Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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The past five days in this chaotic city has been stimulus overload! Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC or Saigon) is Vietnam's largest city and by large I mean INSANELY large! There are so many ppl and so many motorbikes, it's enough to make your head spin. Eghad!

Tory & I arrived here from Mui Ne and checked into a super nice hotel ($16/night! eep! that's the most we've ever paid for a room) w/ air-con, tv, and a fridge. We're living the life! It's a good thing that we had air-con though b/c the city is SO hot, made hotter by the haze of pollution spewing out of the excessive number of motorbike exhaust pipes all over the city. There are no road rules - the motorbikes just go anywhere and everywhere. It's terrifying but also hilarious and fun to ride along on the back of a mototaxi in the middle of the madness. It's like you're on a roller coaster at Canada's Wonderland - you're scared sh**less but you can't help yourself from laughing out loud. Similarly, crossing the road is also an adrenaline rush! lol You just have to walk slowly and hope that no one hits you! GAH!

Anyway, prior to this trip, I only had a vague idea of Vietnam's recent history. My mission while in this city, therefore, was to learn as much history as possible and I did so by going to a multitude of museums and reading as much as I could. I now feel like I have a better grasp of what has happened here which has left me with much emotion in response to how the people of this country have suffered.

The first museum that I went to was the popular War Remnants museum which showcases, through photographs and displays of war tanks and bombs, the horrors of the American/Vietnam war. Many of the photo essays were of stunning pictures taken by American and other foreign journalists during the war. There were hundreds of photos, each one more gut wrenching than the next. It honestly was awful to face the reality of the brutality suffered on both sides. I felt sick to my stomach and was completely overwhelmed with emotion as I passed through each exhibit. It was a sobering experience to say the least - the museum even had a special exhibit to demonstrate the mental and physical effects (which continue today) of the US' use of Agent Orange which included jarred human fetuses with congenital anomalies. Ugh. I slowly began to draw connections to the many physically disabled ppl that you see begging on the streets - some blind, others w/ deformed or missing limbs. What it seems that everyone forgets is that long after a conflict has 'ended', the physical and emotional suffering goes on and on, affecting generation after generation of Vietnamese (and American) people. Interestingly, in each exhibit, there was a reflections book where guests could leave comments. The majority of ppl wrote about their wishes for peace all over the world, but a large number were also to the tune of "American, when will you ever learn!?" or "American, stop bullying the world. Peace in Iraq". I can't imagine how American tourists feel visiting this site and reading such comments. I felt guilty enough as it was.

Next, I went to the Reunification Palace - the building that housed the Saigon government, also known as the US-backed 'puppet regime" during the war. It was the site where, in 1975, the Viet Cong 'liberated' HCMC and overtook the city. The most interesting aspect of the building was that it literally was exactly the same as when it was a working governmental office. The decor, furniture, equipment, maps etc. were all straight from the 1970s. It was really spooky actually!

After, I visited another museum, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, housed in a gorgeous French colonial building built in the late 1800s. The exhibits weren't that great, but I loved the architecture - grand staircases and original chandeliers!

Museum-ed out, the next day, Tory & I visited the nearby Cu Chi tunnels. We signed up for a tour to do this which, as always, had its perks and disadvantages. The good thing that came with being with a tour, is that there was an English speaking guide - a man whose mother was Vietnamese and father was American. He had served for the American marines along the Saigon River during the war and had helped the US army to fight against the Viet Cong guerrillas that built and fought from the intense tunnel system in the area. It was pretty impressive to visit the place where VC soldiers had built some 200+ kms of underground tunnels (extending from tunnels previously built in the Franco-Viet war), from 3m - 10m under the surface, to hide from and fight against the US. Again and again, our guide pointed out to many of the crafty tricks that the VC used against him and the US - from booby traps using sharpened bamboo poles or poisonous snakes, to homemade land mines constructed from the shells of American bombs. The Americans, in frustration of not being able to find the VC, carpet bombed and bulldozed the entire area, destroying all of the above vegetation. They also sprayed herbicides and other chemicals so that the peasant farmers in the area couldn't produce any food to feed the VC. Against all of that, the VC fended off the US by living for up to weeks on end underground. I can't even imagine how they did that - the tunnels were tiny (80cm x 80cm), dark and hot. Ugh. We were able to pass through about 120m of tunnels that had been enlarged for tourists and even I felt squished and had to crawl to move through them. The end of the tour featured a chance for tourists for buy bullets and fire an AK47. I have NO idea what the appeal or motivation of doing that was but there were quite a few guys eager to pull the trigger and so we had to suffer through rounds of noise as they fired at empty oil barrels.

Other sights that I went to that didn't have to do w/ the war were the large and chaotic markets in central HCMC and in Cho Lon (aka Chinatown). I love markets with their noise and business. I didn't buy anything, although the dried shrimp and squirming fish WERE quite appealing 😊 I also spent time on street corners just watching the world rush by. It's quite amusing so see what the Vietnamese can pile onto a motorbike. One night, I also went to a Water Puppet show - a traditional form of entertainment that farmers used in rice fields. Now, the tourist version was played out in an indoor theater but I was highly amused and enjoyed it very much. The puppets were made of wood and played out sketches related to Vietnamese life. It was hilarious!

Next up, Tory & I are getting on board a boat for three days as we tour through the Mekong Delta and up to Cambodia. I'm excited to get out of the city and watch life flow by on the boat!

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