Ho Chi Minh City (AKA Saigon)

After the intensity of Hanoi, we were scared to enter Saigon a bit, but it turned out to be less hectic than the more Northern metropolis. We spent a lot of time walking around touring the various sites, the most impressive of which was the Vietnam war museum. They had relics of war machines, like a Huey with a tri-barrel gatling and a few others. They also had all the personal weapons people carried on both sides, as well as the ammo. Then they followed up with pictures and first hand accounts of what those weapons can do. Being the first war that had such intensive coverage by journalists there was no shortage of graphic photos. A special section lists all the war journalists who died, and it numbers in the dozens, I was quite suprised. Another section that I enjoyed was an account of the "Thanh Phong Massacre" from one of the people actually involved in it, senator Bob Kerry. It was a "minor" event in the war, only 14 died, but they were all the elderly, women, and children, and had no weapons, and the first few were killed with knives (since they had no weapons and weren't a danger, no need to waste ammo). The left one girl as a survivor. Kerry admits his squad was told to kill ANYONE they came across, no matter who. He received a bronze star for this mission, for the kills of 14 "viet kong", and feels pretty shitty about it, so he came out publicly in 2001 to tell the truth. He must have lots of courage to do that. Anyway, I really appreciate when people tell the truth about things like this, since no one would believe things like this unless the people saying it were the guilty ones. After this we saw the agent orange (another little gem from Monsanto company) and napalm section of the museum, obviously the stuff of nightmares with the photos to prove it. As far as the allied forces go, South Koreans got it the worst, being stationed in areas heavily dosed with dioxin. War really is hell, for everyone involved. Im not sure I'd have the courage or state of mind to fight in a war unless the stakes were REALLY high. WWII style. After that museum trip we really wanted to go to a Happy Rainbow Puppy museum, but none were to be found. I think theres a business niche there, one should open across the street.