WT033 - HO CHI MINH

What a crazy city. If you think that Hanoi has traffic, then you know nothing. Ho Chi Minh City, also known by its former name Sai Gon, is a city for motorbikes and where no rules apply. The new name came in memory of its Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader - Ho Chi Minh - who was also Prime Minister and President of the country, as well as a key figure in the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945. The city has a modern vibe and a fast growing rhythm, with relaxing green areas, wide avenues, a harbour, many new high-rise buildings, and of course the typical Vietnamese markets and front shops. Not forgetting the tangling chaos of electrical cables everywhere.


But even with its speedy rhythm, Ho Chi Minh City still maintains its classical buildings such as the Independence Palace, the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, the Central Post Office or the Town Hall, located at the end of the Nguyễn Huệ Walking Street starting at the Passenger Ferry Terminal.


The Nguyễn Huệ Walking Street is the widest avenue in town and connects the ferry terminal with the Town Hall. Close by, you find new high-risers that are starting to shape Saigon's skyline - the Saigon Skydeck or the Bitexco Financial Tower for example - but also a few old monuments - the Opera House, the Fine Arts Museum or the Ton Duc Thang Museum - that still capture many visitors attention.


The Central Market or Ben Thanh Market, situated next to the Công viên Quách Thị Trang Roundabout, is a famed destination for handicrafts, souvenirs, clothes and other goods along with local eats. Not far from it, there's also the Street Food Market, where many international food stalls open daily for locals and tourists.


We used a cloudy-rainy afternoon to visit the War Remnants Museum, or formerly known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes. It is a memorial and history museum with different photographic exhibitions, statistics, videos and objects related not only to the Vietnam and Indochina Wars but also to the involvement of French colonialists. We were able to see the American aircrafts and tanks used during the war and learn more about the crimes and toxic weapons - Agent Orange - thrown by them into Vietnamese soil, which still have daily-life impact for many of the victims. It presents an important but one-sided history of the appalling legacy of the decades of war that have ravaged Vietnam, with real testimonies of people that are still suffering with side effects. To learn about the existence of the Tiger Cages was also a new fact for me. We didn't witness the actual cages, built by the French in 1940 in Con Dao Island, just an example of how the incarceration of nearly 2000 political prisoners was done. In the Island, the Tiger Cages were deliberately constructed away from the main prison, out of sight, and only accessed by an alleyway. There were 120 chambers with ceiling bars, from where the guards could poke at prisoners like tigers in a zoo.


I also got to know that the war that brought American against Vietnam, and took 17 years to meet an end, actually didn't start with the two countries (as many think) but instead with a fight between the north and south of Vietnam. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The Viet Cong (also known as the National Liberation Front), a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North, fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. During the Vietnam War, three million Vietnamese were killed including 3 million civilians, 2 million people were injured and 300.000 missed. Not only human lives were lost, the economy and the level of education suffered a setback, from which Vietnam is still trying to recover.


A night to chill-out after the massive information we got at the museum. In the Bar-Walking Street, there are tons of options but we decided ourselves for a Czech Beerhouse called Gammer with nice cold draught beers.


For the next day we had booked a half-day-tour to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. Like me, I knew a bit of history about the Vietnam-American war but nothing in detail. We started by visiting a place, where some injured (directly or indirectly) from the war get to work and create art pieces made by egg and sea shells. Quite an amazing and patient work, but sadly I don't think the majority of the earnings go to them but to the store nearby. Nevertheless, they keep themselves busy by learning and creating art, instead of having no role in the society.


After about 2 hours bus drive we arrived at the Cú Chi Fields, an immense network of connecting underground tunnels and location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and helped to counter the growing American military effort. Nowadays, the 121km-long complex of tunnels, after preservation by the government, are open to the public as a war memorial park with two different tunnel display sites, Ben Duoc and Ben Dinh. The first site contains part of the original tunnel system, while the second site, closer to Saigon, has suffered reconstructions and some tunnels were even enlarged to accommodate tourists, so that they can "enjoy" the experience of crawling through one. We crossed only 100m in one tunnel and I can say I felt a bit claustrophobic and cannot imagine how the Viet Cong forces lived there. Besides the underground life, both sites have displays of different types of booby traps that were used against the American. Shooting at a target is also possible but quite expensive, minimum of 10 bullets cost 600.000 VND (a bit more than 20 EUR).


The Viet Cong had termite mounds constructed to delude the Americans about the air ventilation of the tunnels.


The typical uniforms for men and women - men used a green/brown palette to mislead the American troops in the jungle in the day time and women, which always spent the day in the tunnels, used the black colour to fight them during the night.


Tip: if you have money to spare, then have a drink at the Saigon Skydeck.

Next Stop: Phnom Penh, Cambodia


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