Yesterday was a good day. After we checked out of the hostel we went searchinf for a new one and ended up at one across the road, 10$ a night for a double fan room. Aint too bad, although we will greatly miss the luxury of the Air conditioning. Went for a stroll round town, walked to the War Remnants museum in a very roundabout way but we got there in the end. First sight of the building was the chinook sitting outside, then the tanks, then the fighter jets. Outside is a lot more upbeat than the inside. And considering the outside can hardly be called upbeat it doesnt bode well for the inside. Stretching across three levels was a sombre display of the Vietnam war detailing the atrocities committed by the American army. On the first floor were the memories of the massacres committed, as well as grainy pictures of GIs holding up beheaded vietnamese soldiers and pictures of random farmers shot by the soldiers,. Accompanying these images is a brief description of what was happening. it also details Americas involvement in Vietnam from before the war to after when they were still taking a hand in Vietnams future. On the next floor were another series of pictures and explanations, this time about what effect the spraying of chemicals all over Vietnam had on future generations, especially 'Agent Orange' which has caused more than 500'00 children to be born with birth defects as a result of their parents being exposed. Another feature was the jar of three fetuses preserved in formaldehyde which had birth defects resulting from agent orange. Also to be seen are some of the images taken by journalists following round the US army. Outside the museum is a display of some of the torture methods used on the Vietcong, not by the Americans but by other Vietnamese. This was done on an island not far from the coast. Overall the museum was an amazing place to visit. However I left wondering if the American army personnel who instigated the war have ever been held accountable to the countless war crimes they committed. After that sombre affair we walked back into the centre and had a bit of food. We booked a tour round the Co Chi tunnels and a visit to the Cao Dai temple for this morning.....but we overslept and missed it. Good thing it was only 5 dollars then. Around 8 when we were just walking round the park we were approached by a group of teenagers who asked if they could talk to us because they needed to larn some English, we agreed and then spent the next 2 hours talking to them and explaining what things meant and what parts of the body were called. It was pretty cool but around 10.30 we said our goodbyes and left. Back to the room, watched tv for a while and fell asleep.
Woke up, looked across to my phone, saw it was 8.30....we were supposed to be up for the tour and outside at 8 so that was rubbish, my alarm had gone off silently for some reason. Got ready, we'd finally had our laundry done, our hotel does it for 15,000 dong per kilo. Tehyd left out my socks thought so i spent a while searching for them. Next stop was the tour desk to book a bus to Nha Trang for tonight so thats where we weill be by 6.30 tomorrow morning. After tour desk we came here and now we must go for brunch before checking out the room by 12. byeeeeeee xx