Saigon...an early morning stroll

On the last day of our Vietnam trip I was up early as a lark. Too early for the morning breakfast,
I decided to take a solo morning walk around the vicinity of our hotel. It's always interesting to explore sections of a city at different times of a day.
There I was before the city dwellers had stirred from their previous night's slumber.
I attracted some curious stares from some early birds as I looked at how a city slowly awakens.

Most shops were not opened for business yet. That would come later. The streets seemed empty
of the usual dense traffic. I was able to cross the road and streets without any problem. What I saw and felt reminded me very much of what Singapore used to be maybe 3 decades or more ago. There's an old world charm still alive in the city of Saigon where the humdrum of daily living carries on as the city struggles towards modernisation.


Here you see a tall building, still under construction as a future hotel.
This hotel should come with all the modern facilities and comfort as we know it today.
But the neighbourhood and surrounding vicinity will not enjoy the same degree of re-making...yet.
It will require a lot more foreign capital and investments to transform the existing infrastructure.
In this connection, Singapore has played a major part in helping Vietnam to get into the global grid.

As I continued walking the paved sidewalks along the streets, I was hoping to see some street pedlars of food,

of souvenirs or just about anything. But it was not to be. Either I was too early or another reason

prevailed. Asking around, I discovered that the local authorities in their planning, had ensured that such neighbourhoods where there is a large concentration of upscale hotels should be free from hawkers and street pedlars..most of whom are illegal.

Sounded like S'pore when our Hawkers and Markets Dept went on constant raids and ambushes

to catch our own illegal hawkers. I'm certain many of us older ones have witnessed countless episodes of such incidents in the past.


After my leisurely wandering, I returned to the hotel for a quick breakfast before hitting

the streets again...this time headed for the local Market place.

By then, traffic had picked up somewhat as you can see.

Today, helmets for all motorcyclists and pillion riders are compulsory.

But I noticed most of the helmets being used are shaped like a hat.

They are not the stringent types we are using in S'pore.

The Vietnam War...More Gruesome Reminders !

You will recall in my previous posts that I arrived at the War Museum as a pillion rider
on my guide..Ah Sup's bike. I gave him some money ( which he politely declined ) to go have some drinks and refreshments as I wanted to spend at least an hour at this site. Nevertheless, after making sure that he was seated at a nearby coffee stall and hence need not be uncomfortable, I went into the compound.

As I was alone on my own, I was able to be nimble -footed. That's the advantage when you can craft your own sight-seeing programme and carry it out alone or with a partner. So often in group tours, a group consisting of 40-50 people tend to move from point A to point B too slowly.
Much time is wasted to gather people, herd them together so they do not wander off, wait for those who went " to sing a song" and rejoin the party, wait for so many still posing at different locations for pictures and a whole string of other time-wasters. Just imagine this, if
every time the guide stops to highlight an item and 5 minutes is wasted as I pointed out...you can add up the precious wasted time.
The most obvious advantage in doing your own tour is that you and only you yourself decide what you want to do and see with the time planned, what are the things you can skip completely or have just a curtsory glance.
From my posts and pictures,
you will get an idea of what I wanted to see in that limited time I had.
I urge you to take your time to scrutinise these descriptions on "Torture Methods"
that were used against those unfortunate victims.
In a humanitarian law and order system...such horrendous torture practices would
NEVER BE PERMITTED.
So, why was this allowed?
It was war time...remember.
And especially in war time, as MAO said..." He who holds the gun holds the power ". Period!

[Inside the Tiger Cage Section -Explanation on Torture]


[ All of us have heard about the Biblical "Hell" described only in words . ]

[ But as they say...this is the real McCoy ! For the unfortunate victims in

[ this prison system...they do not fear Hell. They were already in it! ]

[ Various torture instruments. There are more displayed.]

[ No way a prisoner can escape at all. Often a quick death ]

[ was a more merciful alternative from this"living hell".


[ A cell of a typical "political" prisoner with a leg shackled ]

[ at all times. ]

[ A prisoner with both legs shackled. Lying down will]

[ cause untold pain to his ankles. ]

[ The skeleton...skull of a tortured victim with a]

[ nail hammered into his skull was unearthed. ]

[ Discovered records of a prisoner who ]

[ was executed. ]

Vietnam...Grim memories of the past ! Inside War Museum.

At the ticket office of the War Museum complex, I asked the young man dressed in green fatigues similar to the NVA ( North Vietnamese Army during the war ) if I could use my camera to snap pictures. He replied to me in Mandarin as he could not speak a word of English that it was permitted. Inside and outside. So I began to click away.
All the photos are from my camera.
The complex is quite huge. Mounted on the outside grounds are captured tanks, AA guns, planes, field artillery, helicopters, etc...from the American forces who departed in chaos and panic back in April 1975.
This section below shows the imprisonment, torture and killing system before 1975, during the
Vietnam War.

[ One victim of the system ]

[The Guillotine - for beheading prisoners]

[After the head is severed from the body, the head drops]

[ onto the box placed below. ]

[ Actual "Tiger Cages"...can you imagine the prisoner confined within? ]

There is no room for a prisoner to sit, kneel or even squat.

So what sort of position can the victim assume?

Obviously lying supine or in a crouched position just like wounded and

frightened animals kept in cages, awaiting slaughter.