It is always cool to enter a new country and gain a first impression. India needs birth control, Indonesia is corrupt etc. Saigon is a river of motorcycles. And I thought Indonesia has a lot
Hoping to get some better motorcycle pictures later, they will carry any and everything on their bikes, but thanks to John in Chiang Mai for teaching me how to blur backgrounds as I hopefully continue to improve my photography
I don't know what monument this is but have passed it several times
The Vietnam War lasted 20 years from 1955-1975. Saigon was the headquarters of the Amerian backed South and the North was communist led by Ho Chi Minh with support from China and Russia. On April 30, 1975 North Vietnamese tanks bulldozed through the front gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon ending the Vietnam War. The North took over and changed the name to Reunification Palace, as well as the name of the city from Saigon cto Ho Chi Minh. Both are still used informally today
Rooftop helicopter on Reunification Palace in Saigon. The 2 red circles mark the locations a Northern Vietnamese pilot bombed the building in 1975
I was kind of bored by the Palace to be honest. It is a bunch of huge rooms with high ceilings where important people sit really far apart from each other in massive chairs. I found this room to be most interesting. It is the President's War Room and the smallest room in the whole f'ing place. No wonder they lost the war
Vietnamese women covering up in the rain
The Notre Dame Baslica built by French colonist in the 1860's
Maybe the best part about winning a war is you get to write the history. The War Remnants Museum of the American War is a perfect example of this. Not that too many Americans are very supportive of our involvement in Vietnam but the museum is certainly bias. For me it was a unique experience. It is easy to visit a WWII exhibit and be like "yeah, Fuck Germany! What a miserable group those Nazis were", but it was my first time to have that flipped and be on the wrong side of history. The museum features a lot of excellent photography from the war and is well worth visiting. On display are American atrocities and North Vietnam war heroes along with exhibits including the effects of agent orange and photos of world wide protests against American involvement including in the US.
Next stop was the Củ Chi Tunnels, a 121 kilometer tunnel complex outside of Saigon. Viet Cong soldiers lived in the tunnels hiding from the Americans and launching attacks. Life in the tiny tunnels must have been harsh to say the least. The Củ Chi Tunnels were also the base for the Tet Offensive in 1968 and played a significant role in helping to win the war. Below is an air hole for a tunnel
Being the amateur photographer that I am I screwed up the shots inside the tunnel. So here are a couple pictures of some booby traps instead. This is a tiger trap, also good for catching Americans
Doesn't look too fun
Saigon
I don't do many tours but going to the Mekong Delta was so much cheaper and easier to do that way. I had been told it's not really worth it but went anyway since I'm already here. Met a lot of nice people and it exceeded my low expectations. Well worth visiting imo
Beginning in the Tibetan Plateau the Mighty Mekong flows through the Yunan China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and finally into Vietnam.
In Southern Vietnam the river breaks into what seems to be endless distributaries covering 15,000 square miles before emptying into the sea
Lunch
Hotpot dinner with fish, clams, squid, shrimp + veggies and noodles
Floating market where hundreds of boats sell fruit in the morning mostly in bulk to boats that come from Saigon
Back in Saigon, ready to begin the trip Northward towards Hanoi
I remember Uncle Ho. Does not seem that long ago.
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