My last e-mail...I swear :)

Good morning,

After the Mekong Delta, I spent two days in Saigon,
touring around, shopping and getting a feel for the
city.

One of the places I visited was the War Remnants
Museum. I'd been warned about the graphic photos and
the disturbing images but I really don't think that
anything could have prepared me for what was on
display there. I watched a movie on Agent Orange and
the harmful effects it is having on the future
Vietnamese generations; how the US dumped some 70
million liters of the stuff on Vietnamese soil during
the war (as well as 11 other dioxins), how there are
still tons of unopened barrels sitting in the
countryside, slowly seeping their toxic chemicals into
the earth and water supplies, and how people are
dealing with the harmful effects. It was truly
horrifying and I felt ill for the majority of my tour
through the museum. (Pascal, you and Nicole will have
to go when you're here).

The second day, I went to the Cu Chi tunnels which
were about 250km of underground tunnels stretching
from 50km northwest of Saigon all of the way to the
Cambodian border. The tour guide was an older
gentleman who'd fought with the US during the war but
it was interesting to note his respect at the
ingenuity of the Viet Cong in the area, their booby
traps (which were quite gruesome), building entrances
close to the US base as the US would never bomb their
base, etc... He was an interesting person to listen
throughout the day. I climbed into the Cu Chi tunnels
(only 100m remains) to compare with the Vinh Moch
tunnels (The Vinh Moch ones were made by civilians to
protect themselves against the bombings). At the
outset, I had to walk, hunched over so that I was
almost squatting and it only got worse the further you
went into the tunnels. How people, granted
significantly smaller than I, could spend any more
than 5 mins in them is beyond me!! Either way, both
sights were good to get a further appreciation for the
Vietnam war. What I found to be particularly
interesting is that after the Vietnam war, the
population here was just under 30mil, today, they have
84mil people living in Vietnam. That means that
2/3rds of their population is under 30 years of age.
It'll be interesting to see if this baby boom
continues.

The last two days, I've been in Mui Ne on a beach,
relaxing, reading and sunnying myself. Vietnam is
bracing itself for another typhoon, up around Hue/Nha
Trang today or tomorrow and it's raining like crazy in
Saigon right now. I don't imagine that it'll impact
my flight tonight but you never know.

Take care and I'll see you all soon.

Sarah

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