Ho Chi Minh City-The Gruesome and the Retro

Yesterday, I left the hostel after breakfast and went to two different places. First of all, I went to War Remnants Museum. The Museum started off showing the now-standard display of captured US Aircraft and tanks on the outside. On the inside, some bombs and other weapons we're on display. Then they started a photo exhibit of horrible horrible things that the Americans did. They showed a captured Vietnamese man being thrown from a flying helicopter. Another showed their bodies being dragged by a tank. Another picture showed posing American serviceman with Vietnamese skulls and their decapitated bodies.

The next exhibit showed spraying Agent orange, and other deadly gasses. One gas was called "The Purple People Eater". Pictures of a plane spraying the deadly gasses. Then seemingly hundreds of pictures of victims. A man with lots of boils on his face, kids of those affected with no legs, Siamese twins, folks with abnormal faces, one girl who had to be kept in a cage like enclosure because she tried to eat everything she encountered.

The exhibit was horrible, just horrible. There was also a display of the anti-war demonstrations in various countries. The exhibits we're juxtaposed with folks selling types of clothing, books and other souvenirs.

I was at the museum for a few hours, then I went to lunch and went to the Reunification Palace, which was built in the 1960's in the 60's modernist style, and was the former capital building of South Vietnam. The building looks like it did the day it was surrendered. The Presidents bedroom, meeting rooms, chambers, dining rooms,-all in the 70's Mad-Men like style. There is a ballroom on the roof with a helicopter pad. I also saw the bunker underground, with communications rooms with rotary dial phones. switchboards, radios for broadcasting, and an emergency bedroom and office. It was very interesting.

It was about 5:00 by the time I returned to the hostel. I took a nap, and then went downstairs for the free beer at 7:00. (The hostel gives you a free beer between 7 and 8). As I went I was talking to an Indian Guy who had a nice jacket, and a girl that came around from New Zealand, who showed me great pictures of Antarctica, where she used to work as a naturalist. I then walked around and had some cheap dinner at a market. I walked around the market and got back around 10 pm, when I went to bed.