SAIGON
Its a wonderful city, Saigon, hard to believe that only 30 odd years ago it was devastated by war. I've been spending the day discovering the history of the city, mostly from Uncle Ho's perspective. Saigon is big, busy, but compared with other big cities I've been too around the world, it doesn't appear to be as polluted and people leave me alone (unlike India where you can't walk 2 cm without being harrassed by someone about something). Its strange to be able to walk done the street and everyone is going about their own business and they really don't care what I'm doing or where I'm going. Maybe my experiences will change as I discover more of the country.
Its interesting that the most visited place in the city is the War Remenance Museum (used to be called the Museum of American War Crimes, but they changed the name recently as not to offend American tourists). Its not a place for the faint hearted, or one for those who think that the war in Vietnam was all about defeating the communists and saving the world from the red menace. It only reaffirms that the aggression of the US during that time was wrong and it makes you think about what they are doing today. In 10 years time will history look back on the US's war against terriorism as yet another crime against humanity, like the Vietnam War was is? And if anyone who supports the International Criminal Court with US exemption, think again, the tragedy of the war in Vietnam was the US perpetrators of war crimes got off scott free and they will continue to do so. The interesting thing about the museum is that it doesn't set out to blame the soliders who came to fight from the countries who supported the South Vietnamese, it clearly has the message that the "brass" and the politicians had an agenda and that they used the soliders to achieve this. Its a sobering reminder of the horrific nature of what the US did in Vietnam and one which shouldn't be forgotten. The musuem also recognises the anti-war protests from around the world and also recognises the effects of the war on the soldiers who came to fight. If you need no other reminder that war is a useless waste of human life you can look no further than Vietnam.
Onto something a little more light hearted. I have successfully negotiated the traffic. I think the key, as there are pedestrian crossings which no one takes any notice of, is to link up with the locals and follow their lead. The scooters and motorbikes will always go around you. Travelling on your own is interesting, I ate lunch today at a local cafe where there seemed to be alot of young people. I not only managed to communicate by pointing at another person's lunch, implying "I'll have what she's having", I managed to score free drinks. I think they felt sorry for me, the waiter kept bringing over these drinks for me to try. Very strange and not very nice, I smiled politely and tried to look like I was enjoying it.
I'm off to Phomn Phenh tomorrow for a 5 day tour of Cambodia where no doubt I will get to see more of the devastation of war, but also the amazing Angor Wat. Its been hard to decide what to do as the country is alot bigger than what it looks on the map.
Keep your emails coming and I'll try and reply asap.
Its a wonderful city, Saigon, hard to believe that only 30 odd years ago it was devastated by war. I've been spending the day discovering the history of the city, mostly from Uncle Ho's perspective. Saigon is big, busy, but compared with other big cities I've been too around the world, it doesn't appear to be as polluted and people leave me alone (unlike India where you can't walk 2 cm without being harrassed by someone about something). Its strange to be able to walk done the street and everyone is going about their own business and they really don't care what I'm doing or where I'm going. Maybe my experiences will change as I discover more of the country.
Its interesting that the most visited place in the city is the War Remenance Museum (used to be called the Museum of American War Crimes, but they changed the name recently as not to offend American tourists). Its not a place for the faint hearted, or one for those who think that the war in Vietnam was all about defeating the communists and saving the world from the red menace. It only reaffirms that the aggression of the US during that time was wrong and it makes you think about what they are doing today. In 10 years time will history look back on the US's war against terriorism as yet another crime against humanity, like the Vietnam War was is? And if anyone who supports the International Criminal Court with US exemption, think again, the tragedy of the war in Vietnam was the US perpetrators of war crimes got off scott free and they will continue to do so. The interesting thing about the museum is that it doesn't set out to blame the soliders who came to fight from the countries who supported the South Vietnamese, it clearly has the message that the "brass" and the politicians had an agenda and that they used the soliders to achieve this. Its a sobering reminder of the horrific nature of what the US did in Vietnam and one which shouldn't be forgotten. The musuem also recognises the anti-war protests from around the world and also recognises the effects of the war on the soldiers who came to fight. If you need no other reminder that war is a useless waste of human life you can look no further than Vietnam.
Onto something a little more light hearted. I have successfully negotiated the traffic. I think the key, as there are pedestrian crossings which no one takes any notice of, is to link up with the locals and follow their lead. The scooters and motorbikes will always go around you. Travelling on your own is interesting, I ate lunch today at a local cafe where there seemed to be alot of young people. I not only managed to communicate by pointing at another person's lunch, implying "I'll have what she's having", I managed to score free drinks. I think they felt sorry for me, the waiter kept bringing over these drinks for me to try. Very strange and not very nice, I smiled politely and tried to look like I was enjoying it.
I'm off to Phomn Phenh tomorrow for a 5 day tour of Cambodia where no doubt I will get to see more of the devastation of war, but also the amazing Angor Wat. Its been hard to decide what to do as the country is alot bigger than what it looks on the map.
Keep your emails coming and I'll try and reply asap.
posted by Paula at
4:06 AM
