Stifled life
On the border between the north and the south of Vietnam, we discover a difficult life for its inhabitants. And extraordinary resilience.
The most beautiful encounters are often the unforeseen ones. And as the majority of my stops on the road are unforeseen ... well I often have beautiful encounters.
On our way to Dong hoi, in central Vietnam, Pops and I talk at length with Yen, a young hotel employee. While telling us about her dreams and her university studies in tourism, she gives us a shocking sentence for a communist country.
I want to make enough money not to be poor, but I don't want to get rich. In Vietnam, the rich are losing their humanity.
She had already told me the day before that she did not like the Communist regime, and in particular the local committees which believe they are allowed anything. It saddens me that life seems so difficult under this restrictive diet, and especially for women.
The caves of Phong Nha
It is Yen who asks me if I will visit the caves.
- What caves?
- What caves ?! Just the biggest in the world!
I am quickly convinced.
Discovered by chance for the first time in 2005, my favorite is that of Thien Duong, nicknamed from Paradise. 31 km long, it has only been accessible to the public since 2010.
Once you have passed the small opening to the outside, you have the impression of being in Lord of the Rings. The artificial white lighting shows us a gallery 150 m high and we can venture through footbridges up to a kilometer into the bowels of the earth. On all sides, stalactites and stalagmites show their amazing colors and strange shapes.
The entrance to the Paradise Cave of Phong Nha.
A destination certainly to add to your list if you are passing through central Vietnam.
The incredible view inside the huge Paradise Cave.
Let's talk about communism
Pops rolling in central Vietnam.
By chance encounters, I also meet Sandy. Which is not her Vietnamese name but rather the one she chose for her studies abroad.
Because Sandy had chosen to leave his native Hanoi to study materials engineering in Singapore, until completing a post doc in France. Now back in Vietnam, she now teaches technology at the University of Hanoi, and does research on materials used in solar panels.
How much do you think a researcher of this caliber is paid in communist soil?
I earn the equivalent of $ 180 per month. I live with my parents because I cannot afford to pay rent on my own. I have a doctorate in engineering, and even the garbage collectors make more money here than I do.
She tells me that a little sad, but not angry. After all, it was she who decided to come back to the country. Partly forced by the difficulty of immigrating elsewhere to find "a real job", and partly at the insistence of her parents.
Sandy is in her thirties. And she is not married, which is seen as abnormal in Vietnam, long studies or not.
- Are your parents pressuring you to get married?
- Everyday.
Vinh Moc
Le 17th parallel north is known in Vietnam as the dividing line between the north and the south of the country during the war. Strangely, this war we know as Vietnam War is called here American war ... Not off the plate when you consider that it was the United States that invaded the country.
On this line in the center of the country are the Vinh Moc tunnels. During the war, the United States forced the inhabitants of this strategic coastal village to leave the area, in particular to prevent them from supplying the northern army. Having nowhere to go, the villagers dug galleries going up to 30 meters underground, with mini alcoves serving as bedrooms, a public toilet, an infirmary and a few water and air wells.
From 1966 to 1972, up to 600 people lived there simultaneously in secret in the face of Americans. For each meal prepared, the inhabitants had to make sure that the smoke cleared so that it came out of the ground incognito. And for fear of being seen, almost everything had to be done underground, including giving birth. It is said that 17 children were born in these conditions, in recesses of these narrow passages varying between 1,5 to 1,9 m high ...
Inside the Vinh Moc tunnel, where even I have to lean.
Pops and I join a Polish group for the tour. And considering my propensity to lose guided tours quickly, what had to happen happened.
I start taking pictures and the group gets lost in the darkness of the rock, 20 meters below the surface. My father realizes this and cries out for me to find his trail, but the noise is quickly absorbed in what appears a huge tomb.
Fortunately, I had thought of bringing my headlamp.
Realizing that I am alone, I run off to catch up with the group, but I must be on the wrong path. I quickly retrace my steps and take one or two others running through this labyrinth like a lost man. What am I.
I am faced with 5 or 6 path options and didn't notice which way we got.
I then become even more aware of the difficulty of having to live in hiding in this humid environment, without light, often in the mud, and for years ...
I managed to find another exit, in the middle of the wood, and to return to the starting point towards my worried father.
Yesterday like today
We try to imagine how difficult it is to live here with all these obstacles, yesterday and today.
Decidedly, the Vietnamese people have always known how to invent ways to continue to move forward as best as possible. This is how we get back on the road with even greater respect for our guests.
