Some things never go out of style...





Now look at this, a thing of beauty indeed... Then there's the building in the background. The building is the reunification palace. The place where the South Vietnam Regime (the losers are always a regime aren't they) surrendered to the North Vietnam liberation forces.

Emma and I spent an afternoon here and learnt a lot about the end of the American War and the capitulation of the south.

It's a strange mixture of ancient technology, attempted luxury and decor that would not be out of place on "Get Smart".


Here's the room where the President used to meet semi-honoured guests. Fully honored guests met in the room behind the ivory tusks seen in the background. It is also said that only instant coffee was served in this room. The good stuff could be smelt wafting from the direction of the tusks...you know, it was said....


This room was known as the "Credentials Presentation" room. Clearly no one presented any interior decorating credentials....



There was an amazing array of gifts that had been presented to the President of the South Vietnam regime. There were um lots of tusks and elephant feet for some reason. When the Northern Vietnamese forces stormed the palace they were hoping to get away with the spoils of war. You can only imagine the disappointment. Yeah and that's me with Emma's Pucca bag - embarrassing yes, yet strangely not the weirdest thing in this place.


I did kind of like these elephant feet though. It took every ounce of discipline I had not to put them on and stomp around the palace...


This is the Library of the South Vietnamese President. I found many books on economics a coffee table book on CIA architecture but not a copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War, might have been a good pickup - no amazon.com in those days though....

Posted: Tue - October 11, 2005 at 09:27 PM          

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