< 1 > Understanding Vietnam 1969 Vietnam lies in the south - east Asia . The shape of the country is as like as the letter " s " stretched long . China is located in the north . the China Sea and the Pacific Ocean are in the east and south . The Mountain An - nam ( Choo - ong - song ) lies from north to the south of the country near the inland neighbor countries and it decides the borderlines of the countries . Raos and Cambodia are to the west . Vietnam is divided into two parts now , North and South Government , at the Benhai river of 17 degrees latitude by Geneva Convention 1954 . However , traditionally or geographically the country consists of three parts : North , Middle and South . North , which is centered by Hanoi , is so called Tonkin . Middle , which is centered by the Royal city of Hue is called An - nam . And South is centered by Saigon and is usually called Cochin China . It is said that France took good advantage of the difference of these three regions to keep their division and maintained tactfully its colonial governing . And it is also well - known that Ho Chi - min said , " When I die , don ' t make my grave and divide my ashes into three for the three regions . " You could see three red lines , meaning of three regions , on the yellow background , meaning of rice field , on the flag of South Vietnam . There are about 40 , 000 , 000 people of population and its territory is about 326 , 000 ㎢. The fields of fertile soil spread themselves wide near the Mekong and Hongha river . The An - nam Mountains , which divide the country into two parts of east and west , affect the climate and eco - system in Vietnam . The western part is neighbored by inland countries of Laos and Cambodia , where thick forests of jungle and big wild animals are . The eastern part is coasted by the Pacific Ocean , where wide and fertile rice fields and abundant fish are . Vietnamese are rich in farm and sea products to live on . They can do rice farming all around the year in the middle and south part of the country . It is possible to grow rice three times a year in the south part . It is said that the climate of this country is semi - tropical one . The regional weather depends on the rainy and dried season owing to the An - nam mountains dividing the country into east and west from north to south . You may meet a shower “ squall " almost everyday during a rainy season . However , you may not find a rain drop about a half year during a dried season . We can hardly see pine trees but trees with large leaves such as palm trees in the jungle forest of the south part . Thick bush of small trees covered the hills and mountains . Almost all the trees have thorns . Even bamboo has thorns and big branches . Semitropical climate doesn ' t work for every plant to grow faster and higher . I experienced sun - flowers , whose seeds were sent from Korea , grew much shorter than I expected . The sun - flowers had many branches with as many little flowers . The sunflower grows tall , has no branch and has only a big round flower in Korea . It seems that different climate influences different growing condition . Not all the plants grow better in hot weather and much rain . The small but very hot pepper will be the product from the climatic condition . I saw the differences of seasons between Korea and Vietnam . At first I couldn ' t tell the differences among seasons in Vietnam . It seemed to me that they had summer all year round . Thus , when they said , " It is spring season now . ", I was very confused . They called it spring by watching a flower blooming . Of course , I don ' t remember even its name of the flower . I became to understand that they distinguish four seasons in their own way . However , it is easy for me to tell the rainy season from dry season in this country . Of the many strange reptiles the lizard is a usual one . There are several sorts of lizards . Some live in the fields of trees , others live in the holes under the ground , still others in the houses . Little lizards , which live in the house , creep on the wall and ceiling to live on worms and insects such as flies or mosquitoes . To my surprise , there are few flies in the house owing to lizards . As house lizards are beneficial to man , families protect them . Some , which live on the tree , change their bodies to protective coloring as the chameleon does . Some , which live in the field , are bigger and plump . They are not only edible but healthful . The little and horrible mosquitos annoyed us at night . We used the mosquito net individually . We also had two or three anti - mosquito liquid on the iron helmet when we are in the fighting operation on jungle fields or night ambush . We must take pills to prevent malaria everyday , which was prepared at the cafeteria . We usually know that mosquitos infect malaria . Malaria is the most common disease for the Korean soldiers in Vietnam . In addition to the Viet there are about ten ethnic peoples in Vietnam . You can meet peoples from neighbor countries such as China , Thai , Laos and Cambodia as well as the mountaineers of the Man , the Meo , the Moi , and the Lade . Mountaineers usually live in the isolated villages with their own language and culture . The government of Vietnam applies the policy for the ethnic right and it seems that there are no conflicts among different peoples . The Viet , about 90 percents of population , lead government . The