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Published: November 30th 2007
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We arrived in Saigon early in the morning after the night bus from Nha Trang. Saigon is very like Hanoi traffic wise but the streets are much wider so it doesn't feel as clostrophobic. We checked into one of the guesthouses in the backpacker area of the city and headed out for the day.
Starting with Ben Thanh Market, this is a four storey high market cramed full of everything you can think of, as it was early in the day we seemed to be the only tourists about, there were loads of vietnamise buying stuff wholesale like material and clothes to sell on the streets, the place was mad busy. Impossible to buy anything because they would literally start pulling at you if you slowed down or showed any interest in their stall. From here we went to the Reunification Palace which was the headquarters for the south government during the war and site of there final surrender when the tanks from the north came bursting through the gates, some of which are still in the grounds.
Next stop was the War Remnants Museum, which held more interesting bits from the Vietnam War. Outside were tanks and helicopters
and inside the walls were covered in photography from the war, some really horrific stuff, pictures of people killed in the war and pictures of the effects of agent orange on kids born after the war, the 3rd generation after the war are still being effected. One of the most awful things were 2 jars both with babies born severely deformed. After the pictures you visit models of the torture chambers and pictures of how people were tourtured, very disturbing stuff. You really see the effect of the war alot more in Saigon than anywhere else, even though its not hard to notice all the graveyards and demolished buildings when traveling through the country. But in Saigon you see a lot more people missing limbs and people with deformities. The Yankes really destroyed the place with the chemical warfare, I hadn't heard of it untill I saw it for myself here. There also seems to be a lot more poverty here, during dinner there was a constant stream of people selling stuff; books, kids selling cigars, chewing gum, you name it! The restaurant we ate at had a sign saying no sale, thank you, in Vietnamese, most ignored it, one
kid moved it in with a cheeky grin. The amount of really young kids out selling stuff late at night is really sad, the really small ones will cling onto you and you can't shake them off! Also the moto drivers would shout at you offering a lift and when you said no they would offer you every drug imaginable instead.
Day 2 in Saigon we took a half day trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels were used by NLF guerrillas as hiding spots during the war, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. On the tour of the tunels before you actually get to go in they show you some of the traps set up to catch and kill the Americans, you also see a model of the network of tunnels and you can stand into on of the enterances originally used, its tiny, the one used now for the tourists is much bigger. The guide told us they widened them so they wouldn't have to refund any tourist to fat to enter. When you see it all its amazing how clever
they were to construct all this from nothing and hide it, they even used the remains of the American weapons to make there own. There is a 90m stretch of tunnel that you can go through with an exit at every 30m. Its so tiny, its amazing to think people lived there! To get through you had to crouch to your knees and sort of crawl through, our guide decided to let everyone lose at the same time so once you were in there there were people right in front and right behind and because it was pitch dark you keep bumping into them. People came out the other end dripping with sweat. The funniest part was the history video they showed at the start, pure propaganda, I felt a little uncomfortable watching it and I'm not even American.
Our next stop was Cambodia and another bus. Before we left I managed to get run over by two ladies on their scooter. I would say something about lady driver but to be honest I didn't even see her as I was watching the cops chasing an African gentelman down the street with batons at the time. No damage done
fortunitely.
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