Day 11: War Remnants Museum and Reunification Palace

A short walk from the hotel, set well back from the road, down to board the bus.

The traffic was fairly typical.

Then we arrived at the gates of the Reunification Palace or Independence Palace, known during the Vietnam War as the home and workplace of the South Vietnam President. It was therefore the 'site of significance' on 30th April 1975, when a North Vietnamese tank broke through the gates to mark the end of the Vietnam War.

Who can forget this iconic image?

We looked into many of the formal meeting rooms and offices in the Palace but just one is shown here, the Presidential Reception Rooms.

Up on top of the building was a helipad with a helicopter replica in place. Also marked is the impact point for a bomb dropped on the building in the last days by a double agent NVA pilot. It's a good story but check Wikipedia if interested. (The damage has been repaired. It was not a 'dud' bomb.)

A passerby being shown around the Palace. And we thought he died in 1969.

Then it was off to the War Remnants Museum. An interesting name in itself! I could think of several other names to highlight victory and defeat of the invasion etc, but perhaps it says a lot about the Vietnamese people.... they want to move on. They forgive but don't forget.

The Chinook helicopter outside was huge! (Just realised I'm standing well in front of it in the photo below, which distorts scale). The Chinook was used extensively for troop movement, but still bigger than expected.

There were many interesting photos inside. The one below shows HCM (3rd front from R) with US advisers after a training session well before the conflict, when Vietnam was enduring Japanese invasion during WW2.

Many of the photographs were confronting and the ones below were iconic images we have seen many times. The museum pays tribute to the many photographers who risked or lost their life to bring us these images.

The image below is often credited with changing the outcome of the war. It was donated to the Museum by the photographer, Nick Ut.  It is usually referred to as 'Napalm Girl'.

There were many other images too confronting to include here, indeed, some of them were too confronting to photograph such as those in the Agent Orange Room'.  

Outside there was a replica prison, including the 'Tiger Cages'.

Then we called past the local cathedral which is undergoing restoration. 

I managed to convince a nearby hot air balloonist to take me up to get the photo below. Well, alright, I might have photographed a photo on the fence, but who can tell!

The Post-Office opposite the Church was quite impressive.

That evening, our entertainment was at the Saigon Opera and was the AO Show, a vibrant blend of acrobatics, dance, music and song to illustrate the diverse culture and history of Vietnam. No photos of course!

The team.

Afterwards, the cast sat on the steps to provide a photo opportunity for the audience. We were too far away.

There is a link on the website which shows some of the dynamism of the troupe, but you have to go the the you-tube clip at the bottom of this link.

https://www.luneproduction.com/ao-show

Day 10: Mekong Delta

Had a ‘lay-day’.  So here are a few photos and notes from a guest blogger. Thanks Bec,

We travelled 2.5 hours from Saigon to Mekong Delta. The Delta has a population of 28 million people and is 40 000 square km in size. On arrival we boarded a motorised wooden boat. We sailed down the river for around 20 minutes before stopping at the floating market. 

We all enjoyed a coconut drink from one of the boat stalls. We continued on for about 10 minutes and arrived at a small traditional community where we were greeted with a traditional musical performance to welcome us. We also heard a mother and daughter's song that told the story of a young girl who was leaving to live with her husband and she didn’t want to leave her mother. It was very sad. 

At one of the poorest of houses we met the oldest man in the Delta. He was 95 years old and had many stories about Ho Chi Minh, It was obvious he was very proud of him. Binh told us about his time in a war prison camp. After the war he was released from the prison however he was unable to return home as he had no money. The police put their money together and finally got him home months later.

We then walked through the village along a narrow dirt track that meanders through small simple houses, some made from wood others brick. We could hear karaoke singers in the distance but the village was otherwise primitive. All houses had a family cemetery that was better ‘kept’ then the houses they lived in. 

We returned by local canoe to the boat jetty. We made one stop at a local lolly shop where we were shown how to make popcorn using a stove top that looked like a pizza oven. We cruised back to the bus and returned to Saigon.

