Transcription

• Speaker #0

  I just hopped onto the back of my guide, Max Motobike. We're speeding towards the Coochie Tunnels, a place filled with emotion. Enjoy the episode. Keep your wings Le Podcast. Chapter 3. Buried Memories. We had already been riding for a good half hour, when Max suggested we stop for a coffee. Translation, he wanted me to buy him one. We pulled over at a makeshift roadside shack, poorly laid out and noisy as hell. A thick cloud of dust danced in the air, accompanied by a never-ending symphony of honking from all directions. A lovely place to start a real conversation, right? How long have you lived in Ho Chi Minh City?

• Speaker #1

  I've always lived inside home.

• Speaker #0

  He replied, without hesitation.

• Speaker #1

  And I wouldn't leave this place for anything in the world.

• Speaker #0

  That's when I realized Max wasn't the only one who still referred to the city as Saigon. In fact, most locals seemed quite attached to its former name. During the Vietnam War, the country wasn't just split between the Americans and the Vietnamese, but also between North and South Vietnam. When the North finally won in 975, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, in honor of the then Prime Minister. Of course, that decision came from the North, not the South. It was their symbolic way of celebrating victory over their southern enemies. No wonder so many people still called it Saigon. I asked Max to tell me a bit more about the Coochie Tunnels and their historical significance. After all, he was supposed to be guiding me through it, and so far, he hadn't said much. Except, of course, when he couldn't shut up about all the places you find prostitutes. Those recommendations just never fucking stop. After another hour on the road, we finally arrive at the Coochie Tunnels. Despite my taciturn guide, The trip gave me a chance to observe a slice of Vietnam, a chaotic environment where thousands of people swarm every street corner, people yelling, laughing loudly, smoking in every direction, and drinking quite a bit too. Ho Chi Minh City is relatively modern with high-rises and office buildings, but to me, it felt completely soulless. The city center is a magnet for tourist scams, overpriced and bland food, especially when compared to the rest of the country and closed off unwelcoming faces.

• Speaker #1

  Here's your ticket.

• Speaker #0

  Max said, handing me a crumpled piece of paper. You're not coming in?

• Speaker #1

  Nah, I'll be waiting at the restaurant over there.

• Speaker #0

  You're not guiding me?

• Speaker #1

  There are plenty of guides inside. Just tag along with the group. They're paid to do it anyway.

• Speaker #0

  I don't remember exactly what expression twisted across my face, but it was probably a mix of what the fuck and you bastard. Once again, I had to admit, with deep disappointment, that I had basically paid 2 million dong for a chauffeur. I felt like the sucker of the century as I handed my over pre-war looking ticket to the gate agent. Without a guide, and completely lost, I was passed from group to group, until someone finally let me join in. I found myself surrounded by a group of 10 Malaysian women. They giggled loudly and wore overpowering flower perfume. They were curious to bombarding me with questions.

• Speaker #2

  And where do you come from?

• Speaker #0

  Thankfully, our guide, a deadpan Vietnamese man, had no problem interrupting them when he felt they weren't paying attention. He was actually hilarious. As he led us to the legendary tunnels used by the Vietnamese during the war, a network designed to avoid detection, sneak up on the enemy, and strike, he would ask volunteers to enter a narrow shaft, then close the trapdoor behind them and walk off muttering.

• Speaker #2

  One less tango.

• Speaker #0

  That's when I truly noticed the difference with Taiwanese people. The Vietnamese get sarcasm. It's not that the Taiwanese aren't funny, but irony and dry humor aren't really part of their cultural toolkit. It's often lost in translation. During the tour, we explore the tunnels and learn more about the Vietnam War. The conflict started after the first Indochina war, France vs Vietnam, which lasted 8 years, ending with the Geneva Accords on July 20, 954. But the treaty was never ratified by the US or by Vietnam itself, leading to a deep divide between the communist north led by Ho Chi Minh and backed by the USSR and China, and the South, under Diem, with US support. It didn't take long before the North decided it was time to unify the country. Ho Chi Minh aligned himself with the Viet Cong, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. Diem wasn't exactly beloved in the South. He was contested and some were already plotting his assassination. In 1964, the US claimed a North Vietnamese attack as a pretext to escalate military involvement. launching a massive bombing campaign and sending group troops to protect the South. Afraid of a communist domino effect, the Americans plunged into what they frame as a noble war of attrition. But the Vietcong just kept coming and coming. That's when they developed this ingenious system of underground tunnels through the jungle. Though outnumbered, the Vietcong used psychological warfare to demoralize their opponents. They built deadly traps, swinging panels that collapsed under the clumsy boots of American soldiers.

• Speaker #2

  These poor guys ended up impaled on spikes made from their own weapons, stolen by the Japanese.

• Speaker #0

  Explain our guy during the tour.

• Speaker #2

  It crushed US morale.

• Speaker #0

  It wasn't until January 31, 1968, Lunar New Year. that the American public finally erupted in outrage, demanding an end to the war. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army launched surprise offensive across more than 100 cities in South Vietnam, a psychological and media victory, if not a military one. But it would take another five years until the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 for the US to begin withdrawing under President Nixon. Everyone remembers that haunting photo of King Phuc, the young girl burned by napalm, suffering moving million. Two years later, the South fell to the Communists. The war had taken nearly 3 million lives, 2 million of them civilians. A dark chapter that still echoes through Vietnam today, especially when walking through those tunnels. Leaving that place, I felt deeply shaken, despite the handful of tourists still snapping selfies, laughing as if nothing had happened. After the visit, I rejoined my hurtedly useless guide and headed to the local restaurant he had mentioned. He seemed to know the owner. The food was bland. and tasteless and I forced it down without appetite. We hit the road again. I paid for yet another coffee halfway back. When we finally returned to watch him in, I got off his bike. He still had the nerve to offer me drugs or take me to see prostitute. I wasn't remotely interested. I gave him a fake smile and silently hoped I would never see him again.