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Published: August 8th 2007
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Today we flew to Ho Chi Minh City, which I think used to be Saigon- a much more romantic name. After dragging my now ridiculously full bag, bulked out with Hoi An purchases, through various check in's, we located our coach out side the airport and it took us to the hotel. On the way we were limited to crawling through the streets due to sheer weight of traffic, it was definitely the busiest place that I had seen yet in Vietnam. It was great fun watching the scooters and bikes that were ferrying about the weirdest collection of things you could imagine; these included one comedy spectacle of a bike that was holding the bottom part of a mannequin between his legs so the feet were sticking up into the air and the top part of the mannequin wedged in the basket up front.
When we finally reached the hotel we dropped our luggage and explored the streets for a bite to eat before beginning a tour of the town. Ho Chi Minh City definitely had the most cosmopolitan feel to it, as far as shops and restaurants were concerned, of all the cities we'd visited in Vietnam.
For the first time in a number of weeks I ordered a milk shake and burger instead of steamed rice and chicken curry or cashew.
As we began our tour I hopped on a motor bike, which I was now becoming accustomed to as my still broken foot was agony when walking, and organised to meet the rest of the tour in the central post office. I have yet to find out why the post office is a tourist attraction- maybe because it offers a short air conditioned break from the sweltering heat of the city before we headed off next to the Presidential Palace.
The Presidential Palace- now called Reunification Hall- is one of the most important attractions in Saigon, yet due to a mixture of not understanding the guide very well and having a short attention span on this particular day- I'm afraid I really didn't have a clue what went on there. However what struck me most about the place was the Austin Powers décor that was the theme here. I have some photo's that have to be seen to be believed; 1960's orange and brown pattered furniture and carpets with fluffy cushions and kitsch
coffee tables - fantastic! Different rooms were styled with totally different themes, one including two giant phallic shaped tusks, which framed any person sitting on the sofa. I'm just sorry I didn't get to see this guy's wardrobe!
Down in the basement of this humongous building was also like something from a Bond movie- with a network of tunnels, a telecommunication centre and a war room that was exactly like the secret room that 'M' would use for spy emergencies. It had maps all over the walls and a desk with a huge grey phone on, which I'm sure, was only used for the most important of situations. However, our next stop, The War Crimes Museum, saw me awoken from my little fantasy world of Bond escapades (with the ferocity of a slap around the face with a cold fish) into the unbelievable reality that was the Vietnam War.
As you walk into the Museum you are first faced with an impressive display of photo journalism from the US side of things. Men in trenches, men in cross fire, injured and maimed bodies and of course the dead soldiers. Most of the photos included sad testimonies plus the
name age and rank of the solider(s) they depicted. In the same hall was a video loop that was showing a film about the poison known as Agent Orange that the US troops released on the Vietnamese people. Here we not only saw the horrific damage this did to men and women contaminated by the agent at the time- including dreadful burns, cancers and skin diseases- but we also witnessed the children being born even today with horrific deformities. This is because the chemical effects foetal development and ultimately means pregnant women, if they do not suffer miscarriage which they are very likely to do so, then their babies will be effected by long-term reproduction problems and deformities for years to come.
After leaving this room we then went into a room that I can only describe as horrific and I'm afraid the behaviour of the U.S army was the central theme here. I don't count myself as a very emotional person but I couldn't stop shocked tears rolling down my face as I witnessed pictures of the Vietnamese women and children being tortured by US troops. There were pictures of American soldiers triumphantly holding the severed heads of
Viet Cong troops and testimonies of now prosecuted soldiers who raped and tortured women and children. Probably the most horrifying testimony I read involved a pregnant Vietnamese woman who was killed and then gutted.
I realise that the soldiers in question were in the minority and atrocities like this are unfortunately a part of every war whether we accept it or not but I will certainly never forget what I have seen here.
I managed to sober up pretty quickly on the death defying motor bike ride I took back to the hotel. Here (in a very British way) I gave into my jangled nerves and ordered a cup of tea on room service. After this, to escape from the world temporarily I proceeded to stick on HBO where I lost my self in Hitch, which thankfully had me in hysterics in no time. We ended the evening with some heavy duty cocktails and discussed what we had seen at the museum, which I think helped digest it a bit.
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