Chinese , the second in numbers , live wealthier lives . They speak and write Vietnamese language . As it is influenced by the Chinese culture as likely as another countries in Asia , the Chinese language has much influence on Vietnamese in its meaning and pronunciation . When I first heard them speaking , it seemed to me that they spoke Chinese . Some words have the likeness to Korean . They had used the Chinese letters before , but Alexandre de Rhodes , a French priest , created the letters by imitating French in the end of 19 th century . They accepted them as their national language " Quoc Ngu ". The alphabets may be the only letters using western alphabets in Asia . Vietnamese instructers who taught me used to say the pronunciation of Vietnamese is so musical and nice . And I agree with them . It has six signals representing " high - low " and " long - short ". They are dau sac ( ) , dau huyen ( ) , dau nang ( ) , dau nga ( ) , dau hoi ( ) , and khong ( ) . Its alphabet consists of 24 letters . We can ' t find the letter " F ", " W ", " Z " of English and " D "[ d ] and " D "[ silence ] have different sounds . They don ' t pronounce " V " as an initial letter of a word , which means " V " is silenced in " Vietnam ". Word order is almost the same as Chinese . In affirmative sentences the order is as same as English , namely , subject and verb before complement is the order . But in the question sentence they only raise the sound of the last word without changing the word order of affirmative sentence . Vietnamese people are proud of their language . There were 50 Korean soldier students at the Vietnamese Military Language School ; one class is composed of 25 officers , the other class is of 25 sergeants and private soldiers . The teachers were the Vietnamese military officers , who taught Vietnamese in English . We learned Vietnamese by the education course for three months . Three months is a very short period to learn a foreign language . But as we could practice it everyday after school , we learned more from people on the streets than from teachers at school . So , by the time we graduate the school , we could speak Vietnamese quite well . Fortunately during my education course , there were two weeks holidays of the new year season by lunar calendar . So I practiced and learned more about Vietnam and Vietnamese . From that time on I understood and liked them much more . It is sure that it is important for one to learn their language first if he wants to understand a nation and the people . Let ' s watch over the organization of administration systems . Castle ( tinh ) , county ( quan ) , town ( xa ) , and village ( ap ) are the names of the organization . There were 38 castles in South Vietnam . The stars of general or colonels took charge of the castle as the chief . There were two vice - chiefs ; one for martial and one for civilian . There were eight or nine counties in a castle . A colonel or a captain had the job of the county boss . The administration of the county was also divided into two parts of martial and civilian . Soldiers and civilians worked together at the same office . The offices were guarded by both the regular or district soldiers and civilian soldiers . The members of the military forces led and governed the civilians in their systems . At first , I couldn ' t understand that South Vietnam was destroyed so soon after " the Truce At Paris ". But presently I thought that they lost their government because of their administration systems . While military units were supported by the great power of USA , the civilians with them looked like as helpers or supporters for the soldiers . However , when the soldiers became weak , the civilians had their own influential power , which subdued the soldier ' s . Civilians , who were at the side of VC , appeared as leaders . They were not weak civilians any more . The military soldiers were powerless as like as water on the sands . I remember the ｅxpression " Saigon is Paris of Orient . " When I saw the buildings and streets of Saigon , at first , I thought that the ｅxpression wasn ' t an exaggerated one . A Vietnamese said , " We have many heroes because of Chinese invasion for a thousand years , the French benefited us better culture during their rule for a hundred years , and there occurred beggars owing to the rich American . " In his ｅxpression the Vietnamese have less enmity against the French . Observing the streets and main buildings of Saigon city testify it . Elaborate building style carved by the stories from Greek and Roman mythology , streets with their address planned in the order , statues of heroes and heroines from real and mythological world , girls or women with their traditional clothes " ao - dai " and even the palm trees on the streets make the city wonderful . I thought the French gave the reward what the Vietnamese couldn ' t and can ' t make . The song " Saigon Deplam ", which means " beautiful Saigon ", was the most popular song in South Vietnam in 1969 . The Saigon river flows through the city , which adds the city with activity . You can see the shipping - houses for a residential quarter on a part of the river . I will never forget the public park , riverside , city hall square , movie house , young couples in the theater , the busy downtown , the long holidays during the new year season , people ' s kindness , women ' s diligence , and illuminated night sights