Miss Saigon

Pictures are worth a thousand words, they say...and a photo does not lie.

We are in Saigon...or, as it's now supposed to be known, Ho Chi Mihn City (though no-one seems to call it that except the street signs) in southern Vietnam....ground zero for the worst battles and atrocities of the vietnam war which ended less than 40 years ago. The battle scars run deep here.

My knowledge of the history of this war is rather sketchy i'm afraid...whether that's because i was asleep during history lessons at school or if it was never taught to us comprehensively i'm not sure, but i'm ashamed to say that before today it was limited to what i learned from hollywood movies and passing references to 'Nam'...But round here the people have not forgotten. Even back in Hue we wandered down the street beside hawkers selling 'war memorabilia'....scraps of medallions, dog tags, diffused bombs....obviously savaged off the battle fields...

And here in Saigon one of the main tourist attractions is the 'War Remnants Museum'. If I had been hoping to be enlightened about the allied philosophies behind the war and understand Australia's involvement in it, I would have been sorely disappointed. however, I was prepared for the fact that this country is still, justifiably, hurting and the story told here would be one sided...entirely the perspective of North Vietnam...communist propaganda not withheld...for Vietnam calls it the 'American War' and 'this is what America did to us...' was the theme....but pictures do not lie and the sights we saw as we took in the journalistic photos of the battlefields, farmer's bodies carelessly flung next to their ricefields, civilian mothers and their children lying dead in rough trenches, shot in the back of the head, the aftermath of the deadly 'Agent Orange' chemicals - the aftermath of which still affects the next generation today with horrific birth defects. This is not propaganda. These things happened. and they are heartbreaking to see. Whilst being an incredibly sobering experience, this afternoon this war, which i may or may not have learned about in history lessons, one in which my own country was involved for reasons I still do not entirely understand, became real...and heartbreaking and horrific as it was, it has helped me to understand this country and its people even more...understand why, in Saigon, almost everyone is young and it's rare, actually, to see an older man....understand why the people in this country are a just a little more hard-faced than their neighbours before they flash a beautiful smile and why this city, which was razed to the ground in the 60s and early 70s, is so brand spanking new. appreciate the fact that Vietnam, in less than 40 years, has picked itself up from devestation and begun to make something of itself...

Desperate to hear the other side of the tale I came back to the hotel and read what is probably a much less biased view of the war online...the conclusion I've come to is this - horrible, unspeakable atrocities were committed by both sides in this country....and tomorrow we will be even closer to understanding some of the conditions experienced by soldiers of the Viet Cong as we visit the Cu Chi Tunnels....

Saigon is not all about the past...the future is bright for this bustling city...one of my favorite asian cities so far for its energetic, pulsating vibe....we are staying in District 1, the undisputed heart of the city...within the 3 street triangle which makes up backpacker central here....cheap hotels, cheap beer, cheap 'pho'...and some familiar faces from cities further north....still, in the largest city in vietnam, we are running into people we know!! crossing the road is still taking your life in your hands, even more so here than in Hanoi, and the hawkers are still selling pineapples...but there is something exciting about being here...the promise of something special...a vibe which suggests hope...the suggestion of future wealth...a country well and truely on the mend.

stay tuned. xx