I'm more surprised that the US Department of State pays for Facebook ads than that Facebook knows I'm abroad.
It's going to be very hot and humid, and I have to wear long pants for temples, so I'm seeing which of my pants is the lighest.
This one is heavier.
This one is slightly heavier than the first but can be turned into shorts by unzipping it at the knees.
Arriving at the port of Phu My.
You can follow the wake to see curved path of our ship.
A huge ship with many containers.
Another.
And another.
Sunrise over the cranes.
Ogii taking a picture of me taking a picture.
So many little trees.
Our group.
Our tour guide.
Many people sitting on small chairs on the sidewalk, although I don't see any little cafes.
Rainbow pillars.
A giraffe and cow sculpture in front of this car dealership.
Vegetable vendors.
Many small shops.
Quoc An Khai Tuong Pagoda.
Cows.
Workers in the fields.
Someone with cows.
Boats in a river.
VinFast is producing many electric cars which are cyan in color.
This ambulance has to weave through traffic.
A separate lanes for scooters.
Thatch buildings.
On the drive, our tour guide educated us about Vietnam. Tour guides must have gone to university (which costs around $200 per year for public or around $5,000 per year for private) and must be registered with the state.
Farmers or factory workers make around $200 per month, office workers with university education around $400 (also taxi drivers, which is one of the highest-paying jobs with university), tour guides or other people who can speak other langugages around $800. Doctors make much more, around $5,000 per month. (The average salary is around $700 per month, so doctors make 10 times that, which is similar to the US.)
Income tax is 10%, company tax is 25%, but rich people and companies often avoid paying much. There is a lot of corruption, especially because there is only one party, so nobody is watching them.
A car is around $20,000, so almost nobody can afford that, as it's around 3-5 years of income. Motorbikes are around $1000.
School is not compulsory is and $50 per month. Public school is more selective, so private schools are viewed as for lazy kids.
Hospitals have very long wait times. He went early in the morning and was still number 2000 in line. He had to wait until the afternoon to see a doctor. Some people will pay to have other people wait in line for them.
Getting into Ho Chi Minh city and there is more traffic.
And this other bus getting a little too close to ours.
Washing pots and pans on the sidewalk.
That looks like a giant robot behind the building.
I'd be a little scared cleaning the highway like this.
Some skyscrapers.
I like the helipad sticking off the side of the Bitexco Financial Tower.
Some more.
Even more.
And some across the river.
A whole ton of bikes at the stop light.
Christmas decorations at the Diamond Department Store.
The city was renamed from Saigon in 1976, but many people, including the residents, still call it that.
Our first stop was the Phuongnam lacquerware factory.
A guide there explained the process.
And the materials.
Eggshells.
Breaking them into art.
Other shells.
Placing them on a table.
This table was my favorite item.
Finishing and polishing.
A completed work.
Dancers.
A store upstairs.
They will pack and ship anything you buy.
Our next stop was the War Remnants Museum.
Tanks and helicopters out front.
Along with planes.
Bombs.
More tanks.
There are multiple floors with different rooms. The first one we was War Crimes.
They have many pictures from the Vietnam War there.
Along with descriptions from US soldiers.
US military maltreatment of Vietnamese soldiers.
Conclusion that the US committed war crimes in Vietnam by the Bertrand Russell Tribunal.
Many dead people.
A flamethrower.
A US soldier holding a part of a corpse of a Vietnamese soldier killed by a grenade launcher and US soldiers dragging prisoners to death behind a tank.
A sculpture named "mother" made out of bomb fragments.
Photos of the My Lai massacre of civilians, including children.
A woman fixing her buttons after having been sexually assaulted by a group of GIs. "I approached a group of non-combatants on a trail that I thought were going to be interrogated by a group of soldiers surrounding them. I yelled, 'Hold it!' and shot my photo. As I walked away, I heard M-16s open up on full automatic fire. From the corner of my eye I saw bodies falling, but I didn't turn to look." - Army Photographer Ronald Haeberle
Some of the photos made it into US newspapers at the time.
Some people in the museum cried.
The famous "napalm girl" photo, by combat photographer Nick Ut, a Vietnamese American photographer who was working for the Associated Press.
Victims of phosphorus bombs.
Victims of napalm bombs.
A victim of US unexploded ordinances in 2003, nearly 30 years after the war ended.
Another one.
Some of the weapons used in the war.
Larger ones.
A quote from the US Declaration of Independence.
The building was square, with a central open area and the rooms along the edges.
Some sort of event going on at the bottom floor.
Another room was Agent Orange Effects.
Inside.
Which showcased people with various disabilities.
"Nguyen Thi Men, 21, lives in a cage-like enclosure. She attempts to chew and swallow anything within her grasp. The most 'human' moment is when she extends her hand through her enclosure, reaching for her father as she recognizes him."
A wide variety of disabilities and disfigurements.
Babies.
It also affected US soldiers.
"I want to pick a flower."
A conjoined twin fetus affected by Agent Orange.
Specimens of stillborn fetuses.
Barack Obama saying the US wants to help Vietnam with Agent Orange victims and affected land.
Aspiring Beyond Challenges room.
Showcasing people succeeding even if affected by Agent Orange.
Requiem.
Which is a photo collection of war correspondents who died in action.
Larry Burrows
Larry Burrows photographed fifty combat missions for LIFE magazine's first major cover story about the Vietname War. He died when their helicopter was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos
A view of Khe Sanh.
More photos.
