Travel Day – Day Nine
What can we say except to say that the casual start ended with controlled chaos. We landed in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) at 4.45pm and finally left the airport at 6.15pm. In the preceding hour “FlightRadar” showed at least thirty planes landing and the immigration hall was reminiscent of the customs hall at Pearson after Covid – packed to the rafters, a thirty-five minute lineup for a twelve second passport inspection.

First Day in VietNam – Day Ten
The Cu Chi Tunnels and more.

The Cu Chi tunnels are a two hour van ride away and like Bangkok the urban sprawl is bad, ninety minutes from downtown Ho Chi Mihn City (HCMC) until you see some countryside and

then it is a very small two lane highway until we get to the Tunnels. Wiki-ref here. One of the more interesting sites was a ‘mannequin’ set up in safety gear with a flag supposed to make everybody think it was directing traffic. Before we get to the tunnels we make the obligatory stop at a tourist trap. This one was a good one a workshop developed for victims of Agent Orange and other disabled people. The quality of the goods – pieces of art made from egg shells and sand placed on wood which had a painted base. The resulting painting and art was layered and polished many times with natural materials. The artwork was magnificent and the prices relatively cheap. We bought one!

Arriving late in the morning, at the tunnels Abe, the guide, was in a hurry to get us through the ‘tourist’ complex. I say that because we only saw a microcosm of the tunnels that were developed over years of war. But what we did see was enough to impress us all. There was no such thing as a casual walk around as the number of tour groups made it impossible, waiting at each interpretive centre was the norm meaning that we really didn’t have time to digest what was there. What we did see was an entrance to the  to the tunnel system, the real entrance not the visitors’ entrance – this one was about 24″ by 18″ and only accessible by ‘little people’. At visitors’ entrance the inside of the tunnel, when two of the party did go into the tunnel, was about 4 feet high and very confining. Plenty of representative bunkers and logistical systems, but on the whole if you wanted to see the real thing you had to spend a couple of days there. The tourism industry does not allow that. Their model is to get as many people in and get them out as fast as possible. Historical realism be damned! The area spanned many acres of land and the tunnels were setup as communications between six villages. Also at the site there were examples of the many designs of ‘mantraps’ used to defend the are. All were very gruesome and would cause very serious damage to anybody stepping on one. This area was also the site of a major battle between the Viet Cong and the US army.  The hulk of an M41 tank was still in the same place as it was when it encountered a mine. Walking around the exhibits two were especially interesting: one was a fellow making “Tire Shoes” and the other was an underground Kitchen.

Off to lunch again at a large resto which was a set piece with shrimp spring rolls, chicken in sauce and green string beans and other great stuff. Obviously this resto is set up for the tourists again little spice in the food.

Back to the City in two hours and then we visited the War Remnants Museum. A history of the struggles against Imperialism; first the French and then the American Viet Nam campaign. The building was set up in an interesting way. The top floor set out the history of the War against the French and moved into the escalation of American assistance. On that floor was a very moving exhibit called “Requiem” a homage to the war correspondents who covered the war. The walls were covered with blow-ups of pictures taken with the name of the photographer and a small bio of each and a description of the context of the pic. Concentrating on pics taken of a vivid and horrific part of the action the pics certainly moved me as did the wall that named all of the correspondents who had been killed covering the conflicts.

Entering another room the Vietnamese Government has called this one “The War Crimes Room” where all kinds of atrocities have been documented and graphic photos back up the facts. An interesting allegation was that John Kerry a decorated Veteran of the Vietnamese campaign was accused of a war crime by the Vietnamese government even though he is recognized a an anti-war protestor.

Another room was very disturbing and that is probably the point of it, called “The Effects of Agent Orange”, and featured many pictures of the horrors suffered by babies, children and adults who had either been in contact with the bad stuff or had been born with the effects of it. Not a nice room to visit.

Another part of the Museum was the actual jail that prisoners had been held in and the instruments of torture were on display. Another exhibit was the actual guillotine used by the French and then the North Vietnamese after the victory in the South.

Last stop at the Post Office, in the centre of Old Town. This impressive building was built by the same guy who built the Eiffel Tower, so it has good bones. Before we entered the P.O. Abe, the guide, showed us what is left of the US Embassy of evacuation fame. The building was ransacked in the victory, converted to an apartment block  and then left to rot. A very long day!

Back to the rooftop bar at the hotel for happy hour.