They thought they could send in the marines and take over Vietnam. As we all know, they were all to wrong in their assesment, with Nixon eventually pulling American troops from South Vietnam after a failed attempt to escalate the war my expanding the war to Cambodia, amongst other places.
While trekking through Sapa in Northwest Vietnam (near the Chinese border) I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if instead of sending in the marines, the Americans sent in Tourists flush with cash (leaving aside whether or not North Vietnam would have let them in and all the other realities that probably make this point moot).
Yesterday morning I was the first in my group to wake. I decided to take my camera and walk around the village. I wanted to get more photos of the countryside, in addition to some pictures of the local villagers.
While walking along the road I noticed a young child doing these impressive cartwheels (possibly with no hands) high up in the rice paddies. I climbed up the hillside/rice paddies about 30 or 40 feet to where he and his friend were working the ground. I motioned a cartwheel with my hands, asking him if he would do one. His response was to put out his hand and say "Money!" (possibly the only english he knows). I gestured to show I had no money on me (which was true), and he decided that he didn't feel like doing any.
Thirty or 40 years ago I imagine he would have done it just for the joy of doing it, and to show off to the foreigner. In any event, I took a video of him and his friend standing in front of me, and their faces lit up when I showed it to them.
This little story is just one example of several that I have from my short time in North Vietnam, and it goes to show how commerce is almost always more effective than war when it comes to achieving geopolitical goals.
On the one hand it felt good that many of the houses in the village had running water (i.e. toilets that flush), and some even had satelitte TV (such as the one I stayed in). Really, I can't blame them for wanting modern amenities like TV, and I can't blame that child for demanding money from me to perform his acrobatic feats. If I were in his situation, I probably would have done the same.
Despite this, I left wondering what Sapa and the surrounding area would have been like 20 or 30 years ago before tourism came to dominate the area.
You're quite right. It was a useless and stupid war and tourism is probably now one of the larger and more lucrative industries.
ReplyDeleteNice story.