and sinful sidewalks in memorization of Saigon . They have rush - hour four times a day . As siesta , an usual nap in the afternoon , is from noon to 3 : 00 p . m . , they go to work and come back home two times from Monday to Friday . on Saturday , they are off in the morning and go to office at three in the afternoon . The streets of a big city such as Saigon are crowded with vehicles at rush hours . Auto cycles move like a flood on the streets in rush hours . Some families have three or more auto cycles . Xe siclomai and xe siclodap carry two people each in their carriages attached in front of the auto - bicycles or bicycles . Xe Lambretta , which is a mini bus , carry eight or more people . Xe byut is a bus . Xe Lambretta and Xe byut use their cover to load freight . We sometimes find xe taxi and jeep or truck , vehicles for military forces . Most vehicles are suitable for the narrow streets or alleys . They usually ride auto - cycles to go to work individually or in pairs . A family has two or more auto - cycles . Honda made in Japan is very popular auto - cycle they possess . Tet ( An Tet ) , New Year ' s Day by lunar calendar , is the biggest holiday in Vietnam . They are off from a week or two during the new year season . I had the great fortune to stay in Saigon in this season enjoying the vacation from Language School . Even though I learned Vietnamese by three month course of education , I could stay in Saigon for three and a half months thanks to this special vacation . Vietnamese wanted to be off on holidays , even they were in the war . But VC attacked government forces who were enjoying their vacation on Tet in 1968 . They said that it was " saulam ", bad or offence foul . Even during the war they thought they had to be off from work or fighting at rest time such as siesta and holiday . The song " Mot Tram Pan Tram ", 100 %, was very popular . It means that all the soldiers are on duty on a holiday . They sang their sadness from the war which they didn ' t want . They sang the song to express their desires not to stay at the military camp on a holiday . Usually the half of the soldiers were off on a holiday and the half of the others were on duty . But at the time of emergency call , all the soldiers should stay at the camp instead of going home . on Saturday , they work for two hours from 3 : 00 to 5 : 00 p . m . They don ' t work in the morning . The customs of New Year ' s Day in Vietnam is not quite different from those of Korea and some nations in Asia . They clean their houses , put a new mottos on happiness , prepare food to serve their ancestors and guests , and come home to greet their parents and families . Children like this season because they wear best clothes and take pocket money . They give and receive their greetings by exchanging the new year cards and presents . The buddhists burn their writings of prayer and light their doors of entrance . Almost all the stores are closed during the first three days of the season . They put the proverbs , resolutions or mottos on the walls or important places and things . on later days of the season , more and more people come out on the streets to enjoy dating , playing games , shopping , watching flower display , finding out the new year ' s fortune , etc . The streets are changed into crowded and pleasant ones . They believe that they could be blessed only when they enjoy their holidays actively . At first , I was much surprised at their optimistic view point on holidays in spite of their war . However , I realized that the most of them didn ' t care about the war , about winning or losing the war . The war was not theirs . They thought and knew that the war would be continued by the foreign forces and it would also be finished sometime . Monogamy and the equality of man and woman are admitted by law . But as the number of women prevails , they get accustomed to violating this law . Some rich men have two or three concubines . That ' s the great social problem for Vietnamese to solve . They prefer son to daughter for their children . Vietnamese soldiers , irrespective of ranks , live at home and work for military service . They commute from home to the military unit , which is very different from the Korean system . At the time of emergency call , when their husbands can ' t go home at night , women complain about it . They may solve the surplus women problem by ceasing the war . Vietnamese women hate war rather than men in such a reason . The population rate between men and women is 1 : 1 . 6 . Some members of parliament suggested the opinion of permitting bigamy . But young and learned women objected against the opinion . The unbalanced number rate between men and women is the great social problem in this country . There are over three hundred thousand women of widows from the war . There are one hundred thousand of unmarried men and two hundred thousand of unmarried women in Saigon . This will be continued or even more serious as long as war continues . Not only social status and role at home but also marriage problem will be more and more difficult for women . Boy will be wanted when a woman bear a baby . Man will be idle while woman does more chores . Hatred against war will be greater and greater to the Vietnamese women . It is wellknown that the equality of man and woman is one of the fighting strategy of VC . Women in Vietnam seem to be very meek but active . They like