After our ‘last supper’ together as a group we had a taxi back to our hotel. All the younger ones in our group said they were going to check out the nightlife and asked me if I was up for it. My head was saying no but I heard myself saying “Sure, lets go”
We made our way to the top of the 360 Sky Tower and had cocktails in the rooftop bar. Moving on from there we got dragged into the ‘Crazy Buffalo’ bar with dance music pounding out. We asked for a tower of beer and then got drawn in by the buy two get one free. As the beer was flowing they put a shisha pipe on the table and brought nitrous oxide balloons to the table. That was a step to far for me but a few of the others were up for it. When we left it was early morning so its in today’s diary!
After a sluggish start in the morning I took a walk past the ‘Presidents Palace’ now known as the Independence or Reunification Palace’ It was here that the first communist tank crashed through the wrought iron gates on April 30th 1975. A soldier ran up the stairs to unfurl a VC flag from the balcony marking the fall of Saigon. I liked the quote that I read. The South Vietnamese general said to the VC officer that entered the room ‘I have been waiting since early this morning to transfer power to you’ The officer replied ‘There is no question of you transferring power. You cannot give up what you do not have’
In the afternoon I went to the war remnants museum. All the American hardware was on display out side but the inside told the whole story.
The story inside was very graphic and harrowing. Because the war was covered by so many journalists and photographers.
Some of the the images of torture, napalm, phosphorus, and agent orange induced deformities were to awful to record for me.
This little girl was born to an American that had been exposed to ‘Agent Orange’ that caused the deformity. The Father couldn’t cope with the post traumatic stress disorder and shot himself when the girl was 14 years old.
I copied one picture when the Americans were searching and interrogating everyone including women and children.
I preferred to dwell on the last two pictures showing North / South reunion and Mother and Son reunion after the war.
The message from Ho Chi Minh demonstrated to me that he was a clever statesman.
Alan's Retirement 