Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

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We were back on our own as we started our adventure in Veitnam. We arrived in ho Chi Minh city (siagon) near sunset. The airport seemed 1970's era and was in need of improvements. We made it through immigration and customs and then paid for our flat fee $5 taxi ride into the city. Yep... $5 USD in Vietnam. We found that US dollars are readily accepted at most tourist shops, hotels, and restaurants. We also took out the local currency (the Dong)... in fact we got 2 million worth. Don't get too excited, this is only worth about $120 USD.

Our first night we stayed at a slightly nicer hotel near the river. Here we saw the more modern side of Siagon with new office buildings, hotels, and shopping centers. One shopping center we went into had a bowling alley on the top floor along with a KFC and a Pizza Hut. We also saw the older market area of the city and tried out some local food as you'll see in our pictures.

Our sightseeing included many spots in the city but two in particular stand out which are the american war museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels. The war museum has information about what we obviously call the Vietnam war, but from North Vietnam's perspective. This museum also had exhibits from international journalists that seems to be a bit less biased. The Cu Chi tunnels were about 30 miles outside of Siagon and were used in the war by the north vietnamese. It is a giant network of tunnels that were hand dug to avoid US bombings. This tour was a bit more disturbing to Allison and I as it started with an older film where farmers who took up arms were made heroes based on how many American's they had killed. Now the film was clearly made during the war but it was still very bizare to see especially while in Vietnam. The tunnels have been built out into a tourist attraction complete with animitronic soldiers. One exhibit showed these soldiers making IEDs from unexploded US bombs. While I guess you could view this purely as historic recreation, the way it was presented did not seem appropriate. There was also a shooting range where you could shoot AK-47's or any number of other guns.

We found in Siagon and elsewhere that most Vietnamese want to put the war behind them. In fact while we were here, the president of vietnam visited the US for several days to improve relations. When we tell people we are from the US we commonly hear about a relative who lives there or that they'd like to visit someday.

Anyway... I've digressed a bit from Siagon which on the whole we found enjoyable in small doses but a very busy and crowded city of 8 million overall. We made a relatively quick escape t Dalat in the mountains after 3 days of Siagon.

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Photos

Pho
For lunch our first day we had Pho, the traditional Vietnamese soup.

Not just any Pho
We ate at Pho 2000 where Billy C. himself had pho back in 1995. His trip to Vietnam included a visit to Hanoi... the first time a US president had ever been there! (someone has been reading lonely planet... can you tell?)

Out our Hotel Window
This is the view from our hotel window. It is an unfinished swimming pool, not fit for swimming. You can also see the very narrow and tall buildings that were all over the city across the street.

Cu Chi Tunnel
This is a rather large Canadian trying to fit into a Vietnam War tunnel entrance. You can see the tunnel door in front of him on the ground.

American Tank
Here is an American Tank that was destroyed during the war. Cu Chi was a "free fire" zone meaning the US basically leveled the surface... you could tell the jungle was only a few decades old. However they couldn't fully disrupt the tunnel network.

Sunrise on Siagon
Out our hotel window

Highway One
The view out of our bus onto the main highway of vietnam. It runs north to south the whole length of the country. Bikes outnumber cars 20 to 1

Helmet Required
Helmets apparently are required on Highway 1... about 80% of bikers had them. It seems a hard hat will pass the bar.