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Published: April 29th 2009
Into the madness...
...love the guy crossing the street amidst the traffic...We hopped the bus from Can Tho and made our way to one of my must-sees on this trip; Ho Chi Minh City! (Well, Saigon as most the locals still call it...)... I was really excited to get exploring, so after finding our hotel in the Pham Ngu Lao area and dealing with a reservation mix-up we dumped our stuff and headed out into the fray...
If I were to pick one word to describe this city it would be "insane"! The hustle and bustle, and especially the traffic/scooters are crazy...I loved it! The "official" crosswalks can be few and far between, so the only way to cross some of these major streets and roundabouts is to time the traffic and then boldly wade out into it and hope for the best...takes a bit of getting used to, but after a while you do see a pattern and fortunately the drivers tend to prefer going around you as to through you! Haha...
We decided to do the War Remnants museum first, very interesting. Having gotten a predominantly one-sided story of what occured during the "American" war (as the Vietnamese refer to it), this was a bit of an eye
opener hearing and seeing the other side of the story. The museum is filled with artifacts like helicopters, tanks, guns, mines and munitions, but the most compelling and disturbing pieces are the photographs illustrating US atrocities (many of which I've since discovered were taken by US sources). There were also displays of tiger cages and even a guillotine used at the time, as well as photos of people affected by the widespread use of chemical herbicides, horrifying and sad...
It was late afternoon at this point so decided to wander back and hit one of the markets in town, the Ben Thanh Market. What can I say? I love the markets... It's a great place for people watching, and for observing the local work day as just about anything you're looking for can be purchased; from food to souvenirs to textiles and woodwork, excellent! Our timing was bang on as well; we hadn't been in the covered market for very long before a flash rainstorm came pouring down outside, and made quite a racket on the roof of the market (as well as leaking in different spots)...crazy! Had a snack and a pint, purchased some new sandals and then
it was back to the hotel to chill and get cleaned up for dinner... Went to a spot recommended by the hotel but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it...cool though, thought when we ordered a bbq that we could cook it ourselves but it wasn't the case, yummy just the same... Then it was back into our area for a cocktail or two, and we discovered a fun little joint called Saigon Tattoo...sadly the tattoo parlour upstairs was closed but the characters in the bar more than made up for it! Again great spot, would return here the following evening as well...
Next morning we had booked a tour out to the Cu Chi Tunnels, was looking forward to that. The guide we had was great; he was about 30 years old and during the one hour trip to the tunnels he gave us an interesting history lesson on both the tunnels and Vietnam as a whole. Always great hearing from someone who has lived through and witnessed some of these history lessons...
The tunnels were really cool; after sitting through a portion of a bizarre, anti-American wartime propaganda film we made
Mr. Relaxo...
...at the Ben Tranh Market... (KC) our way out to the grounds to see the various sites. One of the first was a "Spider Hole"; essentially a hole in the ground big enough to fit one person, where the VC would hide when trying to elude the enemy. We saw all sorts of booby traps employed during the war, and an American tank that had been destroyed by a land mine, before coming to the tunnels themselves... The system stretches over 200 km's, and has three different levels at various depths, each with their own purpose. What surprised me the most was the fact that upwards of 19,000 people lived in these tunnels for 20 years! I didn't last more than a minute when we finally went in to them before having to get out...and the tunnels have been enlarged slightly to accomodate us Westerners...crazy! It was fascinating hearing about how they survived all those years; how they cooked, dealt with toilets and bathing and keeping out of sight for that long... It was also a surreal feeling walking around the grounds here, knowing of the fierce fighting that had gone on in this area for years...
Made it back to HCMC early afternoon and
decided to do some more wandering around town...we headed into the Dong Khoi area to see what was up, and also wanted to check out a vintage propaganda poster shop (Posters were fascinating, again interesting seeing the propaganda from the other perspective). After a quick pint on top of the Majestic Hotel overlooking the river, we jumped on a cyclo and headed back to the Market for a snack and some more souvenirs...
As HCMC is famous for it's scooters, we hit a cool place to sit and watch the action called fittingly The Vespa that evening. Right on a corner, it was great just hanging out and watching the madness in front of us; which included someone walking around with a giant scale to weigh yourself upon, and an eight year old looking kid in fancy pyjamas who all of a sudden started a fire breathing show on the sidewalk in front of us...not something you see every day! Hung out there for a while, then went back to Go2 across from our hotel for a bite to eat and more people watching (the Pham Ngu Lao area is brilliant for this) before finishing up again at our
Chopper
American helicopter at the War Remnants Museum new favourite watering hole Saigon Tattoo...
Sadly we had to leave the following afternoon, but still managed to squeeze in a visit to the Reunification Palace. Highly recommended; it has been preserved as it was in 1975 when the communist tanks rolled through the front gates. The rooms are quite beautiful; from the Presdential Receiving Room to a movie screening room (the antique projector and audio gear is still there), games room and heliport on top. The most interesting however is the basement, which still houses some fantastic maps as well as the telecommunications gear and war room, again well preserved.
After a bite to eat back at Vespa our time here was up and it was off to the airport for our next destination, Hoi An. Wish we had had another day to explore Saigon, absolutely loved it!
(Some photos copyright of Karen C., denoted by (KC)...used with kind permission)
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