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Published: March 28th 2009
Incense Spirals in the Taoist Temple
The prayer was placed at the top of the spiralWow, these countries are really flying by. I am actually just eight hours from China while writing this, so please excuse any mistakes and the shortness of this and the next post. Since I chose to do a big trip to Cambodia during our time in Vietnam, I was only able to spend two days in Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City. However, I tried to get the most out of those two days. The first, I participated in a nice city orientation of Saigon. Our first stop was at a Taoist temple. This was a pretty interesting stop because it gave us a quick look into the religious ideals of Taoism. This particular shrine was dedicated to the water god (can not remember the name) in Taoism. They had the statue of the goddess and several other statues to guard her from harm. One of the cool parts about this stop was purchasing prayers on an incense ring that was hung on the roof. The incense spirals burn for three weeks and allow your name to be kept in the temple for that time. After this quick stop, we headed to the palace that housed the former President of South
South Vietnam Palace
This is where the President lived during the Vietnam War Vietnam, before the North Vietnamese took over Saigon. While at first the palace was a little dull, we eventually ended up in the underground tunnels they used to hind the President during dangerous times. The tunnels felt straight out of a James Bond movie and showed how prepared the South Vietnamese were for an attack (even though the tunnels were eventually raided which ended badly for the South). Our group then headed out for a dinner at a fancy Vietnamese restaurant. The food here was REALLY good! They had pork ribs, rice, and spring rolls, which I am pretty sure had vegetables in them but they were still awesome. After our dinner we went to some relatively unexciting museums (still cool but nothing that really stood out or was life-changing). To end the day, we were able to attend a water puppet show which was quite the experience. Even though we could not understand any of the dialogue, it was fun to see the interesting puppetry and make up your own story to the show. After the tour had ended, I headed out with some friends to the main square. This part of the town was very touristy (and expensive)
but it did have a cool area where locals were showing off cool toys and we were able to talk to a few of them. After this little excursion, I headed to the ship to get some much needed sleep. I had the next day free, so my friend Matt and I went out exploring. After getting out of the main tourist area, we were able to find some less expensive shops. My personal favorite was the DVD store where movies only cost about $0.70. After stocking up on DVD’s and wandering the main market, we headed back to the ship. However, we managed to hit the main lunch rush and got to experience one of the most entertaining things about Vietnam… crossing the streets. Mopeds and motorcycles are the main form of transportation in Vietnam and they cover the street almost completely at times. Even though we were told by the interport lecturers that they steer around us, it was still difficult to take that first step into the street. I am pretty sure that on the walk back, I saw my life flash before my eyes about one-hundred times. But every time I was sure I was a
Underground Halls
These were the hallways from James Bond goner, they calmly went around me. The most important thing about crossing was to not change pace. If you started to run or stopped abruptly, you would mess up the drivers. After about eight streets of crazy crossings, I began to adjust to the flow of the city and crossing became easier, but it was quite the experience. After risking life and limb to get back to the ship, I flopped on my bed, turned one of my brand new (and likely fake) DVD’s and prepared for my three day trip to Cambodia.
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Nicole
non-member comment
What kind of vibe did you get in Vietnam? The incense spirals are such a creative idea, love it. Happy belated birthday! I just learned how to sing happy birthday in Chinese lol. Phonetically it would go something like this..."Jew knee sun-zuh qu-eye luh" (to the tune of American Happy Birthday) which translates verbatim into "To you birthday happy". I know, I don't get it either. :)