Thursday - war museum post office and cathedral

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Thursday was another day to walk round the city and see the sights. Turning to the trusty LP we decided to visit the Notre Dame (not the one in Paris) cathedral which is a famous Catholic Church in HCMC. Luckily it was open so we had a wander inside and took a few photos inside and out. Most of it was reserved for people to pray so we couldn't wander in too far.



Just over the road from there is the post office which is a big tourist attraction as it still has many if the original features including the phone booths. One side still has phones inside and the other houses ATMs. There are the clocks showing world time above the phone booths, murals on the wall depicting the globe, the clock and stained glass.



From there we headed to the reunification palace but we arrived just as it was closing at 11am and it reopened at 1pm. As an alternative we made our way to the was museum. We managed to get in for 45 minutes before it closed at 12 noon and it reopened at 2pm. The museum as you would expect is a museum which is dedicated to the history of Vietnam whilst occupied by the French and the Vietnam war.



Outside they have various planes, helicopters, tanks and artillery items. There is also a mock up of prison conditions and some of the torture devices used on prisoners. Also there were lots of photos and display cases showing other instruments of torture and what happened to the prisoners etc.



At 12 we left and went for lunch, whilst eating it rained but not for long. After lunch we went back to the war museum and had a good wander around. The majority of the museum is dedicated to the Vietnam war. How it started, anti American feeling to the war, draft cards being burned, demonstrations in Washington etc. interestingly there was also information about many other countries around the world who were opposed to the American 'invasion/occupation' of Vietnam.



There was a great deal of information to read and lots of pictures some of them very graphic and stories of war atrocities committed by the Americans. Many if the photos were taken by war photographers and details of the events that took place from details provided by war correspondents.



The top floor was dedicated to a series of photographs taken by photographers who had died whilst covering the war and the after effects of the chemicals used during war. Agent orange appears to have been used. The most and had catastrophic effects on the villagers at the time the bombs were dropped up to the mid nineties. Most notable are the birth defects.



There is a hell of a lot of info in the museum, probably too much too read and take in fully and some very graphic stories and images. I think it actually upset me more than the killing fields and S-21 in PP.



During the last hour or so of our visit the heavens just opened and it chucked it down with rain and there was quite a string wind, which managed to blow out a window at the back of the building. Luckily no one was hurt.



As we spent so much time in the museum we didn't have time to visit the reunification palace and decided we would go the next day. Instead we went for a drink and a slice of cake and then caught a taxi to the market for a good wander round and then headed back to the hostel.



In the evening we headed out for food and went to a place which sold Asian and western food. We ended up having the most expensive meal of the week! I splashed out in a cider, chicken goujons and spaghetti lol. Ellie had to send her fresh veggie spring rolls back as they had pork in them! All they did was cut them open in the kitchen, took out the pork and sealed them up leaving the prawns in them!



After the meal we went to a restaurant Ellie had visited in her first night and had two one cocktails. We sat on the rooftop bar looking down on the craziness in the streets below. We didn't stay out too late as we had to be up early the next day as we were off to see tunnels.



Xxx

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