Advertisement
Published: November 22nd 2013
Edit Blog Post
Xin Jow!
Ho Chi Minh City is a vibrant, busy city. In comparison to Bangkok and Phnom Penh it seems cleaner. There doesn't seem to be as many cars and bikes parked on the pavements. Rarely we have to walk on the road to get anywhere which is nice!
Ho Chi Minh is also known as Saigon. Saigon is the old name of the city and is still the official name for the city centre. The name Ho Chi Minh comes from the man, Ho Chi Minh, who was the leader of a party that fought for Independence from the French ruling.
Our first day in Ho Chi Minh, we decided to have an easy day as we had a lot of super early mornings the days previous. When we finally got up, we had a walk around the city where we found lots of shops selling trainers, rucksacks, handbags and clothes (most probably fakes...but very good fakes!). Stu decided he would go back the next day and get some new trainers as he had thrown away a pair of shoes as they started to look ragged. We then walked into the indoor market, Ben Thanh, as it
was a treasure trove of all sorts of nick-nacks, jewellery, bags, clothes, shoes...everything! I thought I would love to come here with my sister Sophie as she would love it here! We found a stall selling coffee. Weasel coffee caught my eye! The lady let us smell the different coffees and weasel had a strong coffee smell (no way near a poo smell like I thought it would have haha). We didn't have much money with us so we decided to come back tomorrow with an empty bag and a purse full of cash!
After Stu had pulled me away from the market, we made our way to The War Remnants Museum. This museum told the story of the Vietnam war from the Vietnamese point of view. I am still confused to the reason why the Vietnam war was started and will make sure that try to find some 'Emma -friendly' text when I get home as everything I seem to read confuses me even more! How I understand it from the information given to me was that, there had been some rebellion in Vietnam with the government and somehow the USA got involved, who instead f helping seemed
to make the situation worse.
The War Remnants Museum was full of pictures taken by photographers from all nations during the war, where many died whilst there. The one room there that really made an impact on me was the 'Agent Orange' room. Agent Orange was a herbicide chemical used in the Vietnam War by the US troops. As Vietnam is full of trees, this meant that the Vietnamese people could easily hide within the jungle area, making it hard for fighting. The Americans decided to use a German chemical called 'Agent Orange' that would destroy all plant life, making all the Vietnamese troops visible. Unfortunately, the Agent Orange got into the streams, landed on people and soaked into the land. When this chemical was ingested it created lots of problems for the people, especially the future generations as it meant babies were born with diseases or defects, such as short limbs, no limbs, facial and body disfigurements, mental disabilities etc. People are still being affected today, included the families of the opposition! In America, veterans have been given compensation for the affects that Agent Orange has caused to them and their children. I understand why this compensation was
given to the US war veterans as they probably were not educated about its effects, but I think the compensation given to the Vietnamese people for these atrocities is not enough in comparison with what they give to their own people!
The pictures that surrounded the war museum were quite distressing, especially when it showed the bodies of blown up children. One showed a US soldier holding up half of a body of a child that he had found on the ground.
The downside of the museum is that it only tells the story from one point of view, It doesn't give enough information about how the US got involved and no stories from the US side. I think for a museum to be truly effective it needs to tell both sides of a story. I have no doubt that many soldiers went crazy or were not properly trained or informed and this is probably the reason why so many disgusting things happened to the Vietnamese. I left the museum felling very sad and wanting to know more.
That night, we went to the tallest building in Ho Chi Minh City- the Bitexco Financial Tower. Here, you
could pay 200,000 Dong to go to the 49th floor where the floor protruded out from the building. The whole floor was surrounded with glass windows that enables you to see the whole city. The city at night is beautiful! So many lights, with one tower changing colour every minute! You could see the river with colourful boats that took people out for a dinner cruise and entertainment. We spent ages looking and using the binoculars provided to search for interesting buildings. I would definitely recommend to go up there but leave it for night time where the city comes alive!
The next day, we went to the famous Cu chi Tunnels. On our way, we went to a factory set up for Agent Orange victims. At the factory they created artwork to be sold to the public. One piece of artwork that interested me was a picture made from broken eggshells. The result was amazing!
A short time later, we arrived at the Cu chi tunnels. These tunnels were a network of passages dug by the Vietnamese, where fighters lived and commanded from. Here, we learnt about the different traps the Vietnamese made for the opposing soldiers
which were horrific if you stepped on them! We also got to go through a network of tunnels. The guide liked to remind us that 'Western' people have larger body frames than Asian people which meant the tunnels had to be enlarged so that foreigners could go through them! The tunnels were stuffy, humid and cramped. I could not imagine having to crawl through there for longer than the five minutes I had to, never mind living down there! Our guide, Mickey, was a very funny guy and said some very thought provoking things. He asked us why we don't see the Vietnamese seeking revenge after the war and why instead Vietnamese people are very friendly and warm people (which we have definitely found). He explained that being happy and enjoying life in true revenge. We thought about this and I think he is right. The Vietnamese people have left the past in the past and have got on with their Independence and have rebuilt their communities. Showing that they are happy now and enjoy their lives makes others feel guilty I suppose. I think we all could learn from the Vietnamese and just get on with life and enjoy
it.
Later that day, we went back to the market. We decided we would probably do more shopping towards the end of our time in Vietnam as Stu will be going back England and can bring them home. Stu bought himself some dark blue pumps that are very nice(Stu haggled them from 900,000 Dong to 500,000- not bad!) and I bought my sister, Sophie, a present for Christmas.
We then decided to treat ourselves to a massage. We had researched on Trip Advisor that a nice spa called Indochine Spa could provide us with a nice massage. We enjoyed it but think we probably got the same, cheaper service somewhere else.
Walking back to the hostel, I decided to buy myself some baggy trousers for my long journeys as I had seen other people wear them and thought I could do with a pair of light trousers that would cover my legs from the buggies that seem to enjoy eating me on all journeys!
During our stay in Ho Chi Minh, we finally got to try Pho - a very popular Vietnamese noodle soup which seems to be the cheapest thing on the menu but very
tasty! We also got to try a Vietnamese pancakes that is full of minced pork and veggies. Also very tasty! At some point during my stay in Vietnam, I want to get on a cooking course so I know how to cook all these yummy dishes when I get home!
We really enjoyed our stay in Ho Chi Minh and would love to return there again one day. Next stop - Nah Trang!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.086s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0489s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb