The 10hr bush taxi ride from Kep to HCMC took it out of us all; especially when you are trying to find a bed at 8pm. Once we had found a room, we went out for dinner at a local restaurant. Sam ordered shrimp; the waitress proceeded to put a burner on our table followed by a pot. In the pot there were alive shrimps, they jumped out when given the chance. Dave and I went out for the night and got in around 4am.
The next day, Sam, Helen and I went for a walk around HCMC to see the parks, Reunification Palace and War Remaments Museum. The Reunification Palace was the Presidental Palace of South Vietnam before the North took over; thus converting the palace in to a historical relic.
The Remaments Museum was an eye opener to the atrocities that occurred during the conflict between Vietnam and USA. We saw victims of napalm and a toxic substance called Agent Orange (which is still maiming people today, including the Western Soldiers sent to battle). It was horrific to see how low America was willing to go to defeat the communist threat; I kept on asking how the USA has not faced war crime charges for the destruction and devastation they have left behind on the lifes of innocents as well as fighters.
The rest of day was spent relaxing including a nice meal in the De Tham street area (Saigons own Leicester Square). We were up early the next day for a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels; an area heavily bombed and poisoned by the Americans during the war to remove the Viet Cong (Northern Communist Fighters). The tunnels were created by the people to protect themselves against attack and offer ways of ambushing American troops. We walked through some tunnels that had been enlarged for Westerners; needless to say that I was struggling big time. We were also given the opportunity to fire a real gun with real bullets; Dave and I had a go with an AK47...interesting and bloody loud! Do not worry I am not coming back from one and the money that brought the bullets supports charities of victims of the war. The utilisation of resources by Vietnamese was amazing and scarely effective; especially there use of traps...it would have been horrific to be a GI walking in to them.
The rest of the day was spent wandering HCMC and having a cut throat shave whilst a rooster stared at me and occasionally crowwed! The electrical set up is particularly interesting...
We are off to Mui Ne tomorrow for Sand Dune surfing maybe...
2 comments:
Excellet, that was really interesting. Keep them coming.
Wow what a fantastic insight, particularly to see it with other eyes remember we were the children of the vietnam war and saw only what the usa wanted us to see if the atrocoties they received! Love it, would have loved to be a fly to see the reaction when the shrimps started jumping. love to all take care mumxx
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