24th March 2010
The Vietnam War remains a big part of this country’s recent history for a lot of people, us included, so this morning we wanted to visit the War Remnants Museum.
The War Remnants Museum primarily contains exhibits relating to the American phase of the Vietnam War. It really brings home the ugly truths about war through the pictures exhibited in a series of eight themed rooms. There is no doubt that the museum puts a Vietnamese slant on the war, but it is still a sobering experience, bearing witness to man’s inhumanity to man.
Outside the museum, period American military equipment is located within a walled yard. This equipment includes a number of tanks, a Chinook helicopter and a F-5A fighter jet.
Inside, there are many graphic photographs covering the effects of Agent Orange and other chemical defoliant sprays both at the time and in the case of future generations who were often born with birth defects, the use of napalm and phosphorus bombs, and atrocities such as the My Lai massacre. It’s not an easy museum to view as nothing is held back and some of the photo content is truly awful.
After a couple of hours confronted with the horrors and pointlessness of war we made our way to try and find the Immigration Department to see if we could do any more about changing our visas before we got to Hanoi. Of course, when we arrived it was shut for lunch, so we’ll have to try again another day.
Back to the sanity and peacefulness of Karen’s flat for a spot of lunch before heading back into town to visit the Reunification Palace.
Reunification Palace is a historic landmark in Ho Chi Minh City. It was designed by architect Ngo Viet Thu as the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and was the site of the official handover of power during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when an NVA tank crashed through its gates.
We spent the next couple of hours wandering around the inside of this massive building. It was very dated in terms of the decor and architecture, but must have been very impressive during its heyday. Especially striking was the top floor ballroom with views out over the helipad and the city of Saigon.
It was still incredibly hot outside (and inside since there was no air-conditioning), so we walked very slowly to the Ben Thanh market. This a big marketplace in the downtown area of the city and one of the earliest surviving structures in Saigon. It was full of the same stuff as the markets in Chinatown in KL - more ‘genuine copies’ along with plenty of tourist souvenirs, fabrics, tea and anything else you may care to buy. As you walk along, the stallholders cry out to you, but we’ve now learnt to ignore such advances and only stop when we’re genuinely interested in something.
We had about an hour wandering along the narrow alleyways before calling it a day and getting a taxi back to the flat.
This evening’s excursion was to the local supermarket. I’ve long been a fan of local supermarkets all over the world as it fascinates me what products people can get and how they differ from home. This place was manic and sold everything from clothes and fabric to household goods and groceries but also live fish and an interesting range of vegetables. We spent a good hour looking around and also searching in vain for some peppermint tea. Lots of things you can get, but peppermint tea is proving more difficult. At least having bought some interesting looking sweets, I now know what peppermint is in Vietnamese, so can at least write down what I’m looking for (pronounciation is out of the question!).