Here and There Blog

Spa Authentic is located in HCM City on the non-tourist side of the river. The spa is relaxing, I had a wonderful Oriental massage and left ready to hit the Irish pub!

The Chua An Giao Hindu Temple is a quick run-thru near the downtown market. It's a working temple with no tourist services but you can go in and take some photos as long as you are not blocking the way for someone praying. Always a cow!   My shoes are always off in Vietnam. Good thing I have many pairs of socks and access to laundry!

Unknown temple that we couldn't get to due to high wall and gate. Trash burning. More art on the tombs. Photos. This was a good side trip. I can't understand why we were the only two people here and when I sent over the other 3 people to check it out, they were the only tourists.

First, take off your shoes. Then cross over the sleeping dogs. As you walk in you will almost feel like you're in a library where instead of books, you have people and their stories. Everyone has their urn, a photo, and birth/death dates. I like this guy below. He has action figures. Above, they have fruit offerings. Right, I wonder what this couple was like and how they died.

What to do when needing a quick break from work? Visit a Buddhist cemetery of course! This one is near the Giac Lam Pagoda a few paces down on the right hand side of the road. Colorful, still in use, and a quick wander, it's something worth seeing while you make the stop at Giac Lam.

The Giac Lam Pagoda is part of a larger complex with small buildings and statues. I can't believe that no other tourists were here as this is not that far out of the city, free (donation boxes inside) and great photo ops. And of course the ever present electrical wires and laundry everywhere!

One room is dedicated to war posters and propagnda to getting the US out of Vietnam. This post counters that and is dedicated to peace in the world. More helicoptors and missles left behind. Air Force was here too. This last photo is a tribute to hundreds of people who were buried in a mass grave that was just uncovered in 2008. Inside the glass is sand from the excavation site.

Another part of the museum shows the detention camps that were used by the US and their Vietnam allies to imprison and torture prisoners. This is where you start to think, didn't these same torture methods get used on US soldiers and allies? Which they did. The Tiger Cages were not these barbed wire cages alone but small cells where prisoners were shackled. Below this replica is based on an actual prisoner photo. The likeness was captured well although the image loses something in my photograph. This guillotine and transport cage were used to execute prisoners.

From the brochure: "The role is to study, collect, and preserve and display exhibits on war crimes and aftermaths foreign aggressive forces caused for Vietnamese people." When the US military left Vietnam, many of the aircraft and ground vehicles stayed behind. The fun part of the museum is wandering around the tanks and bombs. Now I look happy here but that is because I haven't gone inside the museum yet to experience the next level of the exhibits. What was once called the "American War Crimes Museum" is now a place dedicated to peace as seen on the below banner. The exhibits serve as a reminder of how terrible chemical warfare is to all people. Stay tuned, more later.

When you have an unfinished workspace but have to be on-site, what to do?  Set up camp at DOCO. (Donut/Coffee) I had the coffee but skipped the donut. Such the glamourous travel life!

Jet lag and heat obviously are not the best look for me! We walked over to HRC for dinner and behold! A local lager is brewed in Vietnam, aptly called Saigon Beer. How did it taste?  Like every other lager in the world. Not the worst but not wonderful either. 5:00 am - sunrise

On the walk to work - sculpture in City Park First meal - Pho Noodles (Yummy) Mix of religious art