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“Lynds on the white cliffs of Dover with an M16” |
Into Saigon we went, and the ever present mopeds were still plaguing the place like some kind of angry bees (we witnessed a new record seeing a tall fridge freezer and two blokes aside the 50cc pack horse!!). The weather was hot and many of the cyclo riders slept on their bikes at the side of the road as it's far too hot to pedal. The city itself is a sprawling city with very little in it's favour apart from the cheery locals.
It was decided we would take a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels which are some 40km out of Saigon. And what a feat of engineering they are. In total there are 250km of these tunnels that stretched at their prime from Cambodia to Saigon. At a depth of 10metres with three floors they are truly amazing. People lived down here for months at a time with most tunnels only possible by crawling on your belly (the tunnels you can go in have been enlarged for the larger western rump!!). The area of Cu Chi, although in the south which the US and local forces apparently owned, was an area that Vietcong kept a grip on. The US moved an army base into the area to try and end the upsurgency but still couldn't shift them (and also put their base on some of the tunnels and couldn't work out how they were getting shot in their beds???).
Agent orange was dropped here to kill off the vegetation and the area became a 'free fire' zone, meaning no orders were needed to bomb here. Planes coming back from bombing further north would empty any remaining bombs on the area. But the Vietcong remained in their tunnels. The US tried gassing them out but the ventilation prevented that from working, then they tried putting dogs down. But so many dogs were dying on booby traps and the like that the handlers refused to put their dogs anywhere near the tunnels. In the end the US resorted to putting down their own soldiers (generally the ones considered cannon fodder) and armed only with a pistol and a knife due to the amount of space they really had no chance at all.
After five minutes in the tunnels I felt claustrophobic and these are the widened out versions. I crawled for 50 metres and when I got out was soaked from how hot and stuffy they are. Lynds took one look and (quite wisely) decided to meet me at the other end.
After that we were offered the chance to let rip with an M16. The Rambo gene jumped out and I couldn't help but want to have a go. So we bought some bullets (live ones) and had a go on a range, helped by a local army guy. Now firstly, I have never heard anything as loud, ever. They give you some ear protectors (which are old sony headphones but at least they're trying) and tell you how to aim at the metal deer some 100m away. But the problem occurs when you pull the trigger and the kickback makes you blink and the noise leaves you deaf. I had no idea if I'd hit the target or not. Four attempts later I managed it (I think) after my instructor kept smiling and saying "too high mister". Lynds had a go and faired much the same, but I did seem to think I saw a passing goose land very quickly and without much grace after she'd let loose her final round!! How anyone could have used these on other people on a day to day basis, I have no idea. But I hope that I never have to use one again as I feel the country may be let down. However, if the UK is under threat from migrating birds and their flu then I say we stick Lynds on the white cliffs of Dover with an M16 and our avion population could be saved.
The following day we continued the war theme and went to the War remnants museum. This was formally called the 'Museum of American and Chinese Attrocities' but apparently that didn't do much for the tourist trade so it was changed. We both agreed that we had never been to a more honest and brutal museum before. Mainly the exhibits were photos which I don't think would be allowed to be shown anywhere else in the world. They showed the ugly side of war with pictures of captured Vietcong being dragged through jungle by tanks. One of the photos showed a GI after a mine had killed an enemy. All that was left was a head attached to 1/3 of a torso. This was being held aloft triumphantly by a GI with a big smile on his face. I know that war does strange things to men bu this was truly horrible. Lynds and I stood and watched amazed as after we had looked,an american guy about our age stood next to the photo and got his girlfriend to take his photo next to it with a big smile on his face. I just couldn't fathom it. If a German guy went on a visit to the gas chambers and had his photo taken next to a picture of gassed jews that would surely be the same thing. Disgusting. Needless to say we didn't take any photos.
So next we were going to Phnomm Penh in Cambodia, but after all this war history and having both just read 'The Killing Fields' we decided that a field full of horror stories of massacres was maybe not one to see, so we opted for Siem Reap to see the worlds largest area of temples!!
previous travel blog entry
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