National Day!

Last weekend was National Day here in Vietnam. National Day, September 2nd, encompasses several accomplishments for the Vietnamese including the ass-kicking of the French and Americans, as well as holding out from the Chinese for so long. It also includes celebrating Ho Chi Minh’s birth, death, first gray hair and the losing of his virginity. It covers 60years of these kinds of accomplishments and the Vietnamese celebrate it with more pride than you can imagine.

I started the day out early and went to see the parade. I shot a ton of pictures, which I’ve included here for your amusement. It was a great parade. It reminded me of the Independence Day parades we have in the states but without the bands and clowns. Instead, they paraded lots of communist propaganda and giant portraits of Uncle Ho himself. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good dose of communist imagery, full of proud working people championing solidarity, but give me a bright red fire truck instead any day!

Here's a float that depicts a great sense of symmetry.

More "Ho"s than a brothel!

This little kid was so funny. He was full of mischief and kept throwing a soda can into the parade to watch the marchers trip over it.

Long Live Uncle Ho!! (Even though he's dead.)

Lots of people turned out..

The proud armies.

Our wonderful monks!!

Big crowd on the parade route.

It's a parade!!

The intellectual elite.

Here's a picture of an old Green Beret that turned up for the parade. You can see him next to the other foreigner in the background. He's probably still registered as an MIA but doesn't realize it. Anyway, he was really enjoying the parade.

We love Ho!!

Goose-steppin'

More Ho.

The Silk Army.

"Put your conical hats in the air, wave 'em like you just don't care!"

A flag for patriotism.

Power to the people.

Chrystler Tower? No, a communist float!