Vietnam, part 1

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While the PRC celebrated its 60th anniversary we took advantage of the week long holiday and buggered off to Vietnam. A short 3 and a half hour hop, or so we thought. After boarding the plane on time at 9.30pm we did a circuit around Pu Dong airport and arrived back at the terminal. That weird sound we all heard was indeed a technical fault that required attention. So we sat on the tarmac in the hot sweaty plane for a few hours, we were served our dinner and then told to get off the plane. Your typical very delayed flight in the wee small hours scenario ensued - disgruntled, tired passengers, lack of information, tempers flaring. We eventually set off about 2.30am.

Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) made me think of Shanghai as orderly and quiet. Words I wouldn’t normally associate with Shanghai in a million years, but then everything’s relative. Saigon’s roads are chock-a-block with motorbikes. Crossing the street requires nerves of steel - set off and don’t stop til you reach the other side, the bikes just weave around you. We decided on a gentler mode of transport, the cyclo, when we went to visit the Jade Emperor Pagoda. From herein called the rip-off cyclo. Oh, I see, the agreed price isn’t the agreed price after all. Well I’d read that you WILL be ripped off in Vietnam and not to let it spoil your holiday! I paid too much, but I really enjoyed my cyclo ride and the pagoda was great, so it’s all good.

We spent a day just wandering around the city taking in the sights and sounds. Dong Khoi runs from Notre Dame Cathedral down to the waterfront, with some notable hotels just of it - the Caravelle where Western journalists stayed whilst covering the war; the Continental, a favourite hangout of French high society in the 1920s; and the very grand Hotel de Ville, now housing the People’s Committee and where we came across Dragon’s Den’s Theo Paphitis filming! Ho Chi Minh City Museum was also close by and is housed in a beautiful old building with a collection of war vehicles in the gardens.

The Reunification Palace was really interesting. The rip-off cyclos dropped us off there after our pagoda trip. It looks pretty bland from the outside, though I think it has a certain municipal charm about it. This is where the Northern army’s tank stormed the gates on 30 April 1975 marking the fall of Saigon and the South (yes, I’ve been reading up on my Vietnamese history!). The interior is pretty much unchanged from the 60s and 70s. The basement used to be the war command centre with long dark spooky corridors, small depressing offices and old radio equipment. Upstairs there’s a great kitsch room that looks like something from a Bond film, a private cinema and games room.

If you ever go to Saigon, cocktails are very weak (I tried several places!), Sax n Art is rubbish, La Fenetre Soleil is cool.

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Comments

[Alan Walker]

Theo's Adventure Capitalists - Vietnam
Hi Carole, I've learned that the Theo P in Vietnam episode is being shown on Tuesday May 4 at 22.00 on BBC2. The reason I know this is because some of the yachting people who appear in the show have just given me the Heads up! Enjoy. http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/comingup/theos-adventure-capitalists/

[caroleinasia]

watching theo
watching it right now on BBC World!!