Last Day In Saigon

Day 49: Ho Chi Minh City
Was really looking forward to my last day in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon to it's mates) because today's agenda included a trip to the ChiChi Tunnels (where the Viet Cong staged their underground campaign) and finishing off with a chance to shoot and M16 on the rifle range.
I've shot a few different handguns in my time but never a machine gun, especially one with a rate of fire up to 950 rounds per minute, 20 inch barrel and a range of half a mile, developing countries are the only place you will ever get the chance to wield such devastating weaponry without signing on at your local army recruitment office for a two year stint.
All for the price of a hot dinner back home....
I had already rebooked my afternoon flight to accomodate this, the tour finished at 2pm so I changed it to the final flight of the day which was 6pm so I could take my sweet time on the range but still have plenty of time for the cab ride if the traffic was heavy.
Then it happened...
First a sniffle.
Then a cough.
I was falling sick again.
For someone who usually gets sick once every three years the averages were beginning to level out as I have now been sick twice in two months, I can only put it down to being off my usual supplements and catching too many planes. On a side note, it can be advantageous to get on to a plane when you are coughing and spluttering, sure fire way to get a row of seats to yourself. Unfortunately when you get to the other end they will have all the thermo sensors to check for H1N1 so you have to take the flight in shorts, slippers and a singlet to cool your body temperature down or else you will be spending a few days in quarrantine.
Which is not great for your body when you are in a feverish condition...
To make a long story short I cancelled the trip to the range and tunnels and ended up going to the War Museum instead (formerly know as the War Crimes Museum), and looking through the exhibits.
The exhibit covers the effects of Agent Orange on the populace of Vietnam (to this day still), atrocities committed by US Soldiers during the war and the general suffering endured by civilians in the region. Pretty harrowing stuff to say the least.

After about an hour in there looking at all that stuff I really didn't give a shit about shooting that stupid gun anymore.

Peace.