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GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!
(Note: see the May 24th posting for our overall writeup of Vietnam)

For those that remember this movie (Robin Williams’ memory will always be for a blessing), this story was a snapshot of the insanity that went on for the 10 years spent fighting this war/conflict on behalf of freedom and democracy. The movie is a story portraying a time shen it was often impossible to tell the “good guys” from the "bad guys”. We call this posting SAIGON rather than Ho Chi Minh city (its actual name since the war) for a few reasons: it is the name that most of the locals still use and is often on signs and posters as well as stores, it is a name that is associated with a memory that most Americans remember and lastly, Bruce has seen the Broadway Show (9 times) and been so moved by it that he would consider it wrong to call it anything else.

Saigon, 800 square miles and a population of over 9 million people with a median age of 34 and with 60% under 30 years old (who all seem to be on motor scooters… at the same time) is a living example of Communism With Free Trade, a socialist market driven economy, is a growing and thriving city that has grown to a major capitalist city in the last 30 years with the help of World Bank loans and now many foreign investments.

When you wonder how this Country is so capitalist driven although it is still a Communist nation (limited press, news and internet, etc), you need to look at how North Vietnam and eventually the entire Country became Communist, "just" as a way out of French Colonialism ... and Communism seemed the easiest path at the time. The kSaigon River meets Saigon on the East and forms an estuary as part of the Mekong Delta and near the South China Sea, making it quite a strategic location by sea.

During our tour this day we saw the U.S. Embassy in Saigon built in 1952 and moved in 1967, infamous for the Viet Cong attack during the Tet Offensive and for the Fall of Saigon and the helicopter evacuation of over 20,000 prior to the surrender by South Vietnam as the embassy closed and the war ended. Ironically, on April 15, last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in HANOI to break ground on a new $1.2B US Embassy there. He indicated that over the past 27 years, the relationship between Vietnam and the US has continually strengthened.

We drove down Ham Nghi Street in District 1 the heart of the city, one of the most well-known public places and places to be seen in Saigon https://www.historicvietnam.com/ham-nghi/ and then drove to Le Duan Street, the street of foreign embassies and Reunification Hall. We also saw the U.S. Former Commanders Chief house and Gia Long Palace, (at one point the Palace for the French and Japanese) now officially the Ho Chi Minh City Museum and the Independence Palace (the site of the Fall of Saigon when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates).

It was a busy day and in addition to the above the most moving places and where we spent a significant part of the day was the War Remnants Museum and Chu Chi tunnel.

To know what to expect of the War Remnants Museum all you need to do is look at the museum’s name prior to 1995, “Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression”. This Ho Chi Minh City government run museum, displays what they consider War Crimes and their consequences inflicted on the Vietnamese people by the U.S.

Exhibits like “Requiem” (of photographs of the Vietnam war), “World Supports Vietnam in its Resistance to US Aggression”, “Imprisonment System” and “Agent Orange Consequences” give you an idea of how disturbing this museum is for visitors. See a few of the disturbing exhibits in the photos attached. This city did not see much of the fighting in the war but from the exhibits here you would think the war was fought here.

A difficult morning!Read more