Day 56 & 57, Saigon 20th - 21st Sept

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We got the bus to Saigon now know as Ho Chi Minh City, it was a six hour journey by bus, you can't fathom how long Vietnam is until you travel most of it by bus and it takes days!

When we got off the bus once again we were pounced on by touts, we met a girl called Maria who was travelling alone, as we got off the bus. Safety in numbers is best to get away from the touts . So we invited Maria for lunch to figure out where we are going to stay. We ate lunch in some restaurant on the corner of a busy street in the middle of Ho Chi Minh city, it was kinda surreal. Then we left G with the bags until we found somewhere to sleep. Maria found a nice dorm room and we got a nice hotel called the Saigon Mini 5 hotel. And we arranged for Maria to meet us at our hotel for dinner.



We had a couple of hours to sort ourselves out, G won Rock, paper, scissors again! Then Maria met us and we wandered around until we found someplace to eat, food was good. After dinner we went for another little wander and found a really good ice cream shop and had dessert nom nom nom



Then we walked Maria home and arranged to meet early the next morning to do a walking tour of Saigon.



Up early for breakfast which was interesting, toaster was more like a microwave and took 5 mins to half toast a slice of bread! After breakfast Maria came up to the room and we were off again we wanted to go to the national museum and the war museum and do our own walking tour Saigon.



We started walking to the Reunification Palace but went through the Market to get there. Trying to cross the road as ever was a bit of a nightmare but they had tourist police there to help you across the road which was so handy 😊



The market was pretty crap it stank and the sellers were pretty rude and tried to rip us off so we didn't spend long there.



We arrived at the Reunification palace (former Presidential Palace) which is pretty relevant in the history of Vietnam this is what I found online about the place - "The gates to this distinctive piece of 1960s Vietnamese architecture were the feature of some of the most viewed television footage of the last 35 years. On April 30 1975, North Vietnamese tanks crashed through them towards the then South Vietnamese Presidential Palace bringing to an end three decades of war and America's failed campaign to thwart communism in Indochina. The Reunification Palace is now open for travellers and has changed little since power was handed over to the communists from here on that fateful April day. It's an historic site with some war relics and wonderful 60s and 70s kitsch thrown in."

The palace was pretty cool and well worth a visit but while we were there, there were loads of wedding couple getting photos taken and they kept getting in the way and taking over the place which was pretty annoying 😞 but not as annoying as the heavens opening just as we were leaving.



The rain eased off so we walked to the War Remnants museum but we got the wrong directions and walked into what we think was either a prison or a hospital. It was an old building that was open to the public and there were military jeeps and trucks in the driveway but when we got into the building itself there were only locals all very in groups looking at us like we didn't belong, and there was no signage and everything was blocked off. No body was very friendly so we just kinda legged it still not sure what we walked into! By now the rain is painful it is so heavy and the umbrellas are not very much use, but we kept walking and realised we were close to the Notre Dame Cathedral which is a mini version of the original in Paris. When we got there and although it looks identiacal to the one in Paris it is tiny compared to it. It was also closed. So we decided to go for lunch, we had a really nice but expensive lunch and tried to dry off.



As we left the restaurant it was still raining, so we jumped in a taxi and headed to the War Remnants Museum - this is a description of the museum I got from the web "The Vietnamese sense of irony is impeccable - which is probably why after the end of the war, the victorious communists selected the former offices of the US Information Service (USIS) as the location for the War Remnants Museum (formerly known as the Museum of American War Crimes). This museum is a disturbing experience. Many of the exhibits and pictures are graphic (defoliant affected foetuses, pictures of hideous atrocities) - but they tell an important story - from the other side. The Requiem photo gallery is one of the most powerful anti war exhibits you'll ever encounter comprising images taken by photojournalists killed in action from both sides of the conflict. Pasted from <http://www.rustycompass.com/insights/4-saigons-museums-and-sights> "





We decided to split us, so we could go at our own pace and meet back in one hour. After the hour, we had seen only a small part of it and decided to meet in three hours.



The museum is graphic and detailed it tells the story of what actually happened and it was extremely emotional to walk through it. I have never been to a museum where every one was practically silent and you could see the horror on peoples faces as they looked at the exhibits. It was an experience I don't think I will ever forget and I would urge anyone travelling to Vietnam to visit this museum and make sure they have a day to spend there. It depicts in graphic detail torture methods used against the Vietnamese and the conditions in which they were kept, and yet the Vietnamese do not hole a grudge against the US. It just show what an amazing people they really are. I felt sick and faint leaving there and it is something I won't ever forget.



After the War Museum we headed home, once again we had trouble crossing the road, it took about 5 mins for G to get across Debbie just dragged me across with my eyes closed.



We went for dinner that evening and Maria brought a friend from her hostel. We went to a really tasty pizza place and then to the Crazy Buffalo Bar for drinks. There were "bar wars" going on between them and the Go Go Go bar across the road. It was very funny as they each had about 10/15 promoters trying to get people into their bar but blocking them, using signs and umbrellas, from going to the other bar. This was across a really busy road but all in good fun and kept us entertained 😊



Tomorrow we are planning on going to the Mekong Delta we have booked a one day trip through our hotel so up early in the morning.



Ni night



Rosie x

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