Day 80: Sunset - Leaving Viet Nam

We had four days in Viet Nam, each day had its own special set of events. Later I will be posting a bunch of different posts from our Viet Nam experiences.

Right now the Viking Neptune is sailing south towards our next stop in Thailand. As a group of us played cards “Five Crowns” - Happy to announce I finally won! It’s my first time winning.

More importantly, we watched the sunset in the west. I made a short time-lapse video (18 seconds) it’s kinda cool to watch. It did give a peaceful moment of reflection to think about our time in Viet Nam as the sunset over Viet Nam.

I am sure for many of us who visited our feelings are all mixed emotions. Some of you served here many years ago. Others like me were fortunate to have the draft eliminated when it came our time to get called.

During today’s excursion we did stop at the Palace where the two tanks crashed through the gates as a gesture of power - an “In your face” statement. The tanks are still there off to the right hand side of the palace.

We also saw the CIA building which is famous for the photos of the helicopter taking the last Americans out of Viet Nam. Remember not everyone got to come home - I wore a MIA bracelet for some time. It’s sad I forget the name on the bracelet. Seeing these places made it more real for me.

I have friends back home in Connecticut which served. One of my college roommates, Rex, served.

Most of us can agree - war just doesn’t make sense. It seems like every country we have visited has their own war stories.

When will history actually teach us - nobody really wins?Les mer