MEMORIAL HALL OF ZHENG CHENGGONG

Then we headed to south of the Sunlight Rock, which has a small museum called Memorial Hall of Zheng Chenggong. It was built in honor of the hero's feats, which include expelling the Dutch colonists and re-occupying Taiwan.

The memorial hall consists of seven parts and features historical relics, written materials, photos, sculptures, models, and fine art works showing the life of Zheng Chenggong. Some books and photos, collection of swords, stone inscriptions and bronze cannon are also on display.

Entrance fee was already inluded in the admission to Sunlight Rock Park which was Y60.00 per person (rate as of Dec. 2007).

SHANGHAI MUNICIPAL HISTORY MUSEUM

After a few minutes of taking photos and seeing a good panorama of the city from the viewing deck, Ed and I left our group and decided to visit the Shanghai Municipal History Museum (not included in the package tour). Going down, we lined-up a ridiculously looong queue for the elevator. It was hot, stuffy and tiresome. After waiting 20 minutes of torture, luckily we arrived at the basement. We went straight ahead and purchased the admission tickets (RMB 35 per person) at the entrance of the museum.

This modern museum is about Shanghai history with emphasis on the pre 1949 era. Over 1,000 relics are housed here. Some of the exhibits include a Wedding Sedan-Chair luxuriously decorated with a hundred children.



A Rickshaw - was once the favorite mode of transportation during the early days.



There are multitudes of dioramas and miniature / life-size wax model.



A display depecting "Opium session".

"The gunfire of the Opium War and the signing of the Nanjing Treaty plunged China into the abyss of Semi-Colonialism. In 1845, foreign settlements and concessions were established in Shanghai, and Chona's sovereignty was further eroded. Nonetheless, the forced opening had far-fetching effect on the development of the city's municipal works, economy and culture."

There are also audio/video exhibits, plus many period paintings. Displays are well annotated in English and Chinese. It took us a good hour to discover and see the entire museum.


More Information:
Opening hours: 9:00 am to 9:00 pm
Phone: +86 (0) 21 5879 3003
Direction: Located in the Pudong District, in the basement of the Oriental Pearl Tower

PACIFIC WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM

The Pacific War Memorial Museum houses the repository of relics and memorabilia related to the history of Corregidor.

Inside the museum

There are also statue of some personalities and costumes in corregidor's historical past.

HOME

Reunification Palace

REUNIFICATION PALACE formerly known as Independence Palace or Norodom Palace, is a historic landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was the workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and the site of the official handover of power during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

The front yard of the Palace is a grass carpet in oval shape with a diameter of 102m. Running along the whole width of the great hall is a half moon shaped pond.




Admission is VND 15,000 for a descriptive brochure, which is available in several languages. Then we went on a guided tour of the palace. The guide explained about the architecture, decoration and historical contents. He showed us where the important meetings were held during the war, as well as some of the private quarters of the president and his family. There is a lot of Vietnamese arts and also nicely decorated reception where International visitors received.



The Palace consists of 95 rooms, each decorated according to its function. It features two exhibition rooms, a 33-room guesthouse, bomb shelter, Catholic chapel, helipad, tanks and numerous entertainment facilities.



The Office of the President of Republic of Vietnam.

Luckily, I got a snapshot with our tour guide wearing a traditional dress called "Ao Dai", literally means, a "long dress". Pronounced "ao yai" in the south, but "ao zai" in the north, the color is indicative of the wearer's age and status.

Young girls wear pure white, fully lined outfits symbolizing their purity. It is also the uniform for female tudents in many Vietnamese high scholls and universities (They looked cute with their long hair clipped back and riding their bicycles and motorcycles). As they grow older but are still unmarried they move into soft pastel shades. Only married women wear gowns in strong rich colors, usually over white or black pants. The Ao Dai is the traditional dress of Vietnamese women, consisting of a long flowing tunic that is slit on the sides and worn over loose trousers.

This was the first thing I noticed when I was in Vietnam. You can almost see everywhere women wearing ao dais. Many companies also require their famale staff to be attired in the Ao Dai. And I really love the dress it looks elegant, demure and yet sexy outfit. If we could only have it here in the Philippines, I would love to wear it.

Oops! Ok, let's get back to the most interesting section of the Reunification Palace, which is the basement. It has network of tunnels and rooms, including a War Room and a telecommunications room. This one is the "On Duty combat Office of the President".



