Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City is the old Saigon and truly what an awesome place it is. The city is so clean and well kept. It is full of art and culture and history and it is so important in the history of Vietnam and its revolution. After being colonized by the Chinese for 1000 years and then the French for 100 years and then at war with America for many years...they have a lot celebrate with the independence they received on the 30th of April 1975.

In case you were wondering, Ho Chi Minh was the president of Vietnam and he was the founder of the communist party which still runs the country. 

Ho Chi Minh and Communist stuff is painted on walls around the city. 

We went to the War Remnants Museum...OK, it was quite traumatic. Very interesting, but pretty emotional and so incredibly sad. War is a terrible thing in anyone's books, but seeing it and reading about it...made it just that much worse. 

Some of the photographs from the museum. 

They had a bunch of old newspaper clips and posters on the walls to read.

A picture that says a thousand words. 

Old US air crafts. 

They had a huge range of helicopters, planes as well as machinery!

How old school compared to what we have now!

The US had over 350 of these tanks roaming around Vietnam during the war.

This is one "moer" of a helicopter!

 Weapons

More weapons

And some more weapons...

....and some more

And more

The boats used by the US to go up and down the rivers.

Bomb shells...lots of them!

This was pretty disturbing...Tiger Cages...

Basically these are jail cells.

These are the different torture techniques...I didn't think any human being would be able to do this to another.

The guillotine introduced by the French of course! 

What a way to die...???

This is so awful, its a prison cell and when you walk around the corner and see someone on the bed you nearly have an aneurysm before you realise its not real!  

Torture weapons. 

These are the tiger cages. Now 5-7 prisoners were kept in each cage. Being able to do nothing but crouch in them. They were fed a cup of poor quality rice and some dry fish per day and were given half a cup of water. 

 Pretty harrowing figures...hope you can read this.

We then went into the museum where they show all the photographs from agent orange...The first picture is called "The Purple People Eater"

Agent Orange was sprayed over areas by the US to kill the greenery...Vietnam is covered in jungle and it would be impossible to try and navigate through them.

HECTIC!

So, Agent Orange has dioxin in it, which is to date the most dangerous/toxic chemical known to mankind.

These are the effects of dioxin. Over 5 million people in Vietnam have been affected by Agent Orange. It is even passed down through DNA. 

 Agent Orange has caused serious physical and mental disabilities throughout communities. Not only does it cause disabilities, it causes terrible diseases including cancers.

 This photograph is just amazing. It is such an eyeopener as to the horrors of war and how the innocent people and children are affected. 

People should really donate to this cause...ummmmm, sorry, the US should donate!!! 

Now this was fascinating! See all these little holes along the river???? These holes were caused by a B52 bomber!!! WOW! 

True story...

The museum is not very pro USA...

Published in the New York Times. 

This is horrific...War really does mess you up and cause you to do terrible things...

Different bombs the US dropped.

Then we left, PHEW...it was getting heavy and it really doesn't leave a warm fuzzy feeling...

Anyway, this thing Kyle is carrying weigh's 40KG...yes, and some dude carries it around all day selling coconuts and drinks.

Then we walked to the Saigon River to get a refreshment because its about 500 degrees here. 

Ice, squeezed lemon and sugar...absolutely the most refreshing thing.

Walking back through the city... 

This is such a 1st world place. Its so beautiful.

The parks are gorgeous.

Boyfriend bar????

HAHAHAHAHAH - Belgium chocolate...I won't argue with that!

DIY Chocolate...the small writing says " No assembly required. Once you open the package you'll know what to do!".

French market and bakery...incredible!

It reminds me sort of like MacIntoshes combined with 34 degrees South. 

Fresh fruit, that costs more than most houses in South Africa!

Yummy pastries...

Notre Dame Cathedral. Did you know that 25% of the population here is Catholic...must be from the Frenchies. 

The City from the top of the department store.

And then....it was time to go and collect our Cambodian Visa's because they were ready...WHOOP WHOOP!