A visit to Vietnam

For Norwell schools administrative assistant Vicki Ouellette, the old adage is true only in a literal sense.

For four years between 1958 and 1962, Ouellette and her older sister Sondra lived with their parents in the Vietnamese city of Saigon. When they returned to the former South Vietnamese capital last March, the name of the city had been changed to honor then-North Vietnamese president Ho Chi Minh.

On Friday, Jan. 19, Ouellette will host a Powerpoint presentation at the James Library in Norwell, chronicling her first trip back to Vietnam since leaving in 1962. The slide reel she plans to show includes some 400 pictures that she, her husband Bob, her sister and their friend and one-time neighbor in Vietnam, Christine Kent, took while touring the country last spring.

“It was all very interesting,” Ouellette said of her three-week trip. “We found our old homes in Saigon, and it was strange to see how they’ve changed in 46 years. My house had been turned into a business administration college, and [Kent’s] house had become a restaurant.”

According to Ouellette, her tour of the now-unified country began in the capital city of Hanoi, a place she and her sister would not have been allowed to travel to 40 years ago.

“It was so interesting to learn about the history of the city and to see it up close for the first time,” Ouellette said. From Hanoi, Ouellette and her party traveled south along the country’s coastline, stopping in Ha Long Bay on the Gulf of Tonkin, and continuing on to costal cities such as Hue, Hoi An and Da Nang before making their way inland toward Da Lat and finally Ho Chi Min City. Along the way, Ouellette said she noticed a sharp contrast between the Vietnam she remembers and the country it is today.

“It’s strange, because they’re such a happy people now,” Ouellette said. “Their faces and their smiles, it’s all very warm and inviting. They welcome visitors now, and their happy to spend time with us.”

While she enjoyed snapping shots of fishing and transport boats on Gulf of Tonkin and spending time with rice farmers in Hoi An, Ouellette said one of the most interesting experiences she and the others had while in the country occurred towards the end of their three-week excursion. About 40 miles outside Ho Chi Minh City, about 20 feet below the Earth’s surface, lie more than 75 miles of Viet Cong tunnels known as the Cu Chi Tunnels. 

“It was so fascinating to go down into those tunnels,” Ouellette said. During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese soldiers and military officials occupied more than 124 miles worth of tunnels just outside Saigon. Weapons were stored there, soldiers were housed there, and strategies such as the infamous Tet Offensive were mapped out.

“To see how much the country has changed, and then look at all of the things that have been preserved over the last 46 years, I’ll never forget it,” Ouellette said.

Vicki Ouellette’s “Vietnam Revisited” Powerpoint presentation and slide show is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at the James Library. Admission to the event is free.