An Binh on Life My world, minimalising …

Friday, July 22, 2005 – Vietnam War remnant Museum

See how lame I was
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I went to the War Remnants Museum last Sunday. My auntie was very happy that I took her 13 year-old son along. She had her reason to be happy. In this rowdy, busy city, kids don't have much time to enrich their spirit life. Normally, their time budget is greedily consumed by school work and extra study time after hour. All efforts are paid just to get into the seem-to-be-the-only-gate-to-life: university. And even when kids are doing so well with school that they have some free time, there's a great chance that their parents are work overloaded . So no chance, kido! Keep study until dead!
I was quite surprised that my cousin was eager to go with me. I think the urge to explore, to learn things we don't know are what separates us from monkeys :">. For me, so tired being stuck in a whirl of work, relationships, I just wanna get away for a while (men go to their cave when they have issue, remember). And I wanna enrich my spirit life too. After all these year enjoying each and every sweet and bitter moments of love, I found my self to be a boring, passive, moody man endlessly running after only one purpose: not to make my gf get bored. The spirit life which used to be so rich and got ppl interested is now soooo poor and low that somehow I get scared thinking: so this is it? Who I'm gonna be in the next 5,10 or 20 years? Guess it's time to "spice up mylife" a little bit!

We got to the museum around 3pm. It was a perfect day to go out with the gentle breeze fondled our hair and clothes. The sky was cloudless, yet, it wasn't hot at all. There were many foreign tourists visiting the museum at that time. Without going to say, this is the most popular Vietnamese museum among Western tourists. After all, what else do they know about Vietnam if it's not about a country in which wars again imperious giant countries have become normal?

My first surprise when I first walked in the museum was the friendliness of the guards. Being friendly with guests is not a common gesture of government owned office's employees. The idea of: "You come to me, so you need me" were carved in their mind from the 80s when private properties are prohibited and everything is shared "equally". Interestingly, government officers were the ones to decide how "equally" is fair.

My second surprise came when I found out that it's really cheap to buy an entry ticket. It's only 2000 VND per adult, and it's free for kids whose height under 1m2. 2000VND is about only 15 cents, and it's equal the price of a bike keeping ticket. I guess, the government is trying to encourage ppl to visit the museum either to remind them how horrible the war was or to let ppl know that the war was really behind.

It's interesting to know that the museum was housed in the former U.S. Information Service building and it didn't changed much. It's even more interesting to know that the museum was once named: Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes. Vietnam was under Chinese colonisation for more than 1000 years, was occupied by the French for more than 100 years and was suffered during a 3-decade civil war with the involvement of Japanese and American. So I guess the old name was selected to point out by whom, Vietnamese ppl suffered the most. Fortunately, the name was changed into War Remnant Museum, it not only avoids offending Chinese and American tourists but also somehow reflects the change in the way Vietnamese ppl perceive about the War. Not every Chinese or American supported the war, only their government did. So it's no longer appropriate to hate even when the wounds are still there every where in the country and they're all felt like new. Still, it's funny that the pamphlets passed out at the entrance pull no punches, warning stoically, "Some pictures of U.S. imperialists' aggressive war crimes in Vietnam." Hmm, where is the opinion box?

The museum kicks off in the courtyard with planes, tanks, bombs and helicopters being on display. While lying quietly and being exposed to the sun, the rain and the severe weather conditions, they still looked liked they were just from yesterday, that they're ready to fire and bomb again. All of them are US-army owned and left behind after the war. Many of them were the most modern technology of that time.

"The exhibits at the side of the building, albeit without description cards, speak for themselves. There are life-size models of the tiger cages used by the South Vietnamese to house Viet Cong prisoners on Con Dao Island and pictures of genetically deformed babies, victims of Agent Orange."[One review on the internet] Having heard and read a lot about this real hell on Earth, I still felt a little bit shocked to find out how harshly prisoners were tortured back then.

The main building "consists largely of photographs, history cards, war artifacts (old bullets, shrapnel, uniforms, etc.) arranged in a chronological time-line to represent the development, progress and conclusion of the Vietnam War. It's not a pretty story, not especially with the unnecessarily crude comments under the photo displays (the photos themselves are quite lurid) -- there is one of a U.S. soldier picking up a horribly mangled boy and the following description says, "This soldiers seems satisfied." " [Another review on the internet]. The interesting fact about all these photographs and comments is that they're all taken by Western War Reporter - no sugar-coating by American propaganda.

Few other museums represent war in such a stark and telling manner, mainly due to their political correctness. Yet, even few other museums have a small "green" area, where drawings of children about the war is displayed. Seeing these drawings raises the hope in me about a new generation with "Say-no-to-war" built-in in their heart.

Overall, I was quite disappointed about the significance of the museum. I had the feeling that the museum was not capable to reflect how horrible the war was, I know there're much more dark spot behind waiting to be revealed. Still, to be fair, the museum is a must-visit place for you and me. if you want to experience the true horror of war without actually going to war this is the place to come.I myself have learned the right lesson as I walked away with the feeling that there is nothing positive about war. I felt like I was blessed that I wasn't borned during that period, that I can breath the freedo
m air righ
t now, that I can sleep well at nite without worrying if I'll be able to wake up tomorrow, that I was lucky to be borned healthy without any effect of Agent Orange. I took a deep breath and took my cousin home. There are still so many things beyound that I must conquer after knowing how lucky I am. My cousin seemed to be quiet after the visit. Maybe, … it's time for him to start thinking outside his peaceful box. It's time for me too… Don't you think?