A whirlwind tour of Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon)

From Hoi An, we continued South to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon). Like no place else in Vietnam, our visit here, the capital of the short-lived Republic of Vietnam (a.k.a. South Vietnam) brought us face to face with the history of the "American War." Before I get to that though, a brief word about the transportation in Vietnam. In Hanoi, we booked an "open bus" ticket, which allowed us to freely get off / on the bus at a few key destinations along the Vietnam coast between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). We took the "sleeper" option, because the trip included two overnight legs. This bus was like no other I've ever seen. From the outside it looks like a normal coach bus, but once you step inside, it's like entering the dorm room from hell. There are three aisles of bunk beds, with two walkways in between. The beds are designed so that your feet are tucked into a cubby below the head of the person in front of you. The idea is great in concept, except for the following minor problems: The beds are designed for people of a typical Asian stature (i.e. 5'6" tall and 6" narrower in the shoulders than me), forcing Dena and me to contort ourselves into various uncomfortable pretzel-like positions The buses are equipped with a bathroom, but unfortunately it is padlocked with a sign that reads: "Please do not use toilet on your long bus ride to keep smelling away" Each bed has its own reading light, which the bus driver refused to enable, so starting at 7pm there is nothing to do but enjoy the melodic rhythm of pot holes and honking The last row on the bus has 5 beds across, separated by nothing, so it's basically like sharing a double bed with 5 people. We got stuck there for one long ride during the day, which was particularly bad because the A/C does not reach back there. Suffice it to say, it turned out to be the "no-sleeper" option, but at least there were no farm animals on board! Back to HCMC. The first stop on our American War history tour was the Reunification Palace. This compound, formerly known as Independence Palace, was home to three of South Vietnam presidents (the first one for ten years, the second for one week, and the third for two days). On April 30, 1975 North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the palace, signifying the official fall of the South Vietnamese government and the victory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (a.k.a. North Vietnam). The second stop was the War Remnants Museum (formerly known as the Museum of American War Crimes). Interestingly, of all the Museums we've been to in China and Vietnam, this one was the most visitor-friendly, with excellent English and French signage on all exhibits. The most powerful exhibit was a set of photographs showing victims of Napalm bombs (i.e., fire bombs) and Agent Orange (a chemical defoliant that was used to clear vast tracks of jungle in the fight against the Viet Cong guerrillas). It included the infamous photograph of Kim Phuc, 9 years old at the time, running naked, clearly in agony after being terribly burned by Napalm. For anyone interested, this photo is the subject of a worthwhile book titled "The Girl in the Picture," by Denise Chong. The Agent Orange photos showed dozens of horribly deformed children (including a couple of American children), allegedly as a result of their parents' exposure to Agent Orange. Overall, the museum left us with mixed emotions. Clearly, it tells a very one-sided story (the winners always get to write the history), with evident undertones and overtones of propaganda (nobody does propaganda better than Communists). However, putting that aside, the suffering and hardship caused by the U.S.'s actions in the war are unmistakable. The museum's portrayal of this suffering reminded us why many people outside the U.S., who seem to have longer memories than we do, do not always view the U.S. in the same positive light that we do. The third and final stop was the tunnel complex at Cu Chi, about two hours outside of Saigon. Like other tunnel complexes across southern Vietnam, this was used by guerrilla Viet Cong (VC) forces to harass and attack U.S. and South Vietnamese forces. The camouflage used to conceal the entrances to the tunnels was amazing. The guide pointed to a spot in the ground, and even knowing the entrance was there, we could not find it. He then lifted the tunnel cover, got in, and restored the cover, and still, knowing exactly where it was, you couldn't see it. We then got to see some very nasty-looking booby traps, typically involving a camouflaged trap-door and some combination of sharpened bamboo and spring-loaded 6" nails. Apparently, the traps caught very few soldiers, but were a useful psychological weapon. Finally, the time came for us to go through the tunnels ourselves. The original tunnels were too small for us Westerners, so they have doubled the size of a short 100 meter section. These enlarged tunnels were just large enough to "duck-walk" and crawl through. Nevertheless, the two minutes we spent in the tunnels were intense. It is hot and humid, the air is stale, and duck-walking for that long is pretty tiring on the quads. After several incidents with claustrophobic tourists, the park officials had to create six "emergency exits." Dena and I made it all the way, but several people in our group did not. The experience gave us a new-found respect for the tenacity, persistence, and patience of the VC guerrillas. From Saigon, Dena and I wound our way through the Mekong Delta to the island of Phu Quoc, off Vietnam's very southern tip. We went there to take a vacation from our vacation (life is rough) and to do absolutely nothing for a few days. Now we're in Cambodia, and we have only six weeks to go... -Amit (and Dena)

The "no-sleeper" bus Dena holding our "Golden Bible" (as our Lonely Planet guidebook is commonly referred to) in front of the Cathedral in Saigon Reunification Palace A model of the tank that first broke through the palace gates Pictures of Agent Orange victims at the War Remnants Museum Egg shell art at a workshop staffed only by Agent Orange victims Near the Cu Chi tunnels sits the Cao Dai temple, the holiest site of a religion combining Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism One of the four daily services inside the temple Guide entering a tunnel via the camouflaged entrance Can you spot the entrance now? Grass-covered trap door with razor sharp bamboo poles underneath American tank destroyed by Cu Chi guerillas "Duck-walking" through the tunnel Sunset on Phu Quoc island