Johnson-Leck World Tour: Vietnam Photos Pt 2

Welcome to Vietnam Photos Pt 2.

Most of these photos are from our time in Ho Chi Minh City. It's a big city full of action, restaurants, shopping, and motor bikes.

One of the top things for tourists to see is the Post Office. The French were the Imperialists here early on and they influenced much of the architecture and some of the food.

The inside of the Post Office. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was cool. Pretty sure Guthrie had a tantrum here (though that may be true of many of the following photos).


Still the Post Office. Cool, right? Colonizers are pretty terrible across the board, but they can make a fancy building.

Next stop, Cu Chi Tunnels. During the American/Vietnam War the Vietnamese built a GIGANTIC network of tunnels. At the peak there may have been as many as 250km of tunnels that housed people, medical facilities, transported goods, and everything else you can think of. So here we are, getting a tour of the area where they have preserved some of the tunnel system. It is eerie. Not only are you wandering around jungle that was bombed and fought over, but you are with a Vietnamese guide. There are bombed out American tanks and wax figures dressed in what the Viet Cong wore.

On the grounds of the tunnels is also a shooting range where you can try out some of the guns that were shot by both sides. So as we're wandering through the jungle you hear constant gun fire. It's terrible and heartbreaking and so many other descriptors that can't be put into words. After we were shown some of the traps that the Viet Cong made that hurt or killed American soldiers, the whole family just needed a break. Rigley and Wally got it and it was really emotional. At one point Wally turned to us and said "Now I understand why you don't like it when we play with guns."

This is an entrance to one of the tunnels. You got to crawl through them. I was on hands and knees. Kids didn't really like this part either. It feels weird posting more pictures from this place. Like this kids said "It wasn't fun. but it was important." The whole ride home we talked about the War and the protests at home and how the soldiers were treated when they came home. The big kids were amazing. Asking all kids of good questions. Someday when they study the War, they'll have some unique insights.

Then we went to Independence Palace with a friend from the ship. The place where the South Vietnamese surrendered to the North.

Jen and Rigley took the audio tour of the Palace. The boys and I found a really cool playground on the grounds in the back. After almost 50 years, here are two American children on a playground behind the place where the American/Vietnam War ended.

Enough with the heavy stuff. Time for karaoke. In Vietnam, you karaoke in a private room. We thought it would be a little cooler inside, but the JL's turned up the heat!

We saw two shows while in Ho Chi Minh. This was the Water Puppet Theater. It's a traditional style of puppet theater from the north. The performers are behind the backdrop up to their armpits in water. It actually was pretty enjoyable.

Second show was basically the cirque du soleil of Vietnam. It was REALLY cool, but they didn't allow pictures. You also may be noticing at this point that Guthrie has a new way of taking pictures.