Saigon

Out in Saigon
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Well, we made it!  I guess you never really truly understand the size of a country until you see it by bus and train.  Take our word for it, Vietnam is very, very long!

We were happy to arrive in Saigon and settle down for a few days.  The three long days of buses and travel left us both feeling a bit under the weather, so we secured a room with our favorite cable channels and spent the first day and a half watching tv and sleeping.  Once we felt well enough to venture into the outside world we decided to leave our sheltered backpackers' ghetto and head into the total chaos that is Saigon.  Even more so than Hanoi, Saigon is an absolute madhouse of hectic traffic, blaring horns, and frantic people. Walking through traffic in an attempt to get anywhere would test the nerves of even the most seasoned "Frogger" player.

Walking through traffic...would test the nerves of even the most seasoned "Frogger" player.

Saigon Afternoon Rain Storm
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After multiple near death road crossings we finally made our way to the War Remnants Museum.  We thought that it would be important and interesting to see how the Vietnam (American) War was viewed and presented to the Vietnamese people.  Even with a strong warning from our guidebook about what to expect we still had little idea what we were really in for.  It was gruesome!  As we saw it, the museum was really just a one room exhibit of photos of the atrocities that the American solders committed against the Vietnamese people.  From pictures of GIs holding mutilated bodies and pictures of people injured by Napalm,  to pictures of piles of dead women and children, to actual mutated unborn fetuses in jars, this place was as bad as they come.  We had never felt so uncomfortable in our entire life as we did sitting there amongst this display of abuse and desecration.

Bike Traffic in the Rain
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After leaving and letting the feelings settle a bit we talked about the museum for a while and came to the conclusion that our feeling of discomfort was not so much from guilt as it was from disgust at the way the museum was presented.  Since neither one of us really had any direct tie to the war we'd like to think that we have open minds about the facts of the war.  We also would like to think that we are not so patriotic that we believe that America acted appropriately during the war.  We have been taught otherwise, and we know full well that war brings out the worst in people.  That said, the museum was really just a shameless propaganda tool designed to clear the Northern Vietnamese solders of equal participation in the terrible acts of the Vietnam War.  There was not a single peace of meaningful information posted, nor any picture that did not have a direct reference to some terrible American act.  Moreover, quotes (Including some from the US Constitution) chastising Americans were carefully selected and posted under the photos or on large plaques.

Yeah Communism!
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All in all, our conclusion on the museum was this:  As a tool for understanding and empathizing with the atrocities of war- A+, but as an educational tool for understanding a countries history-F.  We would only suggest going if you have a strong stomach and a clear conscience.

In stark contrast to the War Museum , and much to our amazement, our tour of the Cu Chi Vietcong Tunnels outside of  Saigon was highly educational and incredibly interesting.  The Tunnels were amazing, and really ingrained a  respect for the lives of the Vietcong fighters.  In seeing how advanced the tunnel systems were, and what ingenuity the fighters proved to have, it is no shock that they were able to succeed as they did.

Craft Makers
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In addition to the tunnels themselves (which i'll get to in a second), the open museum also presented life size models of housing units, actual Vietcong booby traps, examples of bomb and mine making practices, B-52 bomb craters, and maps of the extensive tunnel networks.  To add ambiance to the whole experience, they also had a firing range where, for $1 a bullet, you could shoot automatic and semiautomatic assault riffles.  The firing range added the element of constant gun fire during the tour, which gave the whole thing a very surreal feeling.

Craft Makers
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We were also given the option of crawling through a 40 meter section of the tunnel.  Suz and I headed in first with no light and no idea where we were going.  We soon found ourselves alone, in the dark, and scared.  So scared!  Nobody else in our group was following us in, which gave us the impression that we were falling for some big joke.  After a flash of the camera revealed that the tunnel lead farther down into the black abyss we looked at each other and without saying a word were in complete agreement that we needed to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible!  So, with no time to spare, and no room to move, we quickly crawled backwards and out the way we came.  When we emerged everyone in our group told us we looked white as a ghost, which i'm sure is true.  As it turned out, we had not fallen for a joke, everyone in our group was just taking their sweet-ass time to follow suit.  Now shaking and terrified we decided one attempt was enough.  We chalked another notch of respect up for the Vietcong and made our way to the exit.

At the Start of the Tunnels Tour
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Back in Saigon we booked a three day trip through the Mekong River delta up to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  We are really excited about the trip, and think that it will provide some great experiences.  Our next blog will come from there.  Take care everyone!