Once inside the city proper we were taken to the place where part of the old prison remains. A tour guide let us wander around a bit and read all the poster and photographs depicting the "civilized care the Vietnam prisoners received while incarcerated." Actually the propaganda pictures were very blatant and I can't imagine who they are fooling. It made me wonder how the prisoners were cohered with in order that they would pose in clean, starched uniforms, appear to be playing checkers at a table in front of a decorated Christmas tree. In another shot we saw men dressed nicely and sitting down to a turkey dinner! They even had a picture of men in a courtyard playing games and realizing-R & R style.
There were glass cases that held real POW uniforms etc. and that was more the real story. Then we actually walked down a hallway where the prisoners were kept and saw dummy's posing in wooden shackles on boards where they lived. It was just awful. The majority of the prison has been bought by some huge hotel company and a mega modern hotel now butts up against these remains. There is a nice monument to the POW's similar to the Vietnam Memorial in DC only instead of names it has etched skeletons that can be found in a small courtyard. The whole thing was just down right creepy and I am sorry I went there. It made me even more thankful for the sacrifices those young men of my generation made and how so many men and women are fighting again for the same things in a different part of the world.
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