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| We left a lot of tanks |
Our Thursday started out simple enough - waking at the Riverside Hotel at 6 AM and having an elaborate breakfast in the hotel high columned dining room. We walked down the open fire hazard wooden steps from our second floor river facing room. After breakfast - Lulu took a $2 cab to the University. She made two presentations to the faculty and students. She was back to the hotel at noon - since it was hot and humid - we both stripped down to shorts - sandals - and tee shirts.
Our first stop was the Warm Remants Museum. It takes up a full block downtown near the National Palace. The admission was $2 and we spent about two hours looking at the displayed hardware and pictures. It was very sobering.
The Vietnam War went from about 1955 to 1975. From 1860 to 1955 - Vietnam was a French colony called French Indo-China. The United States got involved - USSR and China supported the other faction. The war spun on for years - costing 58,000 American lives and roughly 2 million Vietnamese. Nixon promised a secret plan to end the war. It turned out the plan was to say good-bye and go. Saigon fell in 1975. Today it is a communist country of 95 million!
Next we went to the French Quarter and Notre Dame Cathedral - which is in very bad shape. The heat and pollution got the best of us. After a very nice lunch - a steak for $8 - and a very to the very exclusive Diamond Department Store - we walked back to our hotel. My throat was killing me and I was inhaling lozengers. I hopped into the bath tub to cool off a bit.
At 4 PM we were both in bed - watching TV and listening to radio. We slept 14 straight hours - sleeping thru supper! I am not kidding. At 6 AM - Lulu said she needed cash. I walked to the casino at The Majestic Hotel next door - and got 2 million Dongs! About $90.
We just had breakfast and Lulu went back to campus to deliver her last 2 talks.
It is just so nice being back in a country with nice fast uncensored internet wifi. My meter is reading 40 MBPS versus the less than 1 MBPS readings I get back in Beijing. I can transfer high quality pictures from my iphone to my laptop in second on airdrop. I can lay out pages on blogger.com in minutes. I can watch uncensored TV and listen to clear radio.
To paraphrase myself - the air is a little better in China - but the internet makes up for it here in Vietnam.
I did not serve in Vietnam when I was a kid - and do not make light of that. I like seeing all this that was in the news back then. Every night broadcast death figure from here. How man Americas died? How many Vietnamese? It was terrible and a lot of the kids in the USA protested.
World Heavyweight Boxer Mohammed Ali said - “I ain't got no quarrel with them Vietcong,” He refused to go in the army. He led world wide protests. Finally - President Nixon ordered troops out. Nixon resigned in 1974 - before the troops left in 1975.
The war is over almost 50 years - most of the survivors are my age.
We are at 11 degrees north latitude. It is tropical - hot and humid - with heavy rainy and dry seasons. The dry season is just starting. Miami is 25 degrees north. Hawaii is 17 degrees north.
We have two extra nights here - to have some time to explore. We will never pass this way again.
A small traveling restaurant on a trike
Our Riverside Hotel on the Saigon River. This area was press row - where reporters lived. The Majestic Hotel is next door.
Tropical weather - we are close to the equator - 11 degrees.
The War Remnant Museum - the USA let lots of relics behind.
Huey Helicopter - I sold an Argosy Motor Home to a solider once - because it "looked like a Huey." He eventually led it on a slow speed police chase.
POW guillotine
Prison cell
An F-5 fighter jet.
War protest poster.
Jane Fonda was a war protester. She took pictures with the enemy.
John Kerry and John McCain were war heroes. McCain spend 5 years in a POW prison. Both ran for president and lost.
Huey helicopters were used to fight and as ambulances.
Nixon - blood on your hands
Prize winning Vietnam photo
Swift boat
Machine gun
Long gun shot 18 miles
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| Observation planes - Cessna |
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| Lunch downtown |
The National Palace in Saigon
Notre Dame Cathedral in bad shape - South Vietnam was a Catholic country. Vietnam is still 10% Catholic.
Notre Dame needs work.
This Diamond Dept Store is very exclusive - right by catherdal.
I loved the toilets there - Diamond Department Store. Heat - massage - water - sprinkler-etc.
Diamond Department Store
Communist Party District 1 Headquarters
Majestic Hotel - reporters lived here. Next to our hotel.
Majestic Hotel.
Majestic Hotel - I got money out of ATM here in the casino this morning. A beautiful old French Hotel. We will eat and drink here.
It is so nice to be able to lay out a page and just press send - and it goes! No internet hassle.
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