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Today I woke randomly with abdomen pain, similar to the episode in Hanoi and felt pretty sore. Steven had headed out to breakfast so I got up, took some painkillers and got dressed. It wasn't long before Steven was back and we got ready to head out as we were planning to visit the 'war remnants museum'. We didn't have a lot of time in Saigon but it was somewhere we both wanted to visit. By now my stomach pains were pretty bad but intermittent so bearable, one minute a simple dull ache and then the next an excruciating pain that would result in doubling me over. I had a rest for an hour to see if it would settle like it normally does but no luck so decided to simply bite the bullet and head out.
We headed out and started the walk down to the museum, which was located about thirty mins walk from our hotel. On route we walked past the theatre where we saw a huge advertisement of 'Chicago'... Asian style and numerous street stalls serving food. It was a slow walk with my abdo causing me lots of bother resulting in Steven ordering me back to the hotel several times but we kept on. I knew the pain would eventually go and I really wanted to take in some of the history here. We soon found ourselves in the area surrounding the reunification palace and were soon walking through the green open space of
'Tao Dan Park' and the grounds of the palace. Here there were lots of people milling about and enjoying the quietness of the park and the surrounding restaurants.
We found ourselves at the 'War Remnants Museum', which was previously known as 'The Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes'... No beating around the bush there then. The museum itself appeared pretty popular with a large tour arriving at the same time as us, we snuck in first and bought our tickets (fifteen thousand dong each or 47p each). We then headed in past the vast area of US military armoured vehicles, artillery equipment, bombs and so on. The museum was very spacious and communist looking with a large collection of visual displays scattered around. By now my stomach was getting increasingly worse and I needed to sit down intermittently clutching my stomach and trying to minimise the pain. It was really bizarre and random how it had come on suddenly and I had no other symptoms except some nausea.
We looked around the exhibition and photos, which to be honest were very one sided and had little view on the US troops experiences and such. However I have to say when you head up to the second floor and see the photo exhibitions there it is simply shocking. A lot of the disturbing and horrid photos displayed were actually provided by the US and really are quite shocking. There are numerous photos of US forces executing and torturing local villagers and really are quite shocking to see... Very emotive. Despite the obvious one sidedness and lack of the US militaries version of events you cant deny the horrific ness on display. This included the 'My Lai' massacre which took place near Son My on 16th March 1968. The area was regarded as a Viet Cong strong hold and the area previously bombarded with artillery and bombings. During the bombardment the US forces encountered no resistance and soon after heading west through the village of Xom Lang the atrocities began that was truly shocking.
The solders headed through the village and shot and butchered the fleeing villagers, they threw hand grenades into bomb shelters and bayoneted the residents as well as their live stock and set fire to the villagers homes. The villagers were herded up in front of a ditch and shot by machine gun, this included women and children. As these massacres were taking place it is also believed a number of girls were gang raped by the soldiers... Its truly shocking. A memorial at the site states that 504 Vietnamese were killed although US army sources claim the number was nearer 350. At the time troops were ordered to keep quiet about the atrocities but several solders disobeyed the order and went public about the massacre after returning home from war. At the time this only rallied up support for bringing the troops home and further fuelled public protests against the war as well as do little to support the notion that the US troops were protecting the Vietnamese. Troops heading home were ostracised and branded baby killers and given little support rather than be welcomed by parades and banners, its truly shocking for all involved and you can't even imagine what those people went through. The exhibition had hundreds of pictures as well as the large sewage pipe that a young family hid in before being murdered, including a young boy of eight being disembowelled... Vile.
The place was awful and it was very harrowing to see, unfortunately I wasn't taking in as much as hoped as my abdo pain was now excruciating and I spent much of the time sat on a bench clutching my tummy, think people thought I was traumatised by the museum... And to be fair it was pretty horrid. We went into the next exhibition that showed the effects of agent orange on the Vietnamese people. The exhibition was full of disfigured and disabled children and adults as well as a few aborted or miscarried foetuses.... That was pretty horrid to see. By now I couldn't stand the pain anymore and sat on the benches while Steven headed up to the third and final floor. I felt really lame feeling sorry for myself while surrounded by such a cruel and nasty history but my stomach was so painful.
Steven came down a little while later and we headed back down stairs and started on the long walk home avoiding the gift shop on exiting... I must've been sick, Steven thought we could stop off for a drink as I was struggling but I just wanted to get back and curl up in bed. On returning that's exactly what I did while Steven headed out for food, by the time he came back I was in my Pjs and curled up in bed dosed up on painkillers... Not how I wanted to finish my time in Vietnam. By evening I was feeling a bit better and the pain had subsided a little, probably because I hadn't eaten. Think it was something gastric as it was a lot worse after eating and felt very gastric in origin.
We decided to head out and find some simple comfort food so went to Mrs P's where Steven had pork and rice and I had a beef stew with bread, proper warm comfort food and just what I needed, felt a lot better now with just a residing ache and the odd cramp. I didn't want to spend the evening moping about in the room so we went for a walk and in search of a treat as we were feeling a bit fragile and in need of something luxurious. It wasn't long before we found a 'Swensens', which is an American ice cream company... The menu was varied and we couldn't decide what to order. In the end we both ordered a chocolate Sunday complete with fudge brownies and peanut butter pieces, it was very rich, very indulgent and very much appreciated. After we had finished we took a slow walk home feeling very happy before curling up and watching a movie before falling into a chocolate induced sleep.
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