working out and supporting their family . Women appear more than men in number on the street at rush hour as well as anywhere in the society except military units . We can ' t see Vietnamese women without thinking of " ao dai ", traditional woman clothes . The charming point of this clothes is that bust and waist part of the clothes are tight , revealing flesh of waist side , with two wings falling down under the waist one in front and the other in the back . The wings of cloth wave alive when they are walking . They like light colors of ao dai such as white , blue , violet or pink . Ao dai is very simple but beautiful clothes , for it emphasizes the womanly body . Another casual dress for woman is " ao somi ". It ' s color is usually black . At first I mistook it for a sleeping dress . They like wearing a " long ", round and broad hat , to shade their face . Woman ' s " long " is bigger than man ' s . Because of hot weather they like wearing sandal , some walk barefoot on the ground in some country side region . They like wearing sunglasses on auto - cycle . Saying " Co gai 17 begai sung trau " means that a 17 year - old girl can cut the horn of a buffalo : A girl of 17 years is grown up enough to marry . Most of the normal brides are under 20 . They say 18 is suitable for woman to marry and 22 is suitable for man . A woman over 20 and a man over 25 are supposed to be late in their marriage . I met a couple who asserted they were standard one , and the wife of 18 and husband of 22 have a baby of 8 months . A woman of 34 has seven children and the oldest child , daughter , is 17 years old . She was proud of her fertile birth . Early marriage custom might have come from the lengthy war by the foreign invaders . When a family members travel on their own car , a woman is usually a driver . A woman lives with her children and waits her husband who lives apart with another wife . Though a man ask a woman about her age and marriage at their first meeting , it isn ' t impolite manner . When a man greet a woman with words of admiring her beauty , she will greet back " cam on ", thank you . There are many idle men but few lazy women in Vietnam . They are soft but strong , lovable and loving women . Some old women do " an trau ( cuoi hoi an trau ) ", chewing fruit or leaves of trau . They do this to make teeth black and mouth red . This is an old custom for women , and new and young generation don ' t chew " trau ". At first I was disgusted at it . However , I heard someone said it was nice . I don ' t know how they got such a traditional custom . For one reason I guess it will prevent them from toothache . For another reason I suppose women protect themselves from the invaders , for they have a history of fighting against foreign forces . I am sure that to see a woman doing trau makes a foreign soldier feel hateful . They prepare a branch of trau tree and a vine with leaves for their ceremony of traditional marriage . They have a legend for this . Long ago there lived twin brothers . They looked so much alike and had great brotherliness . When they grew up , the older got married first . The bride happened to mistake the younger for her husband , which was often the case . The younger thought he must leave the house for his brother ' s happiness . Though the brothers had never been apart from birth , the younger decided to leave home . The older realized the fact as soon as he returned home from his work and he chased the younger ' s course . The wife of the older who was tired of waiting her husband also chased his husband ' s route . The younger travelled so far that he fell down and dead . The older found the dead brother but to his sorrow he also fell down and dead . The bride reached there to find their death and to her sadness she also died with embracing her husband . The younger became a big stone , the older became a tree by the stone and his wife became a vine to embrace the tree . At the marriage ceremony they take the branch of this tree and vine . Eighty percent of population take Buddhism as their religion , which affects their everyday pattern of traditional lives from birth to death . About fifteen percent of them take Catholic or Christianity , which was adopted by the French priests . They live at higher classes of the society with new knowledge and wealth as well as in political situation . Even after the French forces retreated , the influence is strong enough as many young students go to France to study abroad . In addition , there are various kinds of beliefs such as Kaodai , Hoahao , etc . once some groups of a religion had their own forces , but they were dispersed by the Diem government . Some of them became the leaders of regular force , but many of them became VC or VC leaders . The priests and Buddhist monks are respected by people . Every religion has its own shrine . Especially Kaodai and Hoahao have the gorgeous buildings of shrine and interior ornaments . Even Buddhism has shrines more colorful than those of Koreans '. The radical Buddhists speak out their opinions about political issues and sometimes they express their complaints by burning to kill themselves on the streets , which make the world surprised . Some say that the Diem government was fallen down because of the conflicts between Diem , who was the Catholic christian , and the buddhists . Each home of traditional religion has the sacred place for their beliefs . They set