Happy Friday, and happy birthday to my Dad, who probably isn’t reading this but I’m sure my Mom will pass the message along. Sadly, this is the last day of my trip, so here’s one last blog post from Saigon before I begin my journey back home.
This morning, I slept in a bit, because I could. After repacking everything, I checked out and stored my bags at the hostel, and set out to see a few last things in Saigon. Today was slightly cooler than yesterday, and by that I mean it was only extremely hot as opposed to ridiculously hot. It was a bit overcast and there was a small breeze, so it was actually an ideal day to check out the city on foot.
I began by walking up to Tao Dan Park, a large public park in the centre of the city. There’s a big sculpture garden there, as well as a lot of pretty landscaping and some great spots to escape the traffic. I found a shady spot and people-watched for a bit.
Next, I headed to the War Remnants Museum, only I got there right around noon and the museum was just closing for lunch. To kill time until it reopened at 1:30, I found a nearby cafe and nursed some coffee and spring rolls. Groups of high school students kept coming in to eat lunch, crowding six or seven to a table and giggling and browsing on their mobile phones. I guess teenagers are the same the world over.
After lunch, I headed back to the War Remnants Museum, which tells the story of the American War from the Communist Vietnamese perspective. It’s a blatantly propagandist museum — until recently it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, but I guess they changed that when they normalized relations with the USA. Still, though, it’s the side of the story that we don’t often see, and the exhibits are very moving. The section on the effects of Agent Orange and other chemical warfare was particularly disturbing, as was the exhibit dedicated to the My Lai massacre. As long as you keep in mind that there were horrors committed by both sides of this miserable war, and that this museum carefully only presents one side of the story, it’s an excellent museum and probably a must-see for anyone visiting Saigon. A few of the more recently-added exhibits make more of an effort towards balance, including the excellent “Requiem” display of war photography by and of photojournalists of all nationalities, many of whom died on assignment. Outside the museum, there’s a collection of US Army tanks and war planes.
Then, since all the war tourism was starting to seem a bit garish and is vastly unfair to the bustling modern-day city that is Saigon, I headed to Dong Khoi Street, the famed main shopping drag, to browse. It was blazingly hot outside, so after poking my head into a few shops, I found a cafe and got a seat by the window and an iced coffee and just people-watched for a while. At one point, I saw some traffic cops pull everyone aside to make way for what looked like a procession of important government officials, flanked by plenty of police cars and uniformed officers on motorbikes.
I wandered over to nearby Le Than Ton street to check out the international selection of restaurants and bars, but it was still early and I wasn’t really hungry for dinner just yet. At that point, I’d been walking for over seven hours and my feet hurt, and I was all sweaty and gross, so I hailed a cab back to the hostel.
I picked up my bags and did my best to clean up a bit, and I caught a taxi to the airport around 8pm. I’m here now, checked in, and about to go find some grub before I board. My flight is scheduled to depart at midnight, and so far it’s on time. I arrive early tomorrow morning in Tokyo, so I’m hoping to get some sleep on the plane.
Goodbye, Vietnam. It’s been amazing, and I hope to be back someday.