Our first day in Ho Chi Minh was also Laura's last day traveling which is sad. Because of this we arose early in order to see a few sights before she had to catch her flight. Firstly we went to the War Remnants Museum. This is a must see if you have any interest in the war. I am ashamed to say my history isn't the best and I was pretty much unaware of the story of the war in Vietnam bar what I have seen on movies. In Honai I got a taste of the brutality that went on during the war but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see. The museum consists of a harrowing display of photographs of victims of the war. Photos of dead men, women and children. There was one photo of a group of women and children on the side of the road crying and obviously terrified. The photographer that took the photo said that he was traveling with US soldiers, he saw the group and took their picture, after that he walked on and heard gun shots and bodies falling. He couldn't turn around, just kept walking. The war was horrific, in total 3 million Vietnamese were killed 2 million of which were civilians. They were tortured and suffered horribly at the hands of the US invaders.
Another photo showed two little boys lying on top of each other on the side of a road. Underneath was a caption indicating the boys faith, the photographer who took the photo tells how the US soldiers came across the two boys, the older boy lay on top of the younger one trying to shield him, the photographer walked on and heard the soldiers shooting the two boys.
Another story tells of how US soldiers lead by Lt. Bob Kerrey attacked of a village. during this attack they slit the throats of two old men, found three children hiding in a well and killed all three, one of which they disemboweled and killed 15 other citizens, three of which were pregnant. The most sickening part of this story is that Lt. Kerrey later became a US senator.
Another section showed the aftermath of the war and the damage caused from the US spraying a toxic chemical known as agent orange on the land. This had a devastating effect on the crops and more importantly on the civilians. People were left severally deformed and they passed this affliction on to their offspring. Children were born with deformities that one couldn't imagine as a result of their parents being exposed to the agents. I will post some of these pictures just to display the depth of damage caused.
There was one girl for instance who will have to spend her life in a cage as she will eat or chew anything she can get her hands on, other have horrific deformities such as faces with no eyes, enlarged foreheads, crooked spines, clawed limbs, enlarged or missing limbs or bodies covered in enormous tumors.
The entire experience upset me to the core but there was one picture that brought tears to my eyes. It showed an image of a boy who as a result of his parents being exposed to orange agent was Born so physically deformed that he will have to crawl everywhere for the rest of his life( I will attach a photo of this). The reason this was so upsetting it because that boy is 23 the exact same age as my little brother. It brings it so close to home and is just heartbreaking to see how people are still being so effected and life's are still being ruined by an unnecessary war that happened decades ago.
I could go on and on about what I saw and stories I read but I will move on, however I will say that the museum is an essential shop if ever in Ho Chi Minh.
After the museum we visited Notre Damn Cathedral. This of course has nothing on the original but it is unusual to see a cathedral in Vietnam so it was worth to walk. We couldn't go in because the cathedral was closed for lunch so we went on to the art museum. The museum was ok, i loved the Lacquer paintings, I need to look up how they are created because the colours were beautiful. After the museum we headed to a new hotel where Laura left us, tear. Afterwards we got ready for dinner and drinks. The drinks weren't just ordinary drinks either. We decided we were going to do it in style so we went to chill sky bar. This is a classy rooftop cocktail bar on the 26th floor of AB tours.the cocktails were made by trained mixologists and were pretty damn good, but what made the night special was the treatment, even a simple trip to the ladies envolved having every door opened an escort to the and a person to shine torched on the ground pointing out steps and sloops. It really was V.I.P. treatment.
That night Becky's bag was nearly snatched which quickly reminded us where we were and to be aware at all times. She was walking along the street when two men on a motorbike drove on the footpath and one of them grabbed her bag, thankfully they didn't get the bag but it was a pretty frightening experience for her and a bad way to end the night.