Saigon

Here's what Chris tried to publish in Vietnam...It is actually Tuesday the 18th of March here but because he wrote it earlier it will show up where it belongs. My suspicion is that Vietnam's government blocks Blogger, but I could be wrong. We'll update more of our Vietnam adventures soon...above the pics. We are in Bangkok for the next few days until we head to the islands for some R&R just before we hit Amman, Jordan. Looks like the rest of our trip is pretty well planned out (we're even spending a few days in Dublin, Ireland on our way home) and we will be home a bit early, on Sat. May 25th...or whatever that Sat. is. Who wants to pick us up from the airport? :) Time is flying by. And back to the blog:



We said goodbye to Pnom Phen a few days ago and took a bus ride across the border into Vietnam. This border crossing was much less eventfull then the one into Cambodia. Saigon is a huge city, with over 9 million people and 6 million motorcycles. Crossing the street is a real challange. You just slowly walk across and the never ending stream of bikes just flows around you. It takes a bit of getting used to. Saigon is a crazy place with so many sounds and lights. It is a Communist country, but once again you could never tell by looking at it. Business is alive and well here. Its nothing like the Communism I saw in Europe.

We took a day trip out to the Chu Chi tunnels on the outskirts of Saigon. They were a network of tunnels used by the Vietcong durring the war. We were able to climb into some of the larger tunnels and see what the conditions were like for the soilders underground. It is amazing that they could live like that. I am a tall person and it was very hard for me to climb around in them. I think Heather even had a tough time. Towards the end of the tour is a shooting range where for some extra money you can shoot off your choice of weapons. They had AK-47's, M-16's, and even M-60 maching guns.

We were lucky enough to have a actual veteran with us on the tour. He wasnt an American veteran, he was a former North Vietnamese Soilder. While some of the other tourists were off shooting I sat down with the vet and started talking with him. He spoke no English so his grandaughter had to translate. It was very strange sitting there talking with him as machine guns cracked off in the background. He showed Heather and I his shrapnel scars on his legs and arms. His trigger finger on his right had was all twisted and arthritic from so much shooting. He told us about the fighting and being in the tunnels. He said coming to this place made him feel light headed and dizzy. It was obviously a tough day for him. It was strange talking to this former enemy of the United States. This sweet inocent looking man was a Charlie.

Back in Saigon later that day I took a motorcycle to the post office to mail home a package. My driver started talking to me and asked where I was from. I told him USA. He said "I love America, USA is #1" Turns out he was a South Vietnamese soilder during the war and fought with the Americans. He said that "Ho Chi Minh is not my friend, VC is very bad" and that he was so happy when the US came to help South Vietnam and bomb Hanoi. Then his tone changed and he said that "Americans had to leave, I had to stay. I had no choice. I went to prison for fighing with America, America left me"

So in the same day I got to meet both a vet from the North and the South. One of them was on the winning side, the other from the losing. But at a human level I dont think either one of them could be considered having won anything. They both have lingering emotional and physical scars. It was an interesting day.