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Published: January 27th 2012
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Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City HCMC)
We left Mui Ne early on the 15
th and was picked up by a very nice air con coach, looked brand new. We only paid $5 each for the journey which included pick up from the hotel so was very happy. We arrived around 4 hours later in Saigon and were dropped off right in the central district where most of the budget hotels were – bonus! We were getting a little bit of hassle from touts trying to advertise their hotel so I went and sat with the bags and had a brew whilst Terry had a good mooch around. He only found rooms that were between $10-$15, with the cheaper rooms being windowless cells that were very smelly. The $15 rooms were very smart, balcony, plenty room. We settled on the more expensive but nicer rooms. Most people here call their city Saigon and even on the signs it is still Saigon. It was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City in the late 70's once the communist party led by Hoi Chi Min defeated the South. There is of course a lot more to it then this but I do not want
to bore you with history, but this era in Vietnam makes interesting reading!
That same day we visited the war remnants museum. Only around a £1 to get in I think and had lots of information about the Vietnam war with many shocking pictures taken, mostly by journalists, during this period. When I say shocking, you just would not want to take your children here. Again very anti American and how much suffering they caused to the Vietnam people, especially women and children. You could see as you walked around that a few people were visibly upset.
Next day had a much needed lie in and walked around the city. Took in all the sights including Notre Damn cathedral, some of the markets (however they were a bit over priced, I guess as they were so touristy).
Dominating the skyline is a huge office building that has an observation tower which offers views over the city however as we went to enquire it was way too expensive for what it was, so we decided not to go up, shame.
We had lunch by the river but it is
Random game of chess on the street
People just join in, taxi drivers, bar owners, crazy hobbling old men. not the best looking riverside we have been to and was a bit stinky but we were able to eat our rolls in the shade that we had earlier ordered at a lovely Vietmenese bakery. Next stop was the Reunification palace, where on route it started to rain so we ducked into a cafe where the waiter persuaded Terry to try his first ever Frappucino (ice coffee with cream on top) and now he is hooked. I do not even like coffee but I must admit it was very good – try them!
Once we arrived at the Reunification Palace it did not look much from the outside. Yes it was big and had a nice courtyard but I guess the building was only built in the 70s so not the most impressive of architecture that we have seen but we decided to take a look as it was only a £1 to get in. It used to the called the Independence palace which used to the Presidential Palace but once North Vietnam’s Communist party led by Ho Chi Min invaded the South, the old party was overthrown and the Palace was renamed. The communist army with
their tanks crashed through the tall iron gates that surrounded the palace 30 odd years ago and the then Government leader quickly admitted defeat. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Min City and Vietnam became whole again led by the communist party. The Palace has been left pretty much untouched since the party was defeated so was very interesting to see the rooms and the bunkers that were in the basement which shows several maps with information on where they enemy were currently located.
On the 17
th we booked a tour to the Cu Chi for only $4 each which included the hour and a half mini bus ride there plus a tour guide and then the additional extra of an entrance fee that you pay once there ($4pp). We stopped halfway for around 20min toilet break which was also a ‘Handicapped craft shop’ (their words not mine) where you can purchase the crafts made by the employees, bit suspicious as some of these crafts looked factory produced and we have seen them all over Vietnam, however you could see the budding artists at works so I am sure they make some of it.
We
then arrived at the tunnels, where we were ushered through to a room and watched a short film about the tunnels with footage from when the Viet Cong guerrillas had to live down them to avoid American soldiers. Afterwards we had a walk around the site and saw the booby-traps they had set out to catch any trespassers and where the tunnel entrances were. Some of the entrances had been widened for tourists but I do not think I could of fit through them even then! There was one part of the tunnel that tourists could walk through, or crawl in Terry’s case, and there are 4 exit points along the way if it gets to much. It was very tight and most people got out by the second exit, I went onto the third exit but Terry, the tallest out of everyone made it right to the end – haha what a man!! I really do not know how the guerrilas lived in those tunnels for months on end without seeing sunlight. Supposedly they would come out at night to tend to their fields and many of them suffered from horrible skin diseases due to lack of sunlight. The
Cheap meal
Was advertised as vegetable pasta with tomoto and cheese sauce. I asked where my cheese was so the cook slaps a cheese slice on top; Was strangly nice actually!! I was feeling homesick. Americans could never get them out of the tunnels due to the way they had been built with a three tiers system. They would gas or bomb the first tier but could not get down as deep as the 2
nd and third layer. The tunnels go all the way back to Saigon and even as far as Cambodia.
We really enjoyed our time in Vietnam. People were really nice, food was very good especially the BBQ meat places. The meat was so succulent. Saigon is probably our favourite city as well as Bangkok of course. Was just clean, busy but we never found it over whelming and the people there were some of the friendliest we had met on our journey. We took around 3 weeks to travel from the North to the South and loved every moment, from the cold north mountains, to the snorkelling trip on the coast, oh and Terry has finally shaved off his locks and the beard is no more - hoorah.. Only took a few beers and a crazy barber to convince him ;o)
Our next stop will be Phnom Penh Cambodia,.. Goodbye Vietnam.
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Patty pancakes
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Great photos - has Terry lost weight. Looks great. Missing you. Speak to you soon. Momma xxx Oh Line Dancing tonight. xxx