This. was. a. good. bowl. of. soup. Even better, it has a fantastic history.

It may look like your average Pho Bo, but this bowl comes from Pho Binh (or Yendo Cho), the secret headquarters of the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Even the soup shop's waitstaff was made up of VC infiltrators.

At 8:00 p.m. on New Years Day in 1968, on the 2nd floor of this building, central command gave orders to attack all southern cities - hello, Tet Offensive.

Since I was eating on the ground floor (shown below) and wasn't seeing any stairs, I asked the waitress if it was possible to see the infamous room. She asked me to wait for a bit, then lead me through the kitchen and up a dark and narrow staircase. I entered P5 only to experience a bit of historical shock. I'm a history major, I couldn't help it.

I have a ton of pictures, but it really wouldn't do that feeling justice. It's a strange feeling too, because this was 100% from the enemy perspective. Or maybe it just had to do with the sheer magnitude of that offensive and how it altered the war. Very weird feeling.

P.S. - this shop is by no means in the tourist area. I was the only foreigner in this place.

Oh and later that day I almost got myself killed in the War Remnants Museum. I'llllll just leave it at that.