March 30 2012

We were with our guide all day today. It was hot, humid and tiring, but really interesting. First, we were driven out to the Chu Chi district, a few miles to the north west of Saigon city centre, where a whole system of Vietcong tunnels has been preserved. They weren't just tunnels, either. They had conference rooms, kitchens, living quarters and even hospitals underground. Jen and I were persuaded to go down into one of the tunnels, and travelled about 20 metres before deciding that we'd had enough. It is pretty claustrophobic down there and you have to admire the VC's enterprise and guts.

Following our tour of Chu Chi, we were taken back to the city for a traditional Vietnamese lunch of noodles in broth - really nice, even though the restaurant was pretty grim (especially the loo!) We then visited the former South Vietnam Presidential Palace, now called the Reunification Palace, before going on to the War Remnants Museum. This must be the most distressing museum in the world. It consists mostly of exhibitions of photographs, and there is no doubt at all that the Americans are painted as the aggressors in the Vietnam War (which the locals call the American War, by the way). The atrocities inflicted on the local people, including the most appalling variety of torture and well-known bombardments with things like napalm and agent orange, are almost too much to contemplate. The Americans were not the only aggressors in this part of the world, however. Before them it was the French colonial powers, and the actual guillotine used in those days is on show in the museum.

The basket on the right was used as a receptacle for the body after decapitation.

Just as our tour was drawing to a close, our guide pointed out the building in the middle of the next photograph. It's quite near to our hotel, just along from the central Post Office. As the Vietnam War was drawing to a close, a photograph was released to the press showing a helicopter rescuing people from a rooftop. This was it...

The photograph was wrongly captioned, claiming that it showed US Embassy staff being rescued from the roof of the Embassy. In fact, this is the roof of a block of flats which housed CIA agents and Vietnamese people who had worked for them. The people in this photo are, apparently, those Vietnamese folk.

This is the same building today, with a modern skyscraper behind it.

There won't be a post tomorrow because we will be on a boat overnight in the Mekong Delta with no internet access, so check back in a couple of days.

Jenny's bit:  The traffic is truly terrifying, its bad enough being in a car but as a pedestrian it appears to be suicide.  The safety of our hotel is appealing but I suppose we just have to go out to dinner...  Jx