HCMC, Vietnam D102: War Museum & Puppet Show

"America to date has learnt nothing!"

War! What is it good for? 

Everyone recommends going to the War Remnants Museum as part of your stay in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). As with any war museum, you should go braced for the worst. As an American visiting the "American War" Museum, you might want to manage your expectations.

Pro: Costs about 75 cents per ticket. 

Con: You'll end up hating America(ns). 

Don't get me wrong-- there are a lot of interesting pictures and memorabilia to see. And yes, America messed up bigtime... there's no denying that. However, there is an overwhelming amount of bias present in every aspect of the museum. The rhetoric used to caption every picture includes connotative language to highlight America's monstrosities; phrases like "Kennedy and his henchman..." and "America used them as their puppets..." etc.

The museum was very busy bustling with tourists from all over the world. There were also students taking guided tours. I wanted to tell the students this is one-sided, not all Americans are bad... !

On display are pro-North Vietnam propaganda posters, international news clippings condemning America's actions, and photojournalist's pictures describing American atrocities (though some captions were of questionable validity, like a picture of a civilian with the caption "Right after this picture was taken, this person was shot for no reason"). The statistics show how many people the US killed and how many bombs they dropped, etc. There is never a mention of North Vietnamese brutality, their weapons used, etc. (Not until later in the evening, at a street shop outside of the museum, do we see "We shot down 4,000 US planes!" posters.)

The hardest exhibition for me to see was the section dedicated to Agent Orange. I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't heard about Agent Orange before now. The upshot is we used biotoxin to poison land in Vietnam, and that poison severely messed people up-- we're talking major deformities that not only effected those in immediate contact with the poison, but second and third generations (and possible fourth, time will tell). When we see someone in the city with a shriveled arm or an uneven leg, it's VERY likely they have a physical handicap because we sprayed their land with poison. It feels awful to know this. 

 

In a few corners of the museum, you're encouraged to leave comments in visitor comment books. I expected to see a lot of "peace not war" comments, but for every vote of hope in humanity there was an anti-American comment. People from all over the world chimed in to say how much they hate Americans. I was angered and numb. I wanted to rip up the books. I think that the museum, though hosting an important variety of war memorabilia, is sending the wrong message. Its bias breeds anti-American sentiment rather than teaches anti-war ideals. As an Indonesian gangster said in The Act of Killing, "war crimes are defined by the winners."

"Every day I have to wonder how just one nation thinks it has the right to do such immense crime... again and again and again..."

I found this worth noting: there were a few museum-goers who insensitively posed to take pictures with war memorabilia, acting like they could fit in the torture cages or flashing peace signs by artillery. Always be a diligent patron.

We left feeling like total scumbags. I am sad that this city has such a biased account of the war. I'm also sick knowing that my country participated in such heinous acts that are still affecting a huge population.

Damn.

To cheer ourselves up we decided to see the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Show, ranked #4 of things to do on Trip Advisor. They have two shows nightly, and one was already  sold out! The scarcity of tickets mad me assume this is the show to see. Tickets = $9 each.
 
We're ushered into a little theater with a pond for a stage. On either side of the pond, there are four musicians who each have an instrument and a microphone. They are the voices to the characters and the soundtrack to the show.

The show has 17 songs. Each song is a silly and entertaining story, though hard to follow as it's all in Vietnamese. The puppets come from underwater or behind rubbery flaps.  They chased each other, attached to and detached from each other, and had some perfectly choreographed dances. Some of it is comedy, some of it is confusing. The slapstick nature of the puppets got a few laughs. The show is clearly for children.

My favorite act was "Rearing ducks and catching foxes."

At the end of the 45-minute performance, eight puppeteers emerge from the water. I have no idea how they were controlling the puppets. I'm literally stumped.

We walk towards our hotel and hear an outdoor concert going on. We walk to the gate and see that it's free to enter. We sit in the bleachers. We're the only white people in attendance. A moment later, we realize why we're getting stares.

In a weird twist of the day's events, we watch a concert in celebration of the end of the "American War." Here, we see the "We kicked America's Butt!" sentiment that was omitted from the museum. Men dressed as soldiers sing with images of pro-North Vietnamese offenses in the background. There are pictures of North Vietnamese troops killing Americans. It was an amazing juxtaposition to our day at the museum. 

 

Weird first day in Saigon. I'm confused. What do the Vietnamese think of us? Do they hate us for the war? Do they feel superior for winning the war? Were the puppeteers UNDERWATER the WHOLE 45 minutes?