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Published: October 5th 2006
'Uncle Ho'
Ho Chi Minh05/09/06 - 06/09/06 Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
From the moment entering the Immigration Hall in Vietnam in seeing the huge red flag and gold star, I couldn't help feeling a strange feeling of uncomfortable nervousness. Just the thought that I was in a country that I really couldn't be sure about if something went wrong. Of course the Visa in my passport read 'Socialist Republic of Vietnam' and the red of the flag just keeps screaming to your brain - Communist country!
Roads were chaos after a small stint back on European soil and motorbikes were seen laden with TV's, fridges in fact anything far too big that you would possibly consider moving on 2 wheels.
Our first trip, after settling into the town was out to the Cu Chi tunnels. We stopped beside a rubber plantation en route and admired the perfect rows of rubber trees forming the forest. A bicycle had been left leaning up against one tree just asking for a photo as the sunlight shone down through the trees. I was fascinated by the huge Government propaganda boards on crossroads and in fields in the countryside. Our guide translated some of the
Vietnamese wording such as “It is the duty of all citizens of this district to keep the district clean and peaceful and all have a duty to inform on any criminal activity.”
The Cu Chi tunnels were used by the Viet Cong to fight America during the war, or as the Vietnamese video informed us - “ Housed the Heroes fighting against the America War Machine”
We tried out a section of the tunnels widened for fat tourists !! Viet Cong went through tiny sections of tunnel as they were often about 45kg in weight. We looked at some sections and would never have fit through! There were displays of booby traps used to trap the enemy and we tried some raw tapioca - the staple diet of the VC during the war. Not too tasty.
At the Shooting range, we both fired an AK47, MK16 and MK60 machine gun. Then posed with a strip of bullets in the standard Rambo pose. The MK60 can fire 600 rounds per minute although at a dollar a bullet we only loaded 2 each. It was interesting, that, throughout our visit to the tunnels a soldier from the Vietnamese army was
at our side, even though we also had our own private guide.
Visited the War Remnants Museum which was renamed from the Museum of American War Crimes after the US lifted a trade embargo. Obviously very anti-USA. Touching and disturbing photos of Napalm and agent orange victims as well as a print of the famous picture of Kim Phuc running from the Us napalm strike.
City tour included the Post Office which actually looks like a railway station and Notre Dame Cathedral built in 1883. Every brick and stone was bought from France for it's construction. I've never seen a Catholic church with Neon signs and blue and pink neon halos around the saints in the enclaves.
The Norodom Palace now called the Re-unification Palace thanks to the 'liberation' of the North Vietnamese is as it was left with very (now) retro decoration from the 60s and 70s. There were basement war bunkers with old computers, typewriters, radio systems and war rooms with huge maps of Vietnam on the walls. A helicopter still stands on the roof.
Afternoon visit to the Thien Hau Pagoda in the Cholon area (Chinatown) and then spent a relaxing evening at
Minh's Jazz Bar with live jazz and cocktails. Could have been anywhere in the world!!
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