By Kaeli Van Cott
STAFF WRITER
Regrettably, all I really knew about Vietnam before I went there was from learning about the Vietnam War. I barely knew anything about the culture, structure of the country or even the transportation. I did some research during the travel time that I had between China and Vietnam, but I didn’t get a real feel for the country until I got there and was able to spend a day there by myself.
In Vietnam, unlike the United States, there are few or no cars on the roads. Instead, scooters are everywhere and used by everyone, whether it was one person or a whole family. At one point, I saw an entire family of five sitting together on one scooter. To me, it seemed deeply unsafe and scary, but it was so normalized and ingrained into everyday life there. Traffic also proved to be frightening, because most of the time there were no organized crosswalks, meaning any pedestrian had to walk into a crowd of fast-moving scooters to get across the street. Thankfully, it was manageable as long as you picked a path to walk on and just walked calmly across the street.
As far as traffic and the hectic nature of markets, it seems that Vietnam functioned as a place of organized chaos. To an outsider, it might seem like absolute mayhem and danger, but it really wasn’t. The Vietnamese people all understood the crazy traffic and knew the right way to bargain and how to get a customer because it was natural to them. The sooner an outsider goes with the flow, the easier it is to get around in Vietnam and learn to love it.
On my day of solo travel, I decided to stop by the War Remnants Museum in Vietnam, which exposed the Vietnam War through graphic photographs and detailed accounts. It was unlike any museum I’ve seen because it showed explicit evidence of mass destruction and genocide. There was an entire section of the museum dedicated to the effects of Agent Orange, a chemical used by the U.S. in the war on the Vietnamese people even decades after the war. Underneath a table, the museum displayed a preserved fetus with severe birth defects. To me, it served as a jarring yet important reminder that the most devastating parts of Agent Orange are more than just the environmental damage, but also those whose bodies were damaged and affected because of the toxic chemicals.
Despite how heartbreaking and traumatizing the Vietnam War was for the Vietnamese, they expressed forgiveness and compassion for Americans. When speaking to a tour guide, she told me, “Most Vietnamese people are forgiving of Americans, because they didn’t want to be a part of the war either. If anything, Vietnam isn’t fond of the American government.” It amazed me to see a healed nation that was willing to embrace those that hurt them in the first place, and showed me that the Vietnamese people are uniquely resilient. Vietnam, despite how it might outwardly appear, is held together by its loving people.