'What day?' you may ask.....
a day of National Pride ........and National JOY ! |
| these parade pictures are just the REHEARSAL......they've been practicing for 1 YEAR .... |
Today, to the day, 50 years ago, the last American stuck his tail between his legs and escaped on a helicopter.
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| tails between their legs |
when the Vietnamese People's Army finally took Sai Gon (now Ho Chi Minh City). As is normal for Americans, they left all the Vietnamese who worked for the Americans behind. And after losing 3 millions of people in that bloody war, the North Vietnamese were not too endeared with the southern Viets who had collaborated with the US.
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| A northern tank breaking through the presidential palace gates |
Unfortunately, Uncle Ho (the Vietnamese cherish Ho Chi Minh... and call him Uncle) did not live long enough to see the day when Sai Gon was liberated and the country was reunited.....he died in 1969.
But his political 2nd in command, Le Duan
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| Ho Chi Minh & Le Duan |
and many amazing army generals like Giap (He who shot the French to tiny pieces in Dien Bien Phu in 1954)
made sure that the job got finished...
It was KIDS who won that war
.. and Viet Nam has been FREE since April 30th 1975.
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| all these kids are OLD men now ..... |
I
flew to HCMC just for this occasion (and of course, to snuggle with
Phap ;-) .....and I'm having tears of JOY in my eyes. It's hard to
describe....I FINALLY have found my HOME..... I truly truly LOVE this
country.
But Reunification Day is still 2 days away ....
My first trip outside the hotel is to buy food and wine (OMG, my street changed so much in the last 6 weeks; there is a 7/11 now and the Red Bar changed into a restaurant).
The second trip is to the wet-market....no nice flowers, but I get 4 limes and 3 hand-held Vietnamese Flags..... I waste no time using chopsticks and zap-strap them to the balcony railing.
One hour later, I see the old man across the street talking to his wife (they NEVER talk) and looking at me. I nod my head in deference....he waves and I wave back....then he points at my flags and gives me the Thumbs UP..... it's the little things that can make such a huge difference. Then, the HOT presumably gay guy in the apartment next over looks at me and gives me a heart-melting smile. WTF???
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| Afternoon relaxing in Year of the Snake underwear ;-) |
Phap texts....he'll be here at 20:00
Ok....earlier than expected.....but he will also leave earlier than expected ....no fireworks with him on 30.4. .....ah well..... he only stays for 1.5 hours....but it's magical... and he will be back tomorrow evening after working for 12 hours.
An early morning trip to the local wet-market...
... and the early bird gets the gladiolas ;-)
14:00 I have that yearning again......Jaegerschnitzel
8:00 Phap calls from the Thu Duc Metro station.....the line-up to get into the Metro is AT LEAST one hour long
9:15 pm he arrives ;-)
30.4.2025
I see people walking towards the parade grounds at 3:30 am, later I read that people went there last night to secure a great viewing spot.
By 6am there is a constant flow of pedestrians and full taxis heading that way.....
Pandemonium at 10 am..... Gridlock in the streets......an overwhelming stream of people heading to the municipal bus depot across the road....but there are no buses....they are all stuck in traffic.....whenever a bus arrives people RUN towards it to secure a spot..... And this keeps going for HOURS.... only 3 hours later have the last people finally found a bus to take them home in the outlying districts
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| Yes, there are soldiers marching in the middle of the madness |
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| Look closely....still marching soldiers in the mayhem. I am SO HAPPY that we did not go in person ;-) |
Two hours later.....I have an epiphany....there should be a video of the parade on the Vietnamese News website.....there is......and it's a YouTube video .....3.5 hours long, including more than one hour of pristine Parade footage .....Phap and I are tied to the screen for over an hour and we both cry tears of joy (if you watch this video, start at 2h 19min)....because what these >10,000 soldiers are doing is ART....it's kind of like when you see a PERFECTLY choreographed ballet performance of Swan Lake ...it's just magical.
May 1, 2025
May Day.....Except in North America, this day is to celebrate the workers of this world.
Afternoon..... a streak of bad luck...the bank machine is out of cash....CircleK is out of Dim Sum...AGAIN....AND Parkhaus is closed for the day.....but it works out well...I walk back to the hotel looking at the ground in front of my feet and I hear clapping....My Xe Om's friend is sitting with him there and they wave at me....My Xe Om looks old and tired and sick.....I take the elevator to my room but don't enter and take the elevator back down.....That Xe Om has to work to be able to eat.....so I ask him to take me to Highland Coffee and back...and as usual I overpay.... I have cheesecake
and he has food money..... All good.
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