Mark Meek's Ideas: Vietnam

In geographic terms, Vietnam is an extremely elongated country along the coast of the South China Sea. The distance between it's two largest cities, Ho Chi Minh City in the south and Hanoi in the north, is over 1,100 km, or over 700 miles. But it is only about 40 km, or 25 miles, wide at it's narrowest point. It's geography is somewhat reminiscent of Chile, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

The largest city of Vietnam is in the south of the country. It used to be called Saigon but was renamed Ho Chi Minh City upon the 1975 Communist victory in the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh, who died in 1969, had been the leader of the Communist North Vietnam.

The following scenes begin in front of Ben Thanh Market in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City. The ornate building with the orange roof and the statue of Ho Chi Minh in front is the city hall. The Vietnamese language uses the Latin alphabet. The first two images are from Google Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@10.7720142,106.6984227,3a,75y,289.5h,95.85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sn7G5FHdCrUFJQC9dRP6xug!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3Dn7G5FHdCrUFJQC9dRP6xug%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D81.73517%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is Reunification Palace. It was built on the site of a former palace that was destroyed in a coup attempt against the president of what was then the state of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, in 1962. The first two images of the palace are from Google Street View.

In my early teens, I remember watching the final end of the Vietnam War live on the news. This palace was the residence of the president of South Vietnam. The war effectively ended when a North Vietnamese tank smashed through the front gate of the palace. The president of South Vietnam emerged and offered his country's surrender. The tank commander gave a reply that meant something like " It doesn't look like you have much left to surrender".

https://www.google.com/maps/@10.7762772,106.6947819,3a,75y,288.8h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOeLwg1X5yR9B3lgYs1c_9NbACs233PAAkE0Xmj!2e10!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.ggpht.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOeLwg1X5yR9B3lgYs1c_9NbACs233PAAkE0Xmj%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi0-ya138.79604946306182-ro0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120?coh=205410&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Here is a look at the central part of Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon. The first seven images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@10.7763576,106.7014298,3a,75y,348.33h,106.43t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPYeaNW3633CYwMrkUZVzFpPDP924X5wlaKM2TD!2e10!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.ggpht.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPYeaNW3633CYwMrkUZVzFpPDP924X5wlaKM2TD%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi-16.4328-ya31.834843847656202-ro0-fo100!7i5376!8i2688?coh=205410&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

This is an everyday neighborhood of Ho Chi Minh City. One question immediately arises. What ever happened to Communism? Wasn't Vietnam supposed to be a Communist country? Yet there are small businesses, private markets, business advertisements and that bustling entrepreneurial atmosphere to be seen everywhere. Most people do not consider Vietnam to be a democracy, in terms of politics, but as far as economics goes, Marx or Lenin might have a heart attack if they saw Vietnam today.

https://www.google.com/maps/@10.7826425,106.6725368,3a,75y,160h,110t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO5vQfq8ehMg07HAIjWRMKSZy6h_nPb_2UbDJj1!2e10!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh5.ggpht.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO5vQfq8ehMg07HAIjWRMKSZy6h_nPb_2UbDJj1%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi-20-ya105.9417953491211-ro0-fo100!7i5760!8i2880?coh=205410&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The vast U.S. military base that was at Da Nang during the Vietnam War is now that city's airport. A truce was reached early in 1973, and the U.S. withdrew it's forces from Vietnam. The Communists in the north waited a couple of years, saw America distracted by Watergate and, gambling that it wouldn't get re-involved, renewed their offensive and soon won the war. The Communists won, but yet the former base at Da Nang looks today like a haven of free enterprise. It even has a Burger King.

https://www.google.com/maps/@16.0534875,108.2024846,3a,75y,172h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMZ1gpdDp9eWOVVxu5PKWUoHrzQdlC0_CeTXf52!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMZ1gpdDp9eWOVVxu5PKWUoHrzQdlC0_CeTXf52%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya8.404671-ro-0-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

Here is the former imperial capital of Vietnam at Hue. The country has been ruled from Hanoi for most of the more than thousand years since it was founded. But the Nguyen Dynasty, the last royal imperial house to rule the country, ruled from Hue which is close to being in the very middle of the country. Bao Dai, the last Vietnamese emperor and Ngo Dinh Diem, who deposed and succeeded him as president of South Vietnam, were both of the Nguyen Dynasty. The first four images of the Imperial City are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@16.4692193,107.5780506,3a,75y,79.35h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMLuF2ofjHPlWRxd3GhlaMUkkuIPWWSHAD-y5JM!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMLuF2ofjHPlWRxd3GhlaMUkkuIPWWSHAD-y5JM%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya24.910538-ro-0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120

Vietnam is, of course, a very ancient land. The Hindu religion was practiced here far in the past. The famous Angkor Wat, in neighboring Cambodia, was a Hindu temple. The one major bastion of Hinduism remaining in southeast Asia is the island of Bali in Indonesia. The region in which Vietnam is located is called Indochina because it has been historically influenced by both India and China. We can see that the layout of the Imperial City at Hue is similar to the Forbidden City.

The Vietnamese people originated in what is now the northern part of the country and far southern China, southern Vietnam was Khmer territory and was conquered later. Two Communist governments, in neighboring Vietnam and Cambodia, came to power in 1975 at just about exactly the same time. The two victorious new governments made a great show of alliance and solidarity.

But history runs deep, much deeper than Communism. The Khmer Rouge was about fulfilling Khmer ( Cambodian ) history and they knew that the southern part of Vietnam used to belong to them. It wasn't long before they launched attacks into Vietnam and it was a Vietnamese retaliation that drove them from power.

This is My Son, a former Hindu religious center which is over a thousand years old. The Indonesian island of Bali is still mostly Hindu today because southeast Asia was Hindu. The first three images of the ruins of the Hindu temple are from Google Street View.

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In the west, we tend to think of Vietnam as a land associated with warfare. But aside from the move from the north into Khmer territory in the south, and the self-defense invasion of Cambodia ( then Kampuchea ) in late 1978, Vietnam has never sent it's forces into another country. Vietnam is strategically located and it is always other countries invading it. But the Vietnamese always prove to be a tough and resourceful people who, sooner or later, will regain their freedom.

Here is Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. The structure with the columns is the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh. The original Imperial Citadel of Hanoi is close by. Hanoi was founded just over a thousand years ago. This area of the city is also the center of Vietnam's government. The modern building on the opposite side of the square from the mausoleum is the National Assembly. The first four images of Ba Dinh Square are from Google Street View.