I spent today alternating between being disturbed and completely confused.
We visited the Chu Chi Tunnels, a war museum showing the complex underground tunnel system where the Viet Cong lived during the Vietnam War. At least that's what some of it was. I expected scary looking tunnels and a museum showing people living in extreme conditions. I also expected the not-so-subtle jabs at Asian superiority... the Americans are fat and could not fit in the tunnels, the Americans wore too much heavy equipment, the American tanks and planes were too fragile for jungle warfare, the Viet Cong made everything they needed from the things discarded by the Americans. What I did not expect was demonstrations of the traps that they set-up for the soldiers in the jungle. They showed how they had pits lined with metal spikes that the soldiers would fall into. They showed every possible configuration of metal spikes that would close in on the feet and legs of soldiers when they stepped on them. They showed a workshop where they made these traps. I found this all quite disturbing. We added a new category to the trip awards "Most Disturbing Tour" with today being the no-contest winner. I'm not going to include any pictures of the disturbing stuff.
There is also a shooting range at this museum. You can shoot machine guns from the Vietnam War era. So as you are walking around you hear gunfire. Not making this up. We skipped shooting guns. Given the news at home, I'm sure my readers can understand our reluctance to be around guns.
Getting back to the tunnels, I did not go into a tunnel. I can barely stand in a crowded elevator. Trevor did go through one of the tunnels. It was squishy and dark as dirt tunnels tend to be.
After the museum, we stopped at the house of a VC veteran for lunch. Enter the confused portion of the day. We were met by the man's son-in-law who showed us around their farm.
And made us cook our own lunch
The lunch was good and all but I don't quite understand the point of it. The son-in-law was quite a character and basically never shut up. We learned about how Westerners make fat elephants for babies and how he has restaurants in Australia and how the North Vietnamese still hate us and how he was both a doctor and a butcher. Basically, his side hustles had side hustles.
After lunch we drove back into downtown Saigon and past the former US embassy which is now a US consulate. I was not allowed to take pictures.
We saw what the building from this famous picture looks like now
Then
Now (the rooftop is the white building just above the blue sign)
We also stopped at the former home of Henry Cabot Lodge when he was ambassador to Vietnam and another home which contained a secret bunker of weapons intended to be used in the Tet Offensive. Again, not really sure of the point of visiting the second home. Besides the disturbing parts of the day, it was thought provoking to hear the war described from the other point of view. They had called it the "Liberation War" before but now they call it the "Reunification War." Our guide said more than once "The winners get to write the history."
We ended the day at the rooftop bar at the Rex Hotel. Known as the Five O'Clock Follies, this is where the press briefings were given during the war. They were called "follies" due to the gap between the official reports and the truth.
All in all, it was a very strange day. Did I hate it? Not exactly. Did I enjoy it? Not exactly.
We visited the Chu Chi Tunnels, a war museum showing the complex underground tunnel system where the Viet Cong lived during the Vietnam War. At least that's what some of it was. I expected scary looking tunnels and a museum showing people living in extreme conditions. I also expected the not-so-subtle jabs at Asian superiority... the Americans are fat and could not fit in the tunnels, the Americans wore too much heavy equipment, the American tanks and planes were too fragile for jungle warfare, the Viet Cong made everything they needed from the things discarded by the Americans. What I did not expect was demonstrations of the traps that they set-up for the soldiers in the jungle. They showed how they had pits lined with metal spikes that the soldiers would fall into. They showed every possible configuration of metal spikes that would close in on the feet and legs of soldiers when they stepped on them. They showed a workshop where they made these traps. I found this all quite disturbing. We added a new category to the trip awards "Most Disturbing Tour" with today being the no-contest winner. I'm not going to include any pictures of the disturbing stuff.
There is also a shooting range at this museum. You can shoot machine guns from the Vietnam War era. So as you are walking around you hear gunfire. Not making this up. We skipped shooting guns. Given the news at home, I'm sure my readers can understand our reluctance to be around guns.
Getting back to the tunnels, I did not go into a tunnel. I can barely stand in a crowded elevator. Trevor did go through one of the tunnels. It was squishy and dark as dirt tunnels tend to be.
After the museum, we stopped at the house of a VC veteran for lunch. Enter the confused portion of the day. We were met by the man's son-in-law who showed us around their farm.
And made us cook our own lunch
The lunch was good and all but I don't quite understand the point of it. The son-in-law was quite a character and basically never shut up. We learned about how Westerners make fat elephants for babies and how he has restaurants in Australia and how the North Vietnamese still hate us and how he was both a doctor and a butcher. Basically, his side hustles had side hustles.
After lunch we drove back into downtown Saigon and past the former US embassy which is now a US consulate. I was not allowed to take pictures.
We saw what the building from this famous picture looks like now
Then
Now (the rooftop is the white building just above the blue sign)
We also stopped at the former home of Henry Cabot Lodge when he was ambassador to Vietnam and another home which contained a secret bunker of weapons intended to be used in the Tet Offensive. Again, not really sure of the point of visiting the second home. Besides the disturbing parts of the day, it was thought provoking to hear the war described from the other point of view. They had called it the "Liberation War" before but now they call it the "Reunification War." Our guide said more than once "The winners get to write the history."
We ended the day at the rooftop bar at the Rex Hotel. Known as the Five O'Clock Follies, this is where the press briefings were given during the war. They were called "follies" due to the gap between the official reports and the truth.
All in all, it was a very strange day. Did I hate it? Not exactly. Did I enjoy it? Not exactly.
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