Ho Chi Minh-Day 1

I arrived late in the evening and so I didn't see much of the city until the next morning. It looked, to me, very much like Manila..crazy amounts of motos, no street signals (so crossing the street requires a death-defying leap of faith that they will swerve to avoid you), wires everywhere, people starring. I didn't feel that HCMC was especially safe, especially at night. I guess I can't put my finger on it, but even that first day I felt uneasy. I'm sure lots of others will disagree with my statement and maybe it is silly and spoiled of me but that is how I felt.

I visited a boring market and sat in a park to figure out where to go. Lots of students dropped by to practice their English with me which was kind of fun.

The heat was really intense but I spent the day walking around District 1. Walking past all the hotels that the journalists from the war made famous, the Reunification Hall, the Saigon River. I stopped at the War Remnants Museum, which was heavily anti-American. It chronicled in great detail the effects of Agent Orange of individuals, including a remarkable set of conjoined twins perserved in formaldehyde or what have you. Outside were a dozen planes/tanks abandoned by the Americans and a reconstruction of an old prison camp-detailing the horrors of interrogation methods and confinement.

Afterwards I walked over to the temple where the monks immolated themselves in protest of the religious persecution under the Diem regime (not the war itself). It was unremarkable though, no signs of what had occured remained. Though, I don't know what I was expected.