Independence Day

Today was the Vietnamese national holiday. It celebrates the declaration of independence from the French in 1945. In Saigon, the party involved an enormous cardboard cut-out of Ho Chi Minh, a bandstand shaped like a lotus flower, Vietnamese power ballads, and a tepid fireworks display. The celebration was held at the Presidential Palace, where North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates in 1975, thus ending the existence of the South Vietnamese state. So there's a bit of historical irony there, or perhaps a point being made.

Here's a blurry dark photo.