DAY FIFTEEN

First up today...the war remnants museum. It is designed around the conflicts primarily between the Vietnamese and the French, and then the U.S. It seems that only the U.S are blamed for anything that happened during their conflict, and the rest of the participating allied forces are not mentioned, apart from the odd picture. The museum has the standard for Vietnam ' trophies' positioned in the courtyard, such as the phantom fighter plane, chinook and Huey helicopters, tanks etc etc.
The museum itself is slightly less biased than Ho Chi Minh Museum, but still talks of the evil American empire in quite great depth. An exhibition covers the use of chemical weaponry, most specifically the use of 'Agent Orange'. It details how it was used, how much was used, where it was used and the resulting effects. It is on par with what Saddam carried out in Iraq - truly horrific. The widespread use of napalm levelled complete villages and jungle through the U.S tactic of shock and awe.There were quite a few photos showing fatalities and casualties of napalm use, including some very famous images taken at the time, especially one of a Vietnamese girl running down a rural road having been just caught in a Napalm drop. It was one of the most evocative images of the war, bringing the horrors being inflicted to both sides to the worlds eyes. The girl, named Kim Phuc, is now a U.N goodwill ambassador, and her biography is certainly a hard but necessary read.
There are many items donated to the museum from Americans, Canadians and Aussies which carry messages of sorrow for their personal involvement. Must be an incredible burden on the conscience for those personally involved. Unfortunately, the powers in control can dictate actions of their forces without providing the complete details of what it is they are being commanded. This happened with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WW2, and I am sure many times over in all conflicts.
Not exactly very cheery stuff, but people do need to contemplate what it was like for these guys and girls, many of whom were conscripted at 18/19 years old and thrust into jungles where the one minute it is in the mid thirties, then torrential rain , lasting for days at a time fighting a force that is pretty serious about defending its own country. the same can be said about the VC troops - the loss of life was horrific on their side, and also the injured, maned and gassed.The U.S had the firepower, but the VC knew their topography very well, used tunnel systems to great effect and took many surprise initiatives that eventually resulted in the Allied forces leaving Vietnamese shores.
The afternoon saw us meet up with Tom and Anna, the Dutch guys, and we took a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels, which are located about 2 hours to the north west of Saigon. This area was an extremely pivotal location for the VC, as the network of tunnels they started building when fighting the French was already in place when the Allied forces arrived, who had no idea of their existence. They added to the network, as well as building dummy tunnels ( as their tunnels were just big enough to fit their soldiers) to coax and trap the larger framed soldiers on the Allied side. We were showed the quite barbaric and antiquated methods of how they fought, including booby traps, types of tunnels and camouflage. If there is one thing to say, they were extremely clever and measured in how they did things. Worth a visit.
The evening brought a side of Saigon out that didn't surprise or shock me, but I managed to raise an eyebrow! I have never seen so many random acts in my life, and all we did was sit in the same seats for some time!
There was a hell of a lot of foreign men with young Vietnamese men ( bearing in mind homosexuality is illegal in Vietnam ), and when I say young, I mean young! Jasmin, who doesn't swear much, said to me ' that is f***ing creepy' and made a noise that I can attempt to spell ' urrggghhhhhhiiipppp'. She is right!
Next up was a fella whom I'm guessing is a victim of agent orange, as his method of movement was very similar to that of a spider. He used his fingers and toes and kind of coasted along. Tough fingers!
There was a fire breather who was shooting flames that reached distanced of at least 10 meters. I don't know what fire breathers usually use as a fuel, but my guess is paraffin. He used petrol. Can't be very tasty and I don't imagine there is any health benefits!
Following closely was a fella who had an improvised bike that was a karaoke machine, ice cream sales and dried squid. He wasn't a bad singer either, and he loved life. Had everyone on the street watching when he performed Tom Jones's ' It's not unusual', even with a little Carlton dance for good measure! Genius bloke, I want to sign him up to the same label as 'the Jagu's' ( there is still a future Alan MacDonald!!) .
Vietnam is drawing to a close as far as our travels are concerned, and I have to admit, Hanoi was pretty decent on hindsight ( or Ironside gleds and Vicky!). Saigon is just another big impersonal city, and the further you delve from the centres, you can truly discover the real Vietnam - the food, people, beaches, jungle, orchids and some of the French architecture is what both of us would recommend.
I will attempt to find the comedy situations again to report, as I'm aware of the dry content in the last few blogs, but sometimes it's necessary to accurately describe a place or situation.