Two Extraordinary Gentlemen

Binh:  Tour Guide Extraordinare.

Our tour guide, Binh, has been exceptional. He is very knowledgeable (yes, many guides are); he is very competent and things happen at the right time and schedules are kept (yes, many guides do this); he keeps explanations succinct and to the point and his English is very good (as many guides are) and so the list goes on.

But in addition there are aspects of Binh which are unique and not found in all tour guides. He is conscious of those around him; he knows when to quit talking and let travellers be in silence, he knows how to be flexible and when to alter the program because people are too tired or not tired enough or not challenged enough. He gets the balance of information about right. He is sensitive and empathetic. He is very humble with no hint of arrogance at all. He gets the amount of humour just right: enough to keep people smiling but not ‘over-the-top’ such that grimaces and eye-rolls have to be suppressed. He is comfortable with a wide range of people and personalities. 

He has a genuine warmth of personality but most of all, he has a fierce passion to help the underprivileged in his country. The joy he got from seeing small gifts (tee shirts, toiletries etc) given to those in villages along the way was a sight to behold.

Well done Binh and thanks for a great tour.

Kerry Mowett:  Organiser Extraordinaire 

Thanks Kerry for a superb and tireless effort in organising such a beneficial trip. We now join the many, many residents of your area and beyond who are at least a little better informed about another culture, probably a lot more tolerant of others and better people for the experience. Your attention to detail is exceptional and your sensitivity, care and concern for all travellers is commendable. The trip truly is a cultural experience and you should be very proud of your achievements in making this a better world. Thank you for being inclusive and tolerant of all. 

Day 9: Hoi An to Ho Chi Minh

Hoi An is truly a lovely city and we have only seen part of it. Will have to return. The old town is closed to vehicles for key times during the day and it makes the experience quite superb. These 'flower barrows' are wheeled into the middle of the street to indicate road closure to traffic.

Today, it was Cooking School which started with a guided tour of the food markets led by one of the chefs from the cooking school.

There were detailed explanations of various foods on display.

.... and then we boarded a small motor boat to head for the cooking school.

Travelling along the river, one sees the beauty of the town, which, incidentally, was inundated by floods only 5 months ago, so it has recovered quickly. A beautiful town.

A traditional fisherman.

The 'Red Bridge Cooking School' is quite a way downriver. (The blue dot east of Hoi An)



... and surprise, surprise! it has a red bridge.

We took a quick tour of the garden because much of the produce is grown there.

Then some instructions from our chef for the day..

..... including the angled mirror on the ceiling.

Then we had to cook the item after a demonstration. There were 24 stations around the space, each with a small gas cooker. There were several support staff, either supervising or bringing out provisions and implements or cleaning up. Of course, after we cooked the item, we then were expected to eat it.

Some decoration was required.

A very slick, professional and enjoyable production and when we heard it was owned or setup by someone from Melbourne, it helped explain the workflow, the organisation, even the evaluation sheets at the end.

Returning to Hoi An, we had time to gather a few last purchases before meeting at the famous and much-photographed Japanese Bridge.

Rubbish collection Hoi An style. 

The bus trip to Danang airport took us past the 15 - 20 km stretch of beautiful coastline, covered with high-end resorts and hotels. Very mixed feelings about this. It does create employment both in construction and then maintenance and staffing of these hotels but will it kill the very thing we come here to see? Hmm! Not sure what to think.

Anyway, before long it was the departure hall at Danang airport, which, no surprise, looked just like any other departure hall.

We landed at Ho Chi Minh airport and the heat and humidity was intense, even at 8pm at night. 

Traffic was as expected. Just as well it was only Sunday evening, so was not as busy as usual.     

Our bus had to reverse into a narrow driveway for our hotel, from a busy street teeming with scooters and cars so what does the driver do? In the words of Nike, just do it! The traffic waited patiently (mostly) and some even managed a wave and a smile. All in a day's travel in Saigon, which, incidentally, is the preferred name for the city for most South Vietnamese.