July 24 Saigon and It's a Small World After All

Our first stop today was the Reunification Palace. The building, once the symbol of the South Vietnamese government, is preserved almost as it was on April, 1975 when the Republic of Vietnam, which hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and 58,183 Americans had died trying to save, ceased to exist. It was here that the first communist tanks to arrive in Saigon charged on the morning of April 30, 1975. In a dramatic scene recorded by photojournalists and shown around the world, a soldier ran into the building and up the stairs to unfurl a VC flag from the fourth floor balcony. General Minh, who had become head of state only 43 hours before, waited with his improvised cabinet, addressed the Viet Cong officer who entered the room. “I have been waiting since early this morning to transfer power to you,” Minh said. “There is no question of your transferring the power,” replied the officer. “You can’t give up what you do not have.” It was a powerful experience being there where the end of the Vietnam war took place. In the photo of the rooftop, you can see a helicopter and location of the 2 bombs that landed on the palace enabling the quick occupation of the palace on that eventful date.

The Vietnam War Crime Museum was difficult to experience. It is filled with graphic images (and substantial propaganda). Hieu gave us an hour and we solemnly took in the pictures and stories of the war – use of chemical weapons and their aftermath, use of napom bombing of villages and summarily executed villagers. After growing up with the American perspective, it was fascinating to hear the Vietnamese perspective of the war. On our way out we saw the tiger cages that were used to contain prisoners. Every type of torture (from extracting finger-nails to holding rags over the prisoners mouth and gradually soaking it with more and more water until the victim could no longer breathe) was explained. Very gruesome and sad beyond belief.

Later, on our way to Chinatown, we stopped at the Thien Hau Pagoda. Although we’ve visited several on our trip (and that is an understatement!) we had never lit incense sticks. We bought some and decided to present them to the god of good health. We quietly said our private prayers and then planted them into the smouldering base filled with sand.

In the evening the boys decided to enjoy the amenities of the hotel while Deb and Joe toured the Ben Thanh market. We were impressed with the quantity of Adidas dri-fit products at very low prices. Of course there were the usual Rolex, Abercrombie and Polo knock-offs for sale.

But the biggest surprise of all was bumping into friends from Ottawa! Scott, Kristen, Joshua, Erica and Madeleine who had moved from Ottawa’s Glebe 4 years ago to pursue their adventures and careers in Australia just happened to be vacationing in Vietnam. We couldn’t believe it when we met them.The Disney song, “It’s a Small World After All” rushed into our heads). We caught up on news (how much the kids have grown, how the family size has multiplied, where they have been working, travelling and of course stories of our mutual friend Mike Coulson) over beers at the local open-air restaurant before their train departure to Hoi An (an 18-hour over-nighter). It was a wonderful occasion and we parted promising to keep in touch upon their return to Ottawa in September.