the symbols of their beliefs , candle lights , and perfumes there . They bow the gods at the holy place everyday or before every important event . The government gives people freedom of religion . Vietnamese have certain view of after - life world . So they want big and gorgeous grave when they die . The grave show one ' s social status or economical back ground . So the great grave of one ' s ancestor is his and his family ' s pride . They say VC fights bravely without fear of death because they make grave for the fighter when he dies of fighting against enemies . They have funeral ceremony period for three days when someone dies . As the dead body may decay because of the hot weather , the experts separate the internals from the dead body and bury them first . In such a way they can keep the dead body clean during the funeral ceremony before they bury it into the grave . Funeral ceremony is far more important than any other events such as birthday party and wedding ceremony . They show respects to the old and generosity to the neighbors . The words such as " kinh " and " thua " are used to show respects to the senior . Greeting ｅxpression is various . When they greet the old man or woman , they say " chao ong " or " chao ba ". When they greet the old " kin chao ong " or " kin chao ba ", they show respects to the old . The general greeting word is " chao " or " xin chao “ . They greet to man " chao anh ", to miss " chao co ", and to the junior " chao em ". They also greet " manh gioi ? " to every one . When you greet to a miss , you will greet " manh gioi ? ", " chao co ", kinh chao co ", or chao co manh gioi ? ". However , " Xin chao " is very usual ｅxpression to everyone for greeting . When you answer to the greeting , you can use the same ｅxpression in case of " manh gioi ? ". However you should answer with different calling according to the situation . For example , when a boy greet an old man " chao ong ", the old man will greet back to the boy " chao em ". When a girl greet an old man " chao ong ", he will greet back to her " chao co " or " chao em ". In general question the answer will be " Da ", yes or " Da , thua ", yes , sir . They like to say " cam on ", thank you , as like as the westerners . When one come to be intimate with some one , he or she opens his or her mind wide . He or she likes to invite and serve food at his or her home . The generosity is oriental way of treating guests . The Koreans as well as Vietnamese people are accustomed to such a way of treat . Owing to rich food products , there is none who starves . However , because of their industrial structure mainly of agriculture and fishery , the gaps between haves and have - nots is great . The high classes , fewer number of haves , are better off and lead the society or community , while the lower classes , more in number , are in poor living condition . They usually have no restroom in the houses of the poor , especially in the countryside . I could understand " Nature calls me " to watch some people in the countryside . You can see a man or woman who are sitting , hiding face with " long " a little far away from the road . Because they have no building attached for toilet , nature calls and serves them . The poor are much more than the rich in number , but they hardly do begging their meal . Owing to the fertile and wide fields , streams and sea , they will enjoy richness of food with a little effort . The rich families seem to be prepared to move quickly with their money , while the poor stay and keep their native villages without desire of changing . When the French forces moved to south in 1954 , about five hundred thousand people moved together with their money . Now the rich move to France and America with their dollars . The rich went to America with those dollars which America gave them . In fact , Americans spent their dollars in an economical way . The rich should have spent their wealth on helping the poor in Vietnam . If only they could change the industrial structure from manual to machinery , the gaps between the rich and the poor could be narrowed , I think . Too many people depend on the agriculture and fishery . This will make them stay in the poor situation for long . You can smell something special , " nuoc mam ", at home and village . " Nuoc mam " is a source made from pickled fish . They put a heap of small sea fish on a flat frame and press it under a heavy thing to get dropping liquid source of " nuoc mam " from the frame . Every home has own making home products and uses this source to cook and prepare for their sub - food . Some traditional families are proud of their delicious " nouc mam " source . It is natural that they should have such a source , for they have long coast line of seaside in the east side of the country . They have profound fish products . Of course some foreigners don ' t like the smell of it . Koreans use similar source as this when they prepare their side - dish " Kimchi ", pickled vegetable Instead of " nouc mam " some Asian peoples including the Koreans take soy source . Some Vietnamese take this foreign source , " si dan ". I saw they welcomed Korean soy source " ganjang ". They also like another Korean sources such as " gochujang " and " doinjang ". It seemed to me that they like such Korean sources , because they live on rice as like as Koreans do . They live on rice . Owing to the suitable climate , semi - tropics , they can