Today was a super calming as it started out with a history lesson at UEF about Buddhism and where it came from. The origins were really fascinating and I found it strange how only about 14% of the population of Vietnam is Buddhist when it seems like such an important part of their culture. After the class, we traveled to a pagoda where we were able to see first hand how people worship their god in the Buddhist culture. It was my first time ever going to a pagoda, and I had no idea what was in store for me. The entrance to the pagoda was super welcoming as everywhere was covered in plants and it was one of the most beautiful spots right in the heart of the city. There was a little body of water as well that was filled huge fish and that was something I never expected to see at a temple. There were decorations everywhere and it was such a calming environment that it made me feel much more relaxed throughout the day. Before we went inside, we had to take our shoes off, which is something that has been very prevalent in Vietnam as many places make you take your shoes off before entering. It was also prohibited to take photos inside the pagoda, so I unfortunately won’t have any photos from the inside. I walked in and was greeted with a statue of Buddha staring straight at me. Walking around that wall with the Buddha presented an even more mesmerizing sight. This was where all the people prayed and the wall was filled with designs and decorations and it was probably the most beautiful thing in a religious building that I’ve ever seen in person. The entire environment was super calming and I enjoyed visiting a Buddhist pagoda for the first time.

Later in the day, we visited the reunification palace near our hotel where the liberation army invaded on April 30, 1975, making south Vietnam free. It was beautiful in the palace and it was crazy to see what everything looked like since it hasn’t really been changed since that day. We then went and saw the War Remnants museum which is all about the fighting from around 1945-1975 since that’s when Vietnam really started taking a ton of action towards their freedom from colonization. It was probably one of the most eye opening museums that I’ve ever been to. I read about stories of POW’s and how they were tortured and some of the methods used are too gruesome to even talk about. Many of the photos displayed showed the consequences of many of the things that America did to Vietnam and a lot of them were quite disturbing. The one that stood out the most to me was this photo of about 6 Vietnamese people who had their photo taken right before they were executed. The caption said that they were surrounded by American soldiers and the photographer stopped them because they thought that they were just going to be questioned, but after he took the photo, he heard gunshots and a body drop out of the corner of his eye. The photo depicts the fear of innocent Vietnamese people and made me feel a way I’ve never felt before when looking at a picture because you knew that something was wrong.

Going along with the Vietnam War, we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels on Sunday. The Cu Chi Tunnels was a system of underground tunnels that connected many parts of southern Vietnam and the Viet Cong would live in them and use them to ambush American soldiers. We got to go inside them and it was one of the most unique experiences on this trip yet. We were literally crawling in the same spots that Viet Cong soldiers were back during the Vietnam War. It felt surreal that people today could literally just do that if they paid for it because it seems like something that should be kept hidden from the public in case it needs to be used again. Overall, learning about the Vietnam War and the Vietnamese side of the story really opened my eyes to the truth of the consequences of war crimes.