropole, founded in colonial times, where the staff wishes the guests “Bonjour” before switching to English.  We enjoyed outstanding hotels from the Raffles chain in Laos and Cambodia, and our final hostelry was Bangkok’s Mandarin Oriental, whose earlier guests included Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham.   However, our overall favorite was the Fusion Maia, an over-the-top spa hotel on Da Nang’s beach, which offered extraordinary food, suites with private plunges, and three spa treatments during our two-night stay.

Our suite at the Fusion Maia

Pool and beach at the Fusion Maia

Pool at Santi Resort, Luang Prabang

100 years of French colonialism left a strong Gallic imprint on Indochinese food.  In the cities of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia such French staples as coffee, baguettes, paté, and pastries are ubiquitous.   Yet, the native cuisines have survived and prospered, sometimes in competition with French dishes and sometimes in combination with them.  Vietnamese food is widely recognized as one of the world’s great cuisines, emphasizing fresh ingredients, especially herbs and vegetables, with minimal use of dairy and oils.  In Vietnam we encountered fruits new to us (e.g., jackfruit and dragonfruit).  Vietnamese pho, a noodle soup with vegetables and meat is usually available at every meal including breakfast, and Laos has a similar delicious dish.  Excellent beers are brewed throughout the region.

Jackfruit, papaya, and dragonfruit for breakfast

Lunch al fresco at Fusion Maia

Wealth of foods on sale at Siem Reap market

Buddhism

We had learned a bit about Buddhism before our departure, but we were fortunate to have Carl Bielefeldt, Professor of Buddhist Studies at Stanford, as our faculty lecturer on the trip.  As Carl explained, Buddhism in Indochina is divided between two major schools--Mahayana, the dominant form of Buddhism, which was imported from China, in Vietnam; and Theravada, which originated as a reform movement in Sri Lanka, in Laos and Cambodia, as well as Thailand and Myanmar.

Wat Xiengthong in Luang Prabang (roof ornaments are naga tails)

Buddhas in monastery with hands pointing downward praying for rain

Wat Pho complex in Bangkok

We will spare you a (probably inaccurate) disquisition on the theological differences between the two schools, but suffice it to say that Buddhism plays a larger role in Laos and Cambodia than in Vietnam.  It is normal, and even expected, in Theravada countries for boys and men to enter monasteries for long or short periods, shaving their heads, donning saffron robes, and submitting to the discipline of monastic superiors.  In turn society accords great respect to the monks as evidenced by the ritual of providing rice for their bowls when they leave the monastery each morning.   Having been supplied with quantities of “sticky rice” (the preferred offering), we participated in this ceremony one morning in Luang Prabang.

Georgia and friends in Luang Prabang

Selling birds that buyers can release in temples to earn merit

Spirit house, neither Buddhist nor Hindu, but ubiquitous on our travels; here household or community deities are worshipped and/or placated with offerings of food and (sometimes alcoholic) drink

Angkor Wat was clearly going to be a highlight of the trip, and it did not disappoint.  We learned that the enormous temple, supposedly the largest religious edifice in the world, was constructed in the twelfth century to honor Vishnu, the Hindu god, but subsequent Khmer monarchs changed its focus to Buddhism.  We found, therefore, that there were a number of Buddhist shrines among the Hindu art in the complex.  The same was true for other temples we visited in the Siem Reap region, where Buddhist figures were sometimes interspersed with the Hindu carvings, some of which were more beautiful than those of Angkor Wat itself.

Angkor Wat from the causeway over the moat surrounding the temple; the three towers are so famous they appear on the Cambodian flag

Truncated tower of Angkor Wat

Apsaras (heavenly maidens) in Angkor Wat

Buddhist shrine in Angkor Wat

Faces of asuras (demons) at Angkor Thom

Battle scene at Angkor Thom

Carving at Banteay Srei

Tourist elephant rides outside Siem Reap

Next Time?

Stanford’s well-structured program allowed us to experience a great deal in 23 days, but we came away knowing there was much more to see.  We did not visit the Mekong Delta or the mountains that divide most of Vietnam from its neighbors.  Cambodia reportedly has beautiful beaches that were not on our itinerary, and in Thailand we saw only a few attractions of greater Bangkok.   Another visit could cover these missing parts of Indochina and the rest of Thailand, but it would definitely have to include a return engagement with the sybaritic charms of Da Nang’s Fusion Maia!

With Tony and Judy Lane, our good friends and frequent traveling companions, at Ayutthaya outside Bangkok