grow rice even three times a year in the middle and south parts of the country . However , most of their agriculture depend upon manual labor instead of machines . During my staying I saw primitive method of working without machines such as tractors , combines or planting machines . If they have enough machines to cultivate all the rice fields , their natural condition of wide and fertile fields will pay much more harvest . They can keep cattle and buffalos , ducks and hens in a large scale by dint of natural benefits . They have green fields all the year round . They could have more fields , if they cultivated the abandoned jungle woods . Owing to the good weather condition , they have rich fruits as well . You can buy pineapples , oranges , bananas , cocoas and mangos as cheap as possible . They serve mango ( trai xoai ) for the first treat to entertain a guest . However , they don ' t produce such fruits as apples or pears in the south part . They like apples and pears , which are imported and very expensive . They are not offensive but defensive people . Someone said , " The Arabs dislike the Jews , the Koreans hate the Japanese , and the Vietnamese do every foreigners , especially the Chinese . " They have the view of history on the foreigners ' invasion ; the Vietnamese fought against foreigners ' invasions . They fought against and repelled the Chinese for a thousand years . In their opinion , after a hundred years of French invasion , America came to occupy the country . During the World War II the Japanese landed on Vietnam with the slogan of liberating the country from the westerners . They believe that their country is so beautiful and rich in natural resources that big countries desire to attack it . They don ' t agree with the idea that Koreans as well as Americans came to help them . They assert that they don ' t want any foreigner ' s help . Through the conversation with them I made the conclusion that they don ' t dislike foreigners but hate foreigners ' invasion in the name of help . You would find out that they are very friendly and hospitable people , if you , the foreigner , meet them privately . Of the many great heroes , Tranghungdao is the greatest one in Vietnamese history . He is as like as Nelson of England or Admiral Yi Sunsin in Korea . He fought against Chinese warships at the Saigon river using the rising and falling tides with the bamboo sticks . The Chinese ships were helpless , when they were captured on the bamboo sticks at the time of ebb tide . Little did they perceive those sticks at the time of flow tide . He defeated the Chinese invaders and saved his country . You can see the statue of his , standing at the riverside in the city of Saigon . You may also find many statues of heros and heroines such as Deung Leloi , sisters Hai Ba Teuong , mysterious mighty Boy , etc . on the streets of Saigon . Let ' s see the story about the sisters . Sisters Hai Ba Teuong were so brave that the Chinese invaders lost their fight whenever they encountered with . The sisters continued to win the fighting until they saw the enemy soldiers coming with their naked bodies without clothes . They couldn ' t fight any more on account of their shyness . They also named the main streets after heros and heroines in honor of their greatness . You can walk the Tranghungdao street , Deung Leloi street , Hai Ba Teuong street at the center of Saigon ( Hochimin ) city . They are very proud of their victories in their history . The Vietnamese are very conceited people . They believe that their country is so suitable to live in that the big countries have tried their invasions continuously . Especially Chinese were the main enemies for a thousand years of its history . Even now they have troubles with Chinese for the territorial dispute on the China Sea . They think that French , Japanese and Americans continue invading after Chinese . Their history is a fighting one against foreign intruders . Theirs is also the history of victory . They prefer foreign products to their own making , especially products made in USA or Japan . Streets are filled with motor cycles made in Japan . They mainly deal in foreign products at the store . You will understand why America and Japan are rich countries to see daily living necessaries in Vietnam . You will also be able to understand the reason why they should depend on foreign products if you see their preference of even living necessaries . I heard that a man complained that they couldn ' t even make a radio as well as TV or refrigerator . They should develop their production ability to stand up independently for their own economy . I thought that they should conduct the campaign to use home - made products as Koreans did in 1950 s . In Korea , school children put the slogan tag , " Use only home - made products ", on their school jacket and collect the foreign study - tools to set them fire . Grown - ups also took out their possessions of foreigner ' s make to take part in the campaign . Koreans made a big success , I think . Such goods as liquor or cigarettes and even camera and radio come from PX of US military units . So it isn ' t right for USA or Korea to assist Vietnamese by giving them products of their own make . In the Vietnamese view point , it is clear that Americans fight war to invade Vietnam , consume and sell their products . Everyone knows Vietnam War isn ' t an ideological but an economical war .