"The local flak militia protected the towns and villages where they lived. When there was no air raid, they did manufacturing activities in the fields."
The NSA had deliberately skewed intelligence to create the impression that the Gulf of Tonkin was real, which US President Lyndon Johnson used as a pretext for escalation of US involvement, when in fact it was imaginary, and even the CIA at the time was skeptical that a second attack had occurred. Senator Wayne Morse, who received a call from an anonymous informant urging Morse to investigate official logbooks of Maddox, urged Congress to be wary of the president's message, but it was not until after the United States became more involved in the war that his claim began to gain support throughout the United States government.
Following the end of World War II, Ho Chi Minh reached out to US President Harry S. Truman for support in ending French rule in Vietnam, but Truman wanted to create NATO to fight Communism, and to get France on board, the Americans had to support their colonialism in Vietnam. Truman also believed that a communist victory in Indochina would lead to the spread of communism throughout Southeast Asia, so he provided covert military and financial aid to the French to prevent this from happening.
Locations of major US and satellite country combat units in south Vietnam in 1969.
Number of troops by year.
Children's education room.
Sculpture of kids with a dove.
And jumping rope.
Free refreshing towels.
There's no air conditioning in the building, so these are very welcome.
US activists against the war.
They wore many different antiwar badges.
Many worldwide organizations helped Vietnam after the war.
A little cafe outside.
The province of Binh Thuan was heavily bombed. The corpses of inhabitants were gathered and taken to Buru Lam Pagoda. The pagoda's bell was made out of a canister of an unexploded 500-pound bomb. The sound of the bell echoes like Vietnam's message of peace.
Nearby is Chill Corner Cafe in a very funky building.
A family of four on a scooter.
Safe store.
Hyperlapse of some traffic. There's a lot of pushing your way through.
These scooters almost got squished between our bus and that car.
A long line of traffic.
Cool building.
From another angle.
And another.
Catholic Church of St. Jeanne D' Arc.
Ride-share / delivery services, Grab in green, Be in yellow.
Hauling a ton of blue tubing.
Thien Hau Temple.
Intricate carvings.
Many of people.
It's dedicated to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu.
Writings on the wall.
Central area.
Prayers.
More roof carvings.
Very detailed.
Central shrine.
Bells.
Incense.
Candles.
A cute little turtle picture, off to the side with junk piled below it.
More vendors.
Carrying a mattress on his bike.
In traffic.
We didn't see too many homeless people sleeping out in the open.
An old woman pushing her wheelchair filled with stuff.
Multi-story businesses / residences.
Schools easy to spot: bright, colorful cartoons.
The beginning of a huge mural.
Buildings.
Bridge.
Seasides.
Roads.
Islands.
DNA-like structures in Tao Dan Park.
Arch with roses.
Independence Palace.
The first two North Vietnamese tanks that broke through the palace gates during the fall of Saigon in 1975, which signaling the end of the Vietnam War.
Some security guards. I hope they're not angry at us for taking pictures.
Nope, they were happy to take pictures with us.
And even waved good-bye.
A photo of a CIA officer helping evacuees up a ladder onto an America helicopter at during the fall of Saigon.
Which happened right over there.
The general post office.
Inside.
Old phone booths.
Vendors outside.
Statue.
Notre Dame of Saigon.
Statue of Virgin Mary out front. In 2005, according to some witnesses, it began to cry, causing thousands of people to come, stopping all nearby traffic and requiring police to maintain order.
Uh oh, a traffic cop said we're not supposed to stop here. Thankfully he let us off with just a warning.
Mural of farmland.
These sections of sidewalk are for the visually impaired.
We had pho for lunch.
Using a huge spoon to fill our bowls.
It was very good.
Ogii enjoying hers.
Very slowly made.
Our group took up pretty much the entire restaurant.
It's around $3 for a meal.
The phone number 9999 is for the first and only private ambulance service in Vietnam.
This medical practice does a lot.
Nice rooftop trees.
More.
Many people would rest by reclining backwards on their bikes.
We didn't see many expensive cars.
Our final stop was the Ben Thanh Market.
It was huge.
The outer ring has official government vendors, who have fixed prices.
The inner vendors are private, and our guide recommended we bargain with them, starting with a price of around 40% of what they request.
Bugs.
Purses.
Food.
More.
Even more.
Fruits and vegetables.
Many scooters outside with cardboard on top.
Jewelry across the street.
They will measure you for a suit and then mail it to you. Great quality much cheaper than you can find in the US.
Many name brands. The knock-off items seemed to be very good quality.
Watches.
Suitcases. We bought a few things, but we only had 45 minutes, not nearly enough time for Ogii to shop, especially with me constantly telling her we had to hurry.
Many A/C units. Most people don't have it in their homes, so they have to go to the shopping malls for it.
I'd be hanging onto the driver, not the box.
Cool building.
It's about a 1.5-hour drive back to port, and traffic is only getting worse.
So our driver took a shortcut once the highway got busy.
Through some side roads.
Kids getting picked up after school.
Vegetable vendors.
Clothes.
At one point it started to pour, so everyone jumped off their scooters and ran for shelter...
... to put on their ponchos.
Keeping their kids dry.
Dragons along the edges.
Song Vinh Catholic Church.
Once back on the ship, we picked up our hot glass items.
My sea turtle bowl.
Ogii's vase.
A huge thunderstorm nearby.
Thankfully it stayed over there.
There was some lightning inside of it.
Broadway Cabaret was the evening entertainment.