In an exile song …there is a line “Hanoi, whose dream reaches out higher than Heavenly high” (Mong voi tay cao hon Troi).
Every generation of refugees, whether it’s Jews from Germany, or Polish from Poland, Cuban from Cuba or Vietnamese from Vietnam, find new ways of expression. Most settled for cuisine, nostalgia and ethnic enclaves e.g. Brooklyn, Bolsa (for Viet-American) or Miami (Cuban-American).
The geo/ethnic/cultural niches are our second incubator e.g. Little Italy, Little Tokyo and Little Saigon: all are hatching either a return or moving on – after a few failed trials (of returning to the place that wasn’t there anymore).
Remarque of “All Quiet on the Western Front” was an expert on this phenomenon. Neither here nor there. The last romantic. Promised Land and Shadows in Paradise.
Romanticizing that which once was ugly (war and destruction) then life in exile (false papers and names on document). He remarks that ” the new land is surrounded by walls, not of steel, but of papers and chain document.”
Right now, as we speak, it’s ironic that the winning side of the North (of Vietnam) produces a new generation of ambitious young men. Back packers, walkers sans borders. CNN reports this latest emigre trend facilitated by human traffickers i.e. Chinese “coyotes” who charge a hefty price of around 20,000 dollars per head for these underground tourists whose final destination would be where else beside the Southern Border of the US. These “backpack people” (as opposed to Southern Counterpart Boat People in the 80’s) transit via a third-country like Canada, Nicaragua, then Mexico where remnants of Ukrainian counterparts still linger since the start of the Russian war.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2024/01/08/china-migrants-culver-pkg.cnn
Chinese have had influence and connection in Africa and South America, where rare Earth were plenty Now, it expands to connection, the route and the territory know-how.
It’s like they are working the base, extracting first some hard currency (raw material), then working their way toward softer ones (traveling through and bribing those connections).
Back to Food destination with Hanoi on top. The irony did not escape us. Nixon’s “bomb Hanoi” (to the Dark Age) then, and Travelers’ Choice Top Food Destination, now (while its owns trying to flee).
All in one generation. From 4 million tons of Bomb dropped to the late Anthony Bourdain’s top taste (sitting on a stool sharing a “bun cha” with former President Obama.)
What a nightmare for Secret Service.
For now, for us non-White to blend in with some false pretenses is still very hard (“poisoning the blood?”) just as it once was around 1944 for Remarque’s characters. It’s much easier for returnees/ tourists: just consul Travelers’ Choice, then take United or American via Japan or Nippon Air. Hanoi and its famous 36 streets is welcoming patrons. Eat eat and eat. Drink the egg coffee. Try the “bun cha”, “mien ngan”, pho Vuong (all the plates are square) and of course, the “banh tom” (fried shrimp cake) Ho Tay.
I spent one whole month there late 2008 (when news of Obama’s as President was announced ). That month, I wandered the streets after class (Cambridge CELTA?) trying to take in the scene, the smell and sensation of winner’s Capital.
What did my Mom do there back in the early 50’s (obtaining a teaching job to support my sister and brother)? Did she feel at a loss or at home? How different a generation makes, between hers and mine. The Northerners always fight harder, trying to survive harsher weather and meet higher expectations, culturally.
It’s not the bombing, or the British Invasion (via Armed Force Radio that shaped my musical taste). It’s the geo political of a larger global interest that set us apart. Someone, somewhere keeps looking at the S-shaped map and devise a scheme to draw the battle line. Sort of Five-O-Clock follies.
We were all the worse for it. Among my fellow classmates, one lost an eye the other had spinal injury .Others like myself still are scattered into the four winds, longing for a home that was no longer.
Refugee life. ” All we have is time”. To wait, to reminisce. What can you do with the rest of your life while carrying that stigma – being on the war-losing side. Drifting and rebuilding into some resemblance of your former life, via cuisine and culture.
Then top destination for food is staring at you. Hanoi, whose dream reaches out higher than heaven. No matter how far and how long your being away, social media is just a click away. But take it from the expert, in Shadows in Paradise, Remarque concludes that ” One can never go back, nothing and no one is ever the same”. That longing and sadness stay with all, because “everything passes and because man is the only animal who knows it”.
Thang Nguyen 555 