Happy Easter

Those of you who still read this once and a while must have probably noticed the lack of new photos. Well, our lovely new Nikon camera has a bug. We are going to attempt to transfer all of the photos onto cd-r today, so hopefully well be able to get some up on line very soon.

Aside from that we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City a couple of days ago by plane from Hue. Tom was pretty sick in Hue, so we pretty much just relaxed in the room (most hotels in Vietnam, even budget ones, have a TV with satellite) ate pizza, and only took one trip - to the DMZ.

Let's just say, after years of war and occupation, the Vietnamese people have not really wanted to remind themselves of the past. Therefore, our trip to the DMZ was a bit boring. There is really not much to see. A long bus ride from Hue into the mountains and then the coast is really not worth it. We saw a few downed US planes, some of the areas where American bases once stood, and the DMZ, which is now just fields and fields of rice.

Probably the most interesting part of the trip was visiting the Vinh Moc tunnels that we walked through. Built along the South China Sea coast to enable the village people to avoid heavy bombardment of Americans by air and sea, these tunnels, discovered at the end of the war, provided refuge for this community for five years. Very tight, dark and a bit frightening, it is really impressive how these people went about their lives underground for such a long period of time.

Better than the DMZ tour has to be the Military Museum in Hanoi. So much information, pictures, remnants from the wars with the French and the Americans documented in two large halls. Writings within in museum still contain outdated communist rhetoric, referring to 'puppet regimes', 'American imperialists' and 'bandits' makes this tour even more interesting. They also have a large selection of downed American planes, French weaponry and an impressive sculpture created out of parts from airplanes, etc. In the same area as the musuem, you'll also find the Hoa Lo Prison, first opened by the French to house dissident Vietnamese, later used during the Vietnam War to hold downed American pilots, including John McCain.

The number of sites we visited in Hanoi, as well as the trip we took in Hue, has left us feeling we need a break from the tourist track. We've decided aside from those French colonial buildings we pass as we walk through the city, the only site we are really going to visit is the Jade Pagoda. After all, there is much shopping to be done here. As well, we're off to Angkor Wat next, so we don't want to ruin that experience by being too tired to see as much of it as we can.

Happy Easter to everyone :)