Us = Cambodia, Them = Vietnam

It happened when I was out with a Khmer friend for dinner. We were sitting at a street corner discussing the election and my friend was talking about how the Vietnamese controlled the Cambodian government. She had heard that they controlled the Lao government too. As she talked more, I realised that for Cambodians, the Vietnamese were "the other" who were feared.

We form social bonds by creating common identities, and one of the most powerful can be the sense of nation. This identity allows us to claim things for ourselves that we had nothing to do with. For instance, when Mo Farah won the Olympics, I was delighted because "we" had won a gold medal. It even allows us to claim things for ourselves that happened before we were born. "We", being James Watt and every Scottish or possibly British person since, invented the steam engine. We even feel proud of ourselves for this. Well done us. 

The identity of the "we" can be strengthened by not just defining who the "us" are, but also by defining "them", or "the other". We even sometimes give "them" names. In Cambodia, they have given the Vietnamese the name Yuon. The Cambodian opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, has consistently decried the influence of the Yuon in Cambodia during his speeches, which appears to energise his supporters and the public.

Despite various conversations with friends and reading about politics here, I only recently grasped the depth of hate for the Vietnamese that exists within the Cambodian psyche. We were watching a film that included interviews with the late King Father Sihanouk. After Cambodian-Vietnamese forces defeated the Khmer Rouge in 1979, freeing him from their arrest in the process, he sided with the Khmer Rouge against them. He helped persuade countries that the Khmer Rouge should keep Cambodia's seat at the UN, rather than the seat be given to the Vietnamese installed government. For him, there was no other option but to side with the Khmer Rouge even if they had killed some of his children.

Vietnamese sign: "Determined to firmly safeguard national sovereignty"

This intrigued me and made me begin to understand more what people were thinking during the civil war of the1980s, and also now. But I was still not prepared for what the King Father said next. He said that he would rather have died as a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge than his country be saved by the Vietnamese. 

The man who became King, achieved independence for his country, ruled as Prime Minister, saw sons and daughters die, returned as King to a unify a destroyed country, said that he loved his country so much that he would rather that the Khmer Rouge continued its destruction of Cambodia, than Cambodia be saved by Vietnam.  I don't think there could be a clearer sense of "us" and "them" than this.

It is this division that is evident in today's politics and is galvanising opposition to the Prime Minister,  who first became Prime Minister during the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia in the 1980s. Cambodians cite history showing that Vietnam has previously tried to take over territory by movements of people first followed by formal occupation. Cambodians fear this now because of Vietnamese people in Cambodia whilst believing that the people of Vietnam today are closely linked to the people of Vietnam hundreds of years ago; just like I believe that I am linked to a guy who invented the steam engine in 1765.

Hoi An, Viet Nam: These girls sell little lanterns that float on the river.  Who can resist buying one? Depends on what you think about child labour I guess.

Feeding this fear is the real loss of some territory to Vietnam, for instance the island of Phu Quoc, and large Vietnamese companies controlling industries such as rubber and timber. Sam Rainsy has called for immigration controls of Vietnamese people despite only being two years away from Cambodia and Vietnam becoming part of an ASEAN community. This community, like the EU, seeks to forge a new common identity, a new "we". And in this "we", people will be free to live and work in any of the ASEAN countries they wish to.

The driving motive of European integration was (and still is for some) that nations will have more security because countries i.e. France and Germany, are less likely to go to war with each other. Nations are protected not by strengthening separate identities but by retaining them whilst promoting a second common "we" identity. Some would say that it's worked. Peace for Cambodia might come through this route rather than one emphasising difference.

Gordon

gooood morning Viet Naaaammmm

As it looks like the division of blog-writing labour has been split to Gordon commenting on the social and political aspects of our time here in Cambodia while I tell you about "stuff wot we've done", it would appear that it's my turn again. And this time it's our trip to Vietnam.

We went to visit Gordon's friend Annalise and her wife Nadine. Gordon used to work with Annalise in London and it was her decision, approximately three or so years ago, to volunteer that inspired Gordon to make the same decision. Many will now know the story that, until Gordon mentioned to me that he'd like to do something similar, he swears he had no idea that I had been saying (to anyone that asked. For years!) that about the only thing career wise that I was sure I wanted to do was volunteer with VSO.

My mum did VSO in the 70s in Papua New Guinea. While it wasn’t something she spoke about a lot, it definitely sparked something in me. Mostly itchy feet and a desire to see the world, but also wanting to not just travel, but to live and work somewhere and “make a difference”. So, after five years with Gordon seemingly having no clue about this (I still swear he must have known) I was very excited to meet Annalise to thank her in person for his inspiration!

We hopped on the bus in Phnom Penh at some early hour in the morning and, slightly surprisingly, actually departed almost on time. We were in our favourite seats on the coach, numbers 15 and 16, and looking forward to the six hour journey. And then the air con kicked in.

