Vietnam: Last stop, Ho Chi Minh City

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh and were met with nothing other than the wonderful sun!!! finally...

Volleyball!

There are 10 million people in Saigon, and there are 5 million scooters.

 

Our guide for the CuChi tunnels told us that 1 motorbike = 1 girlfriend, 2 motorbikes = 2 girlfriends, and so on. There were couples all over the place just sitting on their motorbikes making out. Not a bad strategy

We made it to the city after a crazy cab ride through the insane traffic and found a hotel. After that we made our way to the War Remnants Museum.
This was one of the more difficult experiences of our trip. I'm not really sure how to describe it but it was definitely tough to be an American and be in that museum. The museum used to be called the American War Crimes museum however that was not well received so it was changed, but there was still an exhibit called the War Crimes exhibit. I walked in and the first thing they have is a quote from our Declaration of Independence. After that it was just picture after picture and story after story of American soldiers pillaging villages and taking the lives of innocents.
There was also an exhibit displaying pictures of children and other village people who now have many different health issues including deformities and brain problems because of the use of chemical weapons during the war.

US soldiers with dead Vietnamese

Defense Secretary Rob McNarmara- I'm now reading his book called "In Retrospect" which explains the decision making process throughout the war and basically looking at the whole war in hindsight. It's very interesting. Although it is translated and not very well.

All in all the museum was a lot to handle but it was good to see that point of view. It's hard for Americans to understand the consequences of war when we have never had an international war happen on our own soil. Yes there was the revolutionary and civil wars, but since then everything we've fought in has been removed from us by an ocean at least. The consequences to the economy and landscapes and the people are things we just have never had to deal with, at least not to the extent that Vietnam has, and its really amazing that Vietnam has now brought itself out of third world status and into a modern developing nation after all that destruction.

So after the war museum we headed to a park near our hotel and watched the locals play this game that is quite similar to hacky sack but a little different.
Then we met some locals who decided they wanted to practice their English a bit, so we went for drinks with them and sat and people watched the rest of the night.

In the morning we headed to the CuChi tunnels, which was quite a long bus ride northwest of the city, but it was well worth it. The CuChi villagers resisted the South Vietnamese government and later were supported by the North Vietnamese to help fight against the South Vietnamese and the US. These villagers created an underground tunnel system that they lived in for 17 years!!!!! The tunnels were three levels deep, you could only talk once you went to the 2nd or 3rd level so the soldiers on top could not hear you. They would cook very early in the morning so the small amount of smoke they created would get lost in the fog that was lifting in the morning. The tunnels were connected to the river and that is where they would go to the bathroom. When the US soldiers would try to smoke the villagers out of the tunnels or flood the tunnels, they would just go to the 2nd level and seal them off. They recycled everything they found and created traps for the soldiers. These villagers outlasted the US and South Vietnamese troops the entire war. They were never taken over, even though a US base was about 1 km away from the village. It was insane. I feel terribly bad for any Americans who had to fight in this area. These people had more willpower and determination to survive and protect their village than I can even imagine.

Trap made by the CuChi villagers for the soldiers

US tank the CuChi villagers stopped using a delayed bomb because the tank is more vulnerable in the back so when it drives over the bomb, 5 seconds later the bomb will go off

I would not want to have this job if I was a CuChi villager... they tried to use as much as they can so they would just cut into unexploded bombs and use what they could

Not great form but it was still pretty cool

These were the official shoes of the North Vietnamese soldiers... yes sandals made from tire rubber

Entrance to one of the tunnels

It got worse after this...

There was one section of a tunnel about 100m long, that was actually widened so foreigners could try it. The tunnels were originally about 1m tall and .5 m wide. Rachelle and I tried to go through the widened one and made it almost to the end... until you had to literally lay down and crawl to get through, we decided we'd had enough at that point. That's the closest I've been to hyperventilation. In less than 100 m. Imagine that for 17 YEARS! unreal.

When we got back to Ho Chi Minh we checked out the Reunification Palace, which is where the South Vietnamese Government was stationed during the war. When a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the front gate, that was pretty much the end of the war. The Reunification Palace was very modern, almost creepy inside as well.

And now back to Bangkok!