It’s déjà vu all over again – back to Vietnam Part 2
My pending trip to Vietnam next month has brought a flood of memories of my many previous trips there. I did not serve there during the Vietnam War. I was stationed in Thailand right at the end of the conflict.
I was told that the Dan Sinh Market (also called the “American” market) was notorious during the war for being the final resting place of everything stolen from all the American bases in the country. It was obvious that some items went straight from the loading docks to the market stalls. Apparently the place was never raided by the South Vietnamese police nor did the US government file a complaint for the return of their purloined goods. When I did my first tour of the market the traders said that at the collapse of the country in 1975 everyone threw out anything that had to do with the South Vietnamese government or military out on the street. That included uniforms, hats, military medals, documents, plaques, mementos, photographs, personal effects, even paper banknotes, some of which even had burn markings on them, since the South Vietnamese Dong was now considered worthless.
The traders added that after a sufficient amount of time to see which way the new political winds were going to blow, i.e., was it safe to retrieve these unwanted goods, the traders went out and grabbed everything they could off the streets. Later they said they went house-to-house on a national scavenger hunt to buy any similar unneeded items people had kept in closets, attics and storerooms.
At that time, I was also buying up reams of old Vietnamese banknotes and coins – North and South – for the son of an old college friend who collected currency. I only just found out just now that many of these bills were Viet Cong (VC) or National Liberation Front (NLF) issued bank notes used in occupied territories in South Vietnam during the war. They were first printed in China in 1966 and again in 1969. I had no idea these banknotes had even been created.
On one trip to the Dan Sinh Market, I spotted these extremely cute little Chinese porcelain tea pots. They were made to look like antiques, but I surmised they were all forgeries. However I knew my wife would love them as souvenirs. After some hard bargaining with the trader, I got the price down to perhaps 300B each. I bought twenty five of them. I got a lot of bubble wrap and carefully loaded everything into my luggage. I was amazed that none of them got broken during the return trip. The next day I was strolling down Sukhumvit Road when I saw a vendor’s cart loaded up with the exact same cute little Chinese tea pots. First asking price? 150B each!
I had to laugh at myself. It will be interesting to see all the changes.
