Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

flew into Ho Chi Minh City which is still Saigon to everyone who lives there, the city is in constant fast forward and the traffic was as busy as Hanoi, except the roads were bigger, crossing the road either takes a long time or a lot of guts, you have to accept that you are part of the traffic and the swarm of bikes rushing towards you at different speeds on on various sides of the road will just treat you anothe4r obstacle and move around you. the traffic interchanges like a flock of starlings with a red sunset behind them, im just surprised that the red sun set isnt replaced with blood on the Saigon roads. but there are very few accidents.

my first port of call was the reunification palace, which was built in 1966 to serve as the south Vietnamese presidential palace. this is where the iconic image of the Communist tank crashing through the gate on the day that Saigon fell on the 30th april 1975. i had always had an image of south vietnam had falling with the americans evacuating by helicopter from their embassy with the VC at the gates, but it turns out that that was a scene in the film the killing fields.

the building itself is not very impressive and looks like something built in the 1960's, which isnt really a criticism as that is what it is, inside to a functioning something or another, but i could not figure out what, there were just numerous function rooms. there were a couple of tanks outside which were replicas of the tank that crashed through.

the heavens opened in a way that it can only do in south east asia, i bought a plastic poncho and set of for the War Remnants museum, unfortunately i got by bearings wrong and by the time i had walked in a very big circle it had closed.

i headed back to my hotel, i had a facebook message from hels she was arriving in siagon that night, and on a flight to cambodia tomorrow, but she didnt say which one. i did some investigating there were three flight times and the flights cost $140 or there was a coach for $13 which took 5 hours. i have flown alot and becoming conscious of both the environmental impact this was having and the realisation that i was returning to the uk in a couple of weeks with only my savings to live on i decided to get the coach and meet helen in cambodia.

went for dinner, made the mistake of opting for a mexican, then retired back tot he hotel where Jonny Cash turned up and played 'ring of fire' over and over again.

before my coach was due to leave i took some time to go and visit the War Remnants Museum. the fore court has tanks, helicopters and aeroplanes captured during the Amican War. inside there are a selection of artifacts and images from the war. As well as the famous image of the naked girl running from her village that has been bombed with agent Orange there we numerous other disturbing images, inicluding a picture of an American soldier posing for a photo while holding the remains of a body that had been blown apart. the caption underneath places no blame at the soldiers feet, and explains that war does terrible things to people, not just the dead and the injured or displaced, but how it affects the thinking of individuals as they become acclimatised to death and destruction. during my time in vietnam the vietnamese never mention the war, and lets face it they probably lump all us westerners together. this is admirable when you compare it to the 'two world wars and won world cup' mentality that many british people still chant and tease the germans with. Further there is no hostility to westerners including americans, which is mighty impressive when you consider that uch of there country is still deforested from the bombing and they still incur injuries and fatalities through land mines. further there is a huge disabled population caused trough birh defects that are a direct result of agent orange. the american conciousness is still wounded through 'Nam' however the vietnamese who still suffer seemed to have moved on. there was also a story about one time US presidential hopeful Senator Bob Kerry, see picture.

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