Links/h'ors d'oeuvres...
1 - "The Cu Chi Tunnel complex is one of Asia's stranger holiday fantasies, with its firing range of Vietnam War weaponry, displays of booby-trap bamboo spikes, tunnels to crawl through and dioramas of waxwork GIs setting fire to villages."

"Even the smiling waitresses wear black Viet Cong-style pyjamas as they try to sell you bottles of rice wine containing a dead cobra, a suitably macho tipple for visitors who have unleashed their inner warriors with a rented AK-47." Read more.

But why do people always insist on comparing TPHCM or Hanoi ... to Paris?
"The boulevards and expensive restaurants are once more redolent of Paris, and Saigon - as everybody except northerners call it - is once again a stylish and confident place with Vietnamese energy and more than a touch of Gallic sophistication."

Eh? I thought Dalat was the 'petite' Paris, or was it Ha Dong I was thinking of?

2 - 'President Nguyen Cao Ky, fearing him as a rival, mustered the support of most of the other South Vietnamese generals and fired Gen. Thi on March 10, 1966. Ky said Gen. Thi was leaving the country for medical treatment of his nasal passages.

"The only sinus condition I have is from the stink of corruption," Gen. Thi reportedly responded.'

Good line. Wee profile on him here as he passed last week.