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Published: August 22nd 2013
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It was raining when we got to Saigon but, hey, what do you expect? It is the wet season after all. We had a week in the area and it rained, heavily, at least once every day!
The main purpose of our visit was to return to Eastern International University where we used to work. Not a lot has changed in a year, Some of our former students came to see us which was nice. They are still as enthusiastic as ever. Building of Binh Duong New City seems to have more or less stopped which was a shame, but the new political centre is coming on in leaps and bounds, as though it is the only thing that matters there at the moment.
Whilst there we had a day in nearby Thu Dau Mot. The Cathedral which was a mere shell when we left a year ago is almost ready to open its doors to the congregation. It's an impressive feat of construction when you consider the pace at which other things are being built. We also called into a temple which, until very recently, we never knew existed. Embarrassingly it lies just 50m behind one of the
supermarkets we often used to use. Quite how we missed it is a mystery. The temple is on two sights and we were immediately set upon by two children. The girl was very camera shy, the boy was not! There were several Buddhist statues to admire but the main feature is the enormous reclining Buddha. It's hard to imagine that it is only half the size of the one we decided not to visit in Mui Ne. For us, it is a "must see" in the region, and yet we didn't know anything about it.
We had a really good night out with all of the teachers from the University. They were saying goodbye to our good friends Andrea and Mark who are moving on to pastures new very soon. It was good to see quite a few familiar faces as we never got much of a chance to say our farewells last year when we had to leave at short notice. The meal was amazing with various Vietnamese dishes flowing all evening. The roast chicken was a big disappointment though. It was all skin and bone with very little meat - something we haven't experienced since Azerbaijan. Either
they are bred with no breast meat on them, or that part of the chicken is saved for some other purpose.
Back in Saigon we visited some old haunts like the Bread and Butter Pub (still the only place in Saigon to serve Huda Beer), Baba's Kitchen (still the best Indian style curry in town) and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (who still serve a bargain breakfast of cream cheese bagel and freshly brewed coffee). We also went to the cinema (to see RED 2). In a whole year of visiting the city on a regular basis, we never did that. If we had, it would have become a weekly ritual as it was cool, comfortable and cheap. Not really sure that 9am starts would take off in the UK though. Getting up so early on a Sunday morning was a bit of a shock!
Then it was time to say "GOOD MORNING VIETNAM" for one last time and board our bus to Cambodia. Mai mốt gặp lại (We'll meet again soon).
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Return to Saigon
Glad you could visit with some of your past students. That must have been wonderful.