Advertisement
Published: March 17th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Beccy Fay and Ollie
(with 3 spring rolls in his mouth and garlic bread) Fri 16th
Fay wan't feeling well (not all due to hang over) so Becky and I rose at 7 to get our tour bus to the Cu Chi tunnels where the local Vietnames hid and lived in a series of tunels. (I just went to Petes blog to try to get a great informative description but he didn't visit!). The visit started with the usual bus stop at the local craft shop. Once we had arrived at the tunnels we watched a video which was increadably anti american, calling them all sorts- I cant remember the exact words but it made me say to becky did they really just say that? (There were a large number of Americans on our bus). Unfortunatly the video wasn't that clear and our guides pronunciation of English was incomprehensible so i think we could have learnt more with another guide. However the trip was still interesting.
They showed us the size of the entrances to the tunnels which ran in a cobweb covering 200km. They were orriginal built againt the french but they were short then and once discovered those inside where trapped.
We had a chance to go down into a "tourist" size
Tunnel entrance
note how small compaired to feet tunnel where we still had to stoop and it was scarry and dark and twisting. I cant imagine being down there all day and only coming out at night. We saw some impresive traps that they used agains the US troops such as see-saw traps that once walked on tip and you fall into a pit of bamboo spikes. We also saw how they hid the hole by building termite hills to hide airvents in and surrounding the vents with chilli powder to prevent the US dogs from sniffing them out.
Bizarly here as with the killing feilds you can shoot a gun here- I declined.
Back in the city we were really hot and had lost motivation to do any other sight seeing, we collected Fay and went for a lovely 4pm lunch.
In the evening we met with Ollie again and bumped into a guy the girls had met on a previous bus so invited him to eat with us. While we were sat on the street having drinks who should walk past but Malin and Sara! So they joined us for a drink aswell. I went to bed about 12.15, Fay folowed at 1pm, I don't
know when Becky got back she ended up going with Ollie back to the posh bar!
Sat 17th March
The girls got up at 5am to get there flight to Thailand and I slept on till 8.30. After breakfast I went to The War Reminants Museum, which Pete has been kind enought to write about!!...
The museum itself has been open since 1975 and shows numerous exhibits and artefacts on the effects war crimes committed by foreign forces on the Vietnamese people. During the Vietnam War, 3 million Vietnamese were killed (2 milion of these people were civilians), 2 million people were injured and 300,000 people are still missing. In the courtyard there are a number of U.S. tanks, aircraft and heavy artillery that were recovered. Inside were a number of exhibits showing the types of weapons used by the Americans. These included Nail bombs, Napalm and porobably the most horrendous of all, Agent Orange. Agent Orange is a toxic chemical that was either used in the form of a bomb, or literally sprayed over the jungle from planes. It destroyed over 2 million hectares of forest and countless people were affected. The chemical is known to cause cancer and various other diseases and disabilities. It was not just the short term effects however, once the chemicals got into the water supply and earth, future generations were also affected.
There was also a large exhibition of war photography from various different photographers, whether they were travelling with the American, North Vietnamese or South Vietnames forces, these pictures are upsetting, but truly amazing. I would definitely recommend anyone to visit for this exhibition alone as it really gives you quite a personal idea of what life was like for the soldiers.
There was also a recreation of the Tiger Cages. The Tiger cages were located on Con Dao Island and were created by the Saigon Regime. They were used by the Saigon Authorities to imprison 'stubborn' political prisoners. There would be up to 15 people in one cage, the prisoners were regularly beaten and tortured and fed very little amounting to malnutrition and general bad health. When you look in through the peep holes in the doors of these cages you see that they have positioned a waxwork of a prisoner on the bed which really does give you quite a shock and helps you to
understand the dire living conditions these people had to endure.
Thanks Pete
I'm really glad I visited here. It was definatly shocking. I found S21 hard but the photos and pictures of how the US soldiers tortured the Vietnamies seamed to effect me more. I think this was because they were Americans and so closer to English than the People under Pol Potts orders. Also (If I understand correctly and please correct me if I'm wrong) the US came and fought this war because they were scared if Vietnam became comunist it may start a war on the surrounding countries or America. So just incase Vietnam may at some point invade the US they invaded first.
It was interesting to read an article about a pilot who refuse to fly as he didn't believe it was be the right thing to do anymore. I wonder if soldiers out there fighting today stopped and thought about who they were killing and why, stop listening to the orders of someone back in there home country and look around at the atual effect of their actions. Would they think that what they are doing is atually helping the people?
On
my way back from the museum I took a video of the manic driving and tried to photo some of the sights I had taken for granted in Vietnam and wanted to remmeber such as the street vendors and the women with every inch of skin covered incase- God forbid- they should tan and become unatractive. At 1.30 I got a taxi to the airport and boarded my 4.30 flight to Kular Lumpur.
I am now using a free internet terminal to update my blog (sorry I got a bit behind). I will put photos on soon. Well that has filled the last few hours! Only and hour left to wait till I board to fly to AFRICA! Yay- here I go on the final 3rd of my trip.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.084s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 13; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0351s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
DDLL
non-member comment
Viernam War
Simplistically I think the USA had a policy of stopping 'the spread of Communism'. In UK the anti war protest movemnent was huge with a massive march to the USA Embassy in London in 1968. Also many 'pop' songs were anti Vietnam war. The following is 'sarcastic' words of a song - Come on all of you big strong men Uncle Sam needs your help again he's got himself in a terrible jam way down yonder in Viet Nam so put down your books and pick up a gun we're gonna have a whole lotta fun (CHORUS) And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Viet Nam And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee we're all gonna die Come on generals, let's move fast your big chance has come at last now you can go out and get those reds cos the only good commie is the one that's dead and you know that peace can only be won when we've blown 'em all to kingdom come