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Published: January 5th 2010
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Day 13 - Tuesday, Jan 5.
We left Hanoi around 6:30 pm on Day 12 and we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City around 8:30 pm. We were greeted by our Hotel Driver to take us to the Hotel. It was very nice to have a ride setup because we did not have to figure out the taxi situation. We did not get to our hotel around 9:30 pm. First impression of Ho Chi Minh city was very modern and very neon. Perhaps that was due to the many New Years decorations, but it felt like we just flew into Vegas. Once we checked in, we went for a walk and had dinner at the restuarant close to our hotel.
The next day, we woke up around 7:30 pm. Had breakfast at our hotel and set out for advanture. We walked around the city from 9 am to 6 pm. We visited Ben Thanh Market where they sell everything i.e. clothes, souvenirs, fruit, food, etc. We got some t-shirts and magnets. We then went to Reunification Palace but it did not for another 2 hours so we instead visited the magnificent post office across the street from the Cathedral
(which was also closed for a few more hours). The post office is housed in a big building built by the French. Very beautiful French colonial building. Anyway, since the palace was closed, we went to look for the "LUNCH LADY". We knew about this lunch lady from watching Anthony Bourdin (No Reservation), Vietnam episode. He had gone to visit this vendor and had lunch there. If you google "Lunch lady in Ho Chi Minh City" the information around her will show up. It took a while to find her. But we did eventually find her and the noodle soup was very good. We met a family from San Francisco there doing the same thing. We laughed together after admitting we were both there compliments of Anthony Bourdine.
After lunch, we went back to the Reunification Palace. Brief history about this palace. When Vietnam was colonized by French sometime in 1800's, this palace was called the Presidental Palace. Then, when Vietnam gained independent from French in 1945, this palace was called Independent Palace. Then, around 10:45 am of April 30, 1975, the Vietnam Communist Party crashed through the gate of this palace and now it is called Reunfication Palace.
You will see some of the pictures of these things that I talked about. We walked around the palace and saw the history of this palace where it had many different rooms i.e. president office, intenational room where the president would greet foreign diplomats.
After the Reunification Palace, we went to the War Remnants Museum. This museum told the Vietnam war story from the side of Vietnam. It was complete with American tanks, airplanes, munitions, etc. We walked through the museum and it was very sad to see how many people were devistated by that war.
After the museum, we went the Cathedral Nortre-Dame which was built by the French in 1880.
We will explore more fo the city tonight. Then, tomorrow, we will go on a tour to the Mekong Delta and Cu Chi Tunnel.
Here are some pictures from today...
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