Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) is home to the War Remnants Museum, which although the exhibit is not terribly politically balanced, you cannot escape the terrible genocide of the Vietnamese people. Horrific images of napalm victims and the disfiguring effects of agent orange used by the “American Imperialists” dominate the main hall. A difficult sight for even the strongest hearts and stomachs.
Also just outside Saigon are the Cu Chi Tunnels which are a network of tunnels used by numerous Vietnamese guerrilla fighters. They served as a defensive and offensive stronghold as well as supply routes and living quarters during the Tet Offensive. Today, they serve as an exhibit and memorial park. Visitors have a chance to crawl through a portion of the tunnels which have been expanded to accommodate the “lager” westerners. Although they have been expanded 1.5 times, it is still very difficult to get through. I can’t even image living in there while being carpet bombed, suffering from malaria, and nearly starving to death.
An overnight train in the evening takes us to Nha Trang.
1 response so far ↓
1 tg6675 // Apr 4, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Well that’s a lovely image. Thanks for the visual! Didn’t know about the tunnels that sounds pretty horrific and creepy to walk through.
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