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Published: February 21st 2009
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Saigon
Crazy rush hour traffic! Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, is similar to Hanoi, but busier and much hotter. It was insane to see traffic at rush hour. The motor bike is like the Asian minivan...they get whole families and a weeks worth of groceries on those things at one time. It's amazing actually. We spent our first day at The War Remnants Museum and our second day at the Cu Chi Tunnels.
The War Remnants Museum was shocking, depressing, amazing, frustrating, and enlightening all at the same time. The photos were absolutely graphic and many of the descriptions spoke of American soldiers who wanted nothing more than to torture innocent women and children. It made me feel defensive of America and depressed at the realities I was seeing in Vietnam on a daily basis. I had wished I'd known more of the history, so I would've felt warranted in my angry and defensive feelings, yet everyday I saw the deformed Vietnamese people begging on the streets and the effects of the war were in my face. I am so glad to have been there to see the other side of the story.
When we arrived at the museum, we first walked through
Saigon
War Remnants Museum the prison cells of the Vietnamese people and saw how they were tortured by the French, then later walked through the cells of the American POW's and saw photos of them playing volleyball and basketball and decorating Christmas trees...it was appalling. They were smiling and waving to the camera. There were photos of the POW's sending and receiving mail. Was this summer camp or were they Prisoners of War?! I was astonished at the vast differences in treatment. But how do you ever know how much is true and how much is one-sided.
The Cu Chi Tunnels are amazing. They were where the Viet Cong guerrillas hid during combat. They are a very clever system of tunnels with ventilation systems that put the smoke in the air far enough from where they were cooking, that if the area of smoke was bombed, they would not be affected underground at all. The tunnels were actually built initially when the French were invading Vietnam, but when the American's came, they built downward, two more levels of tunnels. We had the opportunity to crawl through 100 Meters of tunnels and were hot, sweating, out of breath and very dirty coming out, only
Saigon
The famous photo from the Vietnam War of a girl, age nine, running naked on the street after being severely burned on her back by a South Vietnamese napalm attack. to find out that the tunnel was doubled in size for tourist to go in. I cannot imagine what the original tunnels would be like or how the Viet Cong were able to manage so well in them.
While at the site of the Cu Chi Tunnels, we also got to see the innovative weapons and traps the Vietnamese soldiers created from unexploded bombs and napalm containers dropped by the Americans. Also, we had the chance to shoot an AK-47, which clearly I have never done before, so I thought I'd give it a go. It was a weird feeling, I don't think I ever need to shoot a gun again, but it was interesting to have done it once.
For our last night in Saigon, we went to Go Bar and sat at the rooftop barbecue, where Cameron and I split wild pig, spicy chicken and steamed clams. We devoured our meals and enjoyed our last night before heading off to Cambodia. I like Saigon, but didn't spend enough time here to get to know the city. I enjoyed Hanoi more, but had more time there than I'd expected to, which gave me time to get to
Saigon
War Remnants Museum know it a bit better. Either way, I'm not much of a city girl, so I'm happy to be making my way to Cambodia and the adventures to come.
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