Onto the museum now: there was a strong and opinionated Anti-American view of the history of the war. Pictures, actual tanks and planes, propagnada posters, news articles and actual photgraphs taken from the war were some of what was shown. The spraying of Agent Orange (perhaps the world's most known poisonous chemical) to "flush the Vietcong out of the jungles" pretty much destroyed much of the ecosystem and left MANY Vietnamese (and Americans) with SEVERE health problems if not death. The birth defects even spread to the next generation many times, unthinkable! Napalm and bomb victims were depicted as well, along with a picture of Fidel Castro celebrating the final evactuation of US troups from Vietnam. All kinds of weapons were also on display! Innocent men, women and children were inhumanely treated and murdered here (likely on both sides, which generally occurs in war) and the accounts given. Up to a certain point and from what was shown in the museum, only ONE US pilot refused to fly his mission in Vietnam, but surely others follow. Many photographs of places WORLDWIDE showed the support for Vietnam, and the urging of the US to leave! This was a fascinating experience for me, because although I do not directly remember how the Vietnam war was taught in high school, this information DEFINITELy was not revealed. It is always a good idea to look at the coin from both sides, and more than two if the coin has ;)
I am now waiting at a wonderful hotel here in Saigon, and will take my flight to the Philippines tonight late night! I am excited to be back on the beach for 9 nights before I delve into Asia's most modern and developed societies to gain a better understanding of their intricacies.