The tour is approximatley 45 minutes. After the sight seeing program you may watch a documentary film of "Historical Witness" in the air-conditioned movie room.

Now, the Palace is both an ideal tourist sight seeing point and a place to hold meetings, seminars, receive guests from local and foreign agencies and businesses, and a restaurant serving entertainments, birthdays and weddings.

Ticket selling time is 7:30 to 11:00 am and 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Open everyday including Saturdays, Sundays and Tet Holidays.



ADDRESS:
Reunification Palace
106 Nguyen Du St.,
District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh Museum

After War Remnants Museum, we proceeded to Ho Chi Minh Museum, also called Ben Nha Rong. The museum was constructed in 1863, it was used to be the office of the French maritime transport firm Messageries Maritimes. It was at this place that Nguyen Tat Thanh, who later became Uncle Ho, embarked on the Latouche Treville to go abroad to begin the struggle for Vietnam's independence.

In September 1979, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City chose Nha Rong as the Ho Chi Minh Museum-Dragon House Wharf. The name was taken from the two dragon-shaped symbols on the top of the building.

Events such as artistic festivals and the introduction of new members into the Youth Union and Communist Party have been held in this museum.

Less than 10 visitors were there when we paid our visit. The museum wasn't all that interesting. The exhibit materials mostly contains pictures, objects and activities relating to President Ho Chi Minh, which I think are not very well presented. Frankly, the architectural design of the place are far more appealing than most of the museum displays.

So, in the end... I just contented myself posing for some souvenir shots in the courtyard of the museum.

The river view from the balcony

Outside the museum

ADDRESS:
Ho Chi Minh Museum
On Saigon Port at,
1 Nguyen Tat Thanh St.,
by quayside on Ben Nghe Channel
at far end of Ham Nghi Blvd.,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel. 08-940 1053

War Remnants Museum

We went to War Remnants Museum on our own, after spending a half-day Cu Chi Tunnel Tour. Entrance was 10,000 VND and we received a brochure introducing briefly about the Museum.

War Remnants Museum, formerly named "Museum of American War Crime", was established in September 1975. The museum is an organization in charge of studying, collecting, examining, preserving and displaying the remnants of the wars the invaders in Vietnam. The museum is a call for peace and and a hope that history is not repeated - visitors are even asked to sign a petition against the kind of aerial carpet-bombing that so devastated the people of Vietnam.

Once you enter inside you'll see a large collection of bombs, planes, tanks and war machinery in the main courtyard. (see photos below)



This is the M. 48 Tank (48 tons). To increase the course of war, the US army feverishly sent M.48 tanks to South Vietnam in 1965 and step-by-step handed over them to the Saigon former army. That was carried out according to the "Vietnamization Program". The Saigon Armored car Corps Number 20 and other units were equipped with M.48 tank.



The various weapons used during the war are displayed in this hall, like the Seismic bomb weighing 15,000 pounds (6.8 T) can destroy everything on the ground within a radius of 100m, and violently shakes up and down within a diameter of 3.2km. And the CBU-55B is a sophisticated bomb produced by the U.S. When exploding, the bomb can destroy oxygen in the radius of 500m. It was used at Xual Loc, Dong Nai province on April 9, 1975.



We got to see some relics as well as photographs showing crimes during the Vietnam War in the multiple themed rooms: American soldiers killing and torturing Vietnamese civilians and scattering poisonous chemicals, the bottle deformed fetus supposedly damaged by Agent Orange, a wall size photos of the My Lai massacre, the war against the North Vietnam. Some guillotine and two life-sized replicas of the "tiger cages" of Con Dao jail on the ground.

Ed told me to take a peek into one of the tiger cages, which I did. What the...!!! I thought I saw a living prisoner inside. My oh my... it looks so real! I was really shocked, disturbed and felt eerie by what I saw. Shucks, but it turned out to be a dummy. Thank god!

Then he asked me if i wanted to have a souvenir shot beside the cage. Even though I liked to have one, I completely declined since I was still pretty chilly at that time.

There are also halls focusing on the border wars and archipelago issues. There are also stalls showing cultural products of the ethnic's tribes in Vietnam and a room displaying Vietnamese water puppetry.


The War Remnants Museum is a must-see for foreign tourists.



Address:
WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM
28 Vo Van Tan. St.,
Ward 6, District 3,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel. 930-6325
Fax: 848 9305153
Email: warrm@cinet.vnnews.com

Open Daily:
7:30 to 11:30 am
1:30 to 5:15 pm