Vietnam, past and Present

Saigon is the capital of Vietnam also called Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon is the 'city' where as Ho Chi Minh is the 'area'.... apparently) It is a very big place filled wih lots of people and lots of motorbikes. We flew down from Hue to avoid another long bus or train journey and were quite surprised at the size of the place. Big wide roads, KFC, Pizza hut and coffee shops.

It's hard to visit Vietnam and not think about the war. In Saigon we spent a day going round the reunification palace and the War remnants museum.
The Grand Palace - only for public functions but still very grand
I had to read up on the war in Vietnam to understand a bit about it. Basically the french ruled this part of the world - Indochina. It all changed with WW2, the Americans got involved in the 50's and the country split in two. The North and South fought, the Americans moved in to help the south (the vietnam war as we know it) and then they got kicked out by the United Nations around 1973-75ish. The South surrendered to the north a year or two later. The Reunification Palace was the ruling palace of the south Vietnamese 'regime' and when it was taken over the Civil war ended and peace was declared in the communist country.A rather large bomb used by the Americans
The war was brutal and the Museum shows in graphic detail the attrocities carried out by the Americans. It is very informative but the expression on everyone is the same as they walk around. The Napalm, Agent Orange and other chemical warfare tactics, the brutal killings and mindless destruction. It still effects the people today. To be fair the museum was across biased but then, I've only ever seen the American films and their portrayal. The best images of the war were in a section which showed photos from Photographers who died during the war from all over the world. Again the images were graphic but they captured a lot of suffering on both sides.

We left the museum in a strange mood but we were glad that we had been. In all the countries we visit there is some history which in unpleasant. In Aisia it seems the history isn't that long ago and therefore better documented.