Saigon (Vietnam)

The most impressive and saddening experience in Saigon was visiting the War Remnants Museum. There were 8 halls of exhibits inside the museum documenting the Vietnam war, complete with tanks and empty artillery outside of the museum. The devastation to the people and the country is unforgettable and made us all very grateful that we have not had to experience the direct effect of war so far in our lives. Most grotesque is the continuing effect that Agent Orange is playing in the population due to debilitating birth defects. Many of the American Soldiers received compensation for their exposure to this chemical. The Vietnamese people have been appealing to the US government for years to also receive compensation, particularly as infants continue to be born with defects as a result of their parents exposure to the chemical and the very contaminated soil. The next few pictures are all from the War Remnants Museum. Some of them are quite graphic and disturbing.
These two pictures are a couple of many similar pictures lining the walls of the museum. I think they speak for themselves.





We also visited another market (because of course we needed to do more shopping!), called the Ben Thanh Market. It was our most “intense” market experience to date. It was a massive indoor market with stalls and isles hardly wide enough to walk though single file in places. Of course, all of this was without A/C. Best was that you dare not make eye contact or look at any item without women grabbing your arm and literally dragging you into their stall. “ No Thank You” (no matter how loud or forcefully you say it) does not register here and it gets to the point where you have to be rude. Naturally we did succumb to some of the high pressure sales tactics. That being said, we were pretty careful in what we purchased given that red flags went up when you see Chanel sunglasses, Rolex watches, Gucci handbags, etc. in the same market where they are selling dried fish and flowers! Perhaps it is not authentic…..

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