happy sorrow

actually dear readers my current stay in Vietnam is not the first time to Vietnam.During my cruise time stint on the QEII the grand lady of the seas and 30 year old cruise liner.As a part of the world cruise i hopped on the QEII in Hong kong. The written rule is that newly embarked staff is not allowed to go off in the next port of call.Which was Vung Tau.An ugly coastal town 2 hours drive away from the bustling town of Saigon.

Luckily we stayed 3 days anchored so at least one day I was allowed to go off shore and enjoy the VN hospitality.We did then off course the bit of Cu Chi Tunnels the famous Vietcong resistance liberation hide out who suffered the most of the mighty firepower of the US army.then in 2003 it was quite of the beaten path site.. Just a tunnel and a museum sustained by an ex guerilla who could not stop smiling living in the bush.

Now if you do some reading the GI’s bombed the supposed hide outs in Cu Chi back to the stone age. But coming now there you can’t see any evidence of the agent orange or toxic foil they have spread.Some craters here and there but the overall impression was that the tunnels according to the guides was ;;very deep”  and long” .. the exhibition is nice and well set up nowadays with guides and a well constructed site of the head quarters what they ate , the hospitals, the way they dug the tunnels.

cu chi

What actually was missing according to my associate who accompanied me was the struggle of the people , the concentration camps also called strategic hamlets,  the many deads and injured.It look all quite happy place. A typical video documentary was played and it all sounded for me the same as the museums I have visited before in Vietnam..Some tourists had to crawl their toes of the horrible narration.But then again i salute those people who could live under ground for months and risk their live for their people and nation.