Re-unification of Vietnam

Helicopter at the Reunification Palace Helipad

For me, one icon of the Vietnam War is the helicopter - yes, I'm thinking of the one in Miss Saigon with the American G.I. waiting beside it, to take the heroine to the US.  Of course, she never shows up... ... and he is forced to fly off without her.  Saigon, more than 30 years after the end of the Vietnam War, is a completely different city.

The Reunification Palace is however one place where time has stood still.  In itself a result of the strife in Vietnam after WWII, the Palace was completed in 1966 after the previous Presidential Palace (the Independence Palace) was bombed and partially destroyed by two pilots who rebelled and bombed the Palace instead of the Viet Cong.  The Palace was too badly damaged to be repaired and was instead rebuilt.  However, it did not last long as the seat of power.  On 30 Apr 1975, North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the main gates of the Palace, culminating in  the dramatic "handover" of power to the North Vietnamese government.

Mahjong, anyone?

Today, the Palace remains more or less untouched from these last days.  The upper floors contain the formal reception rooms and meeting areas, including an auditorium and the Cabinet meeting room.  On the top floor, however, things get a little more interesting with the addition of a mini cinema and a gambling room.  The mahjong table is still on display.  

But what makes the Palace truly interesting is the basement, fitted out with the communications equipment and maps required for the President to keep a handle on the progress of the war.  The mood is sombre, and heavy.  A place and a government which history has left in the dust; events have moved elsewhere and the palace remains today as a museum and tourist attraction.  

A small exhibition in the basement of the Palace gives a brief pictorial history of Vietnam in the 1960s to recent days.  The events leading up to the war, the protests against the previous government are all covered.  There are still some hardware around to be seen - a helicopter rests on the helipad; replicas of the tanks which went through the gates of the Palace sit near the exit.

But the Reunification Palace as a whole is a calm and serene looking building.  No longer a seat of power, it is now a memorial to moment in time where the fate of Vietnam was decided.  Hopefully, its days of turmoil and strife, of bitter battles and last stands, are finally over.

Reunification Palace

More photos here.