The South

Saigon (AKA Ho Chi Minh City) contains about three million motorbikes. Between the bikes, tuk tuks, cyclos and buses itís a pretty busy place. We knew about the fall of Saigon and the airlifts off of the American Embassy in the 1970ís which is why itís amazing that the locals are so welcoming to American tourists. There definitely is a different feel to Saigon. It is more Westernized than Hanoi (but still doesnít have a McDonalds) and the people are jumping to capitalize on the tourist industry. Although this means you can get a really good hamburger with real Heinz ketchup it also means that touts are getting pushy and prices are over inflated for the region.

We were down to our last few days once we reached Saigon so we really packed in the sites. One day was spent in various boats in the Mekong Delta. It was not a very intensive survey of the Mekong but good enough to get a feel for the place. Any boat with a motor would be heard from miles away, I wonder how the war could have been fought in this area at all–Americans must have been like sitting ducks. We also spent part of one day visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels. They were over three levels of tunnels built to house over 10,000 gorillas. The people fighting here were Southerners who joined up forces with the North but were not technically part of the North Vietnamese Army. Visiting the tunnels was the first time on my trip that I felt a bit offended as an American. I like to think that Iím open minded but the illustrations of American soldiers caught in different traps with spikes sticking out of their bodies was a bit gruesome for me. Even worse was the tank left where it was attacked. Our guide explained each place an American soldier died on the tank and then smiled and told us to climb up and take our picture on the tank as a souvenir. The other tourists happily climbed up and posed with big smile right where someoneís son had died.

The War Crimes Museum was another interesting propaganda-filled site. Although the French received a small portion of the museumís attention, the main focus was on the atrocities committed by American soldiers. Iím sure much of what I saw was true but Iím also sure that similar ìwar crimesî were committed by the North Vietnamese. The worst evidence revolved around Agent Orange which is still affecting births as late as the 1990ís. All of our guides south of the DMZ were former South Vietnamese soldiers but they all had different opinions of the war. Although many had been sent to ìreeducation campsî they were still very loyal to the South and America. In response to an Australianís question about pensions, one of our guides mentioned that America should really be paying the soldierís healthcare to which I had to laugh. He had forgotten that he had Americans in his group and I couldnít help myself from grumbling that if the U.S. gave the Vietnamese healthcare before itís own people Iíd be pretty upset.

After my cousin started his long series of flights back to Chicago I decided to take another boat tour of the Mekong as a way of getting across the border to Cambodia. Unfortunately I waited one day too many because a typhoon blew into town making the bus to Phnom Penh a much wiser decision.