City of the All-Seeing Eye
[Tây Ninh, 12/23/24]
I had to take three mini buses and a city bus to reach Tây Ninh, a journey that took more than six hours. Here twice before, I didn’t see much. The last time was also 24 years ago. Now, there are all these wide roads intended for a car future. Walking around, I see restaurants serving Korean, Japanese and even Malaysian. Dubious pizzas, burgers, hot dogs and spaghetti are available to schoolkids for breakfast, and there’s a KFC. Eating American, they drink Pepsi.
Though New City looked too nice, a room is just $16 a night, so I paid for two. There’s a dozen hotels within three blocks. With mansard roofs, concrete ballustrades, bulged railings on balconies and glass canopies, the architecture is cartoony European. Abruptly erected, it has no history, so sterile. Except for the insanely loud karaoke late this morning, you might not know you’re in Vietnam. I griped to a security guard, “Are they cops? They must be cops. Only cops would be so obnoxious. Are there no laws here? I can hear them a block away!”
Old guy just shrugged.
The Ho Chi Minh Trail, or rather, trails, snaked through Laos and Cambodia towards Tây Ninh. Weapons and troops surged through here. It’s called the Viet Cong Capital. The Củ Chi Tunnels were nearby.
It’s still Cao Dai country. Primarily anti-Communist, their private army was disbanded in late 1955. Around their Holy See, you can find many Cao Dais in white ao dai, but they’re not dressed like that downtown. Before arriving, I thought such serene and dignified folks would be all over.
One block away is the Tayninh Basketball Academy. Also called Hoops and Hút Coffee, it has a nice gym where kids can pretend they’re the next Jeremy Lin, Yuki Kawamura or even Kobe Bryant. There’s a cool photo of the Black Mamba.
At Happy Days International Kindergarten, Kid No. 1 English Language Center, American College Preparation Institute and Vietnamese American Training Center, etc., you or your kids can prepare for a fabulously rich life overseas. One job agency trumpets, “THE WEST BECKONS / YOUR FUTURE EXPANDS.” Besides Germany and Australia, they also promise placements in Norway, Hungary, Latvia, Croatia, Poland and Romania. Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are also possibilities. Though in Asia, they’re Western enough to poor Vietnamese. It’s the Western lifestyle that’s lusted after.
Cosmetic dentistry is big. Older folks must fix their horrible teeth from those calcium and protein deficient years. Most kids are fine, though some are already porky or whalish from fried chicken, french fries and sodas. Brats increasingly shun the raw herb and vegetable heavy traditional diet.
Many locals are from elsewhere. With Cambodia just a few miles away, Hanoi enticed or coerced thousands into establishing communities nudging the border. This prevented Cambodians from encroaching to reclaim territory. All of southern Vietnam belonged to them. Every inch has been fought over. The weakest tribes haven’t just lost land but been exterminated. Others were chased into deserts or onto mountains, or herded into reservations. Israel is illustrating this vicious dynamics most vividly.