Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Agra is believed to have been founded on the site of an ancient Hindu Kingdom, but the city

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Above: The Hotel De Ville built by the French during the French Indochina period.

Left: The view from above. A long flight that started from Tokyo, to Kuala Lumpur, with an overnight stay before finally arriving in Saigon.

Saigon, April 13th, 2005:
I arrived yesterday in Saigon after a long an arduous flight from Tokyo, through Kuala Lumpur (spending the night there) and then on to Saigon. Since then... everything has been great. The temperature, is as expected. Hot and humid. But the people, the scenery, the excitement... make it all worth it.

Journal Continued:
Yesterday Cristel and I went on a walking tour of the city, stopping to check on the Fine arts museum, the war museum and reunification palace. The most notable was the war museum which has a lot of photographic documentation of ... just about everything. It was a moving exhibit, with many sides to the story. I think that they added a room to make it more welcoming to Americans. Those photos showed the many Americans who were killed and injured as well. Walking through, you can't help wonder how it happens, that such brutal behavior can come from the average Joe that lives on the corner. I mean, I saw some pretty horrible things done by the Americans, the French, and the south Vietnamese to the Vietcong. I suppose it is just the natural consequence of systematically dehumanizing the enemy so that you can kill instead of being killed. That combined with the hatred that is sure to develop when your friends are killed at your side time and time again. The lesson that you really come away with... DONT GET INVOLVED IN WAR. NO WINNERS..

Journal Continued:
Of course, I don't think that is entirely true. I think that the west did win... just not with bombs. Upon the entrance to the war museum is a stand of drinks and snacks which consisted primarily of American goodies... coke, 7up, Pepsi, Pringles, Oreos, Twix, snickers.... so on and so forth. We may not have defeated the Vietcong with tanks... but we have certainly infiltrated in a most noticeable way.

Journal Continued:
Change of subject... dining has been great. The food is all fabulous. I just wish that I weren't so damned hot... I can barely eat a bite. I get so full drinking the water that I never get a chance to eat. I suppose that will be good-- I can maybe fit on one of the bicycle rickshaw now. At the moment, I think I am far to heavy to have some poor bloke bike me around town.:

Above & Right: Nixon riding bombers over Vietnam. Two of a series of Vietcong propaganda photos.

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