While I appreciate the cooling of the bus (we once had to do three hours on a bus here with broken air con. The driver sat with the door open as we sped our way down the road with me convinced something, or someone, was going to fall out at any point. It didn’t make a lot of difference and we arrived hot, sweaty and rather bedraggled anyway) this was chilling to the point of ridiculousness. After putting on another t-shirt, and then borrowing yet another of Gordon’s, and then wrapping my pashmina/scarf round my head to try and stop the freezing air blasting it, I finally made some feeble “I’m cold” gesture to our lovely conductor. He promptly swept the curtain from the window and tucked it up into the overhead compartment, effectively blocking the cold air from the ducts. Genius!

An added bonus to the journey that we weren’t aware of came just outside Phnom Penh when we stopped at the river. It took a few moments after getting off the bus to realise that we weren't standing on land, but had actually driven straight on to the ferry. It's a flat, drive on, drive off affair where there are no barriers to stop you falling off the front or the back. We did our best Kate and Leo impression and stood at the very front of the ferry as we made the short hop across, wind blowing in our hair.

our bus, on the boat

Fried crickets for sale on the boat. No, we didn't partake.

The ferry at the other side waiting to cross

We got off the bus and, rather miraculously, managed to find Annalise in a cafe without getting lost (our Cambodian mobiles didn't work in Vietnam).  A spot of lunch followed by a walk through Saigon, stopping to buy some impressive tarpaulin like ponchos when the rain started, and a short trip on the expat bus out to Annalise and Nadine's place was afternoon one.

Just like Cambodia - but with hats! And these hats were everywhere.

That night we went out for bia hoi. Translated as "fresh beer" it's brewed daily and is super cheap. At 10,000 dong a litre, and with 22,000 dong to the dollar, it was certainly not breaking the bank! We had a great time there as an old soldier came over and chatted to us and then tried to set up Annalise with his, rather embarrassed, son.

Next day we went on a tour of Saigon, wandering through the market, looking at the Reunification Palace before swinging by Notre Dame to the Post Office.

food stalls at Ben Thanh market

another stall

Coconut seller, with one of the great hats. Interesting fact, coconuts in Phnom Penh are sold from
wheelbarrow  type carts and are not cut into the same shape as they are in Saigon. Ladies carrying two
baskets like these in PP are usually selling noodle soup.

Reunification Palace

street scene

Notre Dame

Gordon, Annalise and the Post Office

personal grooming outside the Post Office

How much would you love to phone home in one of these? Inside the Post Office

Cannae beat a map!

The rather beautiful Post Office

We went to the Ho Chi Minh museum in the afternoon. It was basically a LOT of photographs, mostly with captions in Vietnamese, so we didn't learn a huge amount. But it was raining, and it was indoors, so it was a winner!

the Saigon River, from the museum

Crowds outside the Reunification Palace in 1975

Ho Chi Minh museum 

Next day was Monday and Nadine and Annalise had to work, so we set off ourselves (managing to get the local bus, for a grand total of about 35 pence each) into town to meet our tour bus to take us to the Cu Chi tunnels.

On the way we stopped off at a lacquer factory - captive tourists and all that! It was actually great to see them making all the lacquer pictures and to see the processes it goes through. And to learn that they use lots of crushed eggshell.

Our guide to the tunnels was a young guy (red t-shirt a few pics below) and he was great at explaining and showing everything. It was a really interesting trip. (I'm sure I would have found it even more interesting had I managed to stayed awake for his chat about the war on the minibus to the tunnels...)

Another guide shows where all the tunnels were round Saigon.

Gordon slithering down one of the hatches. Claustrophobia ahoy!

A hidden trap. The ground would go from under you and you'd land on the spikes underneath. 

Gordon with half a tank

Our guide helping sell the bullets for going to fire the guns . We decided not to pay to shoot any
 but I did jump when I heard them go off. Guns are really loud!

Part of the tour let us climb down into the tunnels and "walk" along a 100m stretch. Even although it was lit for us it was still pretty dark, and very hot. And really hard work. We both came out with thighs that felt like we'd climbed a mountain.

It's hard to believe people lived in the tunnels. There's too much to explain about what we learned here but it's a must do if you visit Saigon.

In the tunnels - that have been heightened and widened for foreigners...

A model of the tunnels - they worked on three layers. A real feat of engineering.

We got dropped off at the War Remnants Museum after the tunnels. It was a pretty grim reminder of the  horrors of war. And another time that I was glad not to be an American. They're really not a fan of Americans in Vietnam, and they're not shy about showing it. Outside the museum is lots of old planes, tanks and helicopters and inside are hundreds and hundreds of photographs of the war and its aftermath, in particular showing the affects of Agent Orange.

All too soon it was our last day and Annalise and Nadine packed us back off to Phnom Penh complete with a suitcase full of swag from their house (they leave Saigon in August after two years there) - pillows, wine glasses, knives, a vase - you name it, we swiped it. Thanks guys!

We had a few hours in the city before our bus was due so we wandered round taking it all in a little more.

I think every park should have a sign banning teasing animals.

See the tall building on the right with the bit sticking out of it? That bit is a helipad and it's on a hotel. It's never used, as only the military are allowed to fly helicopters. Most pointless 'bit' ever built?

Ben Thanh market

fruit seller

And possibly my favourite photo from our trip - a fish boat beside a penguin bin.