Another humid run to explore the city streets at 5am.
Either Thursday morning is the traditional time for wedding photos, or the photographers call up the happy couples in the early hours when the sun shining.
Back for breakfast then we headed out to the Independence Palace.
Built for the president at the start of South Vietnam's independence in the 1960s, the building is a curious mix of modernist concrete space and traditional Asian art and statecraft.
The raised platform for the seat of the president reminded me of what Hamish and I saw in the shogun's palace from the early 1600s in Kyoto last year.
Even Elijah was impressed by the cinema, games room and helipad.
In particular the victorious communists delighted in pointing out how one of their fighters had infiltrated the south's air force in order to bomb the palace.
The war room bunker was particularly interesting, including the original maps and communication equipment.
The final act of the war was the storming of the palace by tanks like this in 1975.
Heading off, a friendly coconut seller insisted we try carrying his load - at 40kg, far too heavy for me, no problem for Elijah. The sellers trick worked of course - we lightened his load by buying two coconuts.
Straight on to the War Remnants Museum about the American War. Two museums in a row was a bit much for Elijah, though he did like the audio guides and the recreated torture rooms.
For me the overview of the war was excellent, even if it did understandably emphasise the excessive force America and it allies used to try to win, and failed.
I found the pictures of the war by correspondents who died on the field quite moving, but two sections actually moved me to tears:
The war crimes room, with pictures and first hand accounts of several massacres, as well as the effects of napalm and phosphorous bombs.
And the section on the effects of agent orange - used to defoliate 1/4 of (mostly South) Vietnam but producing terrible diseases and birth defects still today - what were they thinking? And still no compensation from the US government or the chemical companies.
Overall I think this was as powerful and moving as the holocaust museum in Jerusalem.
How do you recover from this and reward your son for spending the whole morning at 2 museums? Back to our favourite french style patisserie 'tous les jours', which was turning out to be true for our days in HCMC.
Then across the city to Chinatown for two temples, fuelled by soft drinks and Pokemon Go. Standing outside the national security building for a few minutes, the guard told us we had to keep moving - perhaps he misunderstood Pokemon Go raids?
Cao Dai is Vietnam's homegrown syncretistic religion, fusing various eastern religions with catholicism.
Somehow Victor Hugo (shown writing in French) even gets included because of his concern for Les Miserables.
Not sure how the Olympic rings
And the swastika fit in.
Elijah headed to Jollibee to watch the Socceroos on his phone while I headed for the Tue Thanh Assembly Hall. On the way I was stopped by a particularly challenging street crossing. Thankfully an elderly couple was feeling the same, so they adopted me and through the power and reassurance of numbers the three of us managed to cross. No high fives on the other side; just grins and thumbs up to each other.
Fascinating carvings, offerings and incense rings.
Curious how Ho Chi Minh keeps being shown at each religious site.
I stumbled across a service at another temple just around the corner. Lots of chanting led by the chief monk and accompanied by the sound system. Food offerings for the gods/ancestors.
Elijah and I met back at Jollibee, then we finished the day with some real food at a Vietnamese place near our hotel.
We certainly made the most of our last day!
We've loved the sights and sounds and 9 million scooters of Saigon, but we're both ready for something quieter. Phu Quoc, here we come.
No comments:
Post a Comment