Travel Log: Saigon (March 5 - 6, 2007)...

Note: This post is part of a series regarding a recent trip.  Please read this preface to the series prior to this post for context.

We didn't spend long in Saigon during this leg of the trip, but a few interesting highlights included the War Remnants Museum and the "Reunification Palace".

The War Remnants Museum was very emotional.  The travesty of war could not be better depicted here (see photo tour here), and it was an embarrassing day to be "Western".  It seemed that the West, led largely by the U.S., were using the Vietnamese conflict increasingly as a giant lab experiment, the likes of which are still felt in ongoing deformities at birth and high child mortality rates.  Granted this is largely one half of the full story, but being Western I had previously only been exposed to the other side of the story unless you include the historic version portrayed in film such as Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now.

At the museum there was a mock-up "Tiger Cell" which was modeled after the prison's originally built by the French to imprison Vietnamese patriots, but which I'm sure were very similar to the prisons used by both sides of the Vietnamese conflict to imprison the other.  I can't help but wonder if my father-in-law spent close to 8yrs

Reunification Palace (photos here), formerly "Independence Palace", was the site of the official defeat of the South Vietnamese by the North.  Located in the heart of Saigon in District 1, the palace was the former President of South Vietnam's residence and headquarters where military operations were largely planned and coordinated.  The tour that Darren and I took through the halls of the Palace was pretty impressive.  In fact, we felt that it had most of the amenities we look for in a bachelor pad (full size theatre, rooftop club and bar, helipad, underground bunker, sleeping accommodations for about 1000, and a huge kitchen).  It even had features we never thought of (indoor parking for a prize Mercedes-Benz and an indoor shooting range!?).

Other highlights or our stay here include seeing the zoo in Saigon, which frankly was a little sad.  The animals seemed by my estimation (and I'm no zoologist) to be drastically undersized and there seemed to be a lack of fresh water available for many of the animals.  I had a bit of a personal encounter with one of the elephants as I was able to reach out to him(?) and he was able to strain against his ankle chain and reach out his trunk.  For a moment I was able to hold his rough, hairy trunk in my hand.  The intelligence in the eyes of these animals is remarkable, but there is evidence that these ones in particular were quite anxious and showed signs of stress.  Some had parts of ears cut and sizable scars on their body.  I'd like to think they were rescued from an even worse fate.

We're getting used to eating Pho quite regularly here, and drinking Tiger beer (probably too liberally) to beat the heat.  It is an interesting city to be sure.

Our next stop will be Nha Trang as we head out on the evening of the 6th at about 10pm for what we thought was a 3-4hr trip...

To facilitate navigation this is a summary of posts in this series:

• Vinh Long (February 28 - March 4, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Saigon (March 5 - 6, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Nha Trang (March 7 - 9, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Siem Reap, Cambodia (March 10 - 13, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos from Siem Reap and Angkor Wat)
• Hoi An (March 13 - 18, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)
• Ha Long Bay and Hanoi (March 19 - 23, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos from Ha Long Bay)
• Saigon (March 23 - 25, 2007) - (Link) - (Photos)