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Published: March 19th 2015
Flower Festival in HCMC
We arrived from the bus and walked across the street to be greeted by millions of flower displays.February 18, 2015.
We are off to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), formerly and still locally known as Saigon, Vietnam to celebrate Tết! Tết celebrates the arrival of spring , and so is also celebrated as New Year's. Flowers were everywhere!
We woke at 4:15 for our flight to HCMC. The Kaohsiung airport was a hopping place as it was Lunar New Year. We were told to get in line immediately to go through security. Once through we had time for a free chair massage, got coffee, boarded the plane and landed 3 hours later. We got cash (8,000,000 dong) from the ATM at the airport and headed for the city bus that would take us to District 1 and close to our hotel.
Once off the bus, we were distracted by the street with flowers. It was amazing! Traffic was blocked off and because it was early and not too crowded, we slowly wandered the 4 long blocks of amazing colorful flower displays. We then walked to our hotel, checked in and promptly had a nap. Mid afternoon, we headed out to explore. At 4PM people were already getting the best spots for the midnight fireworks. We
Vietnamese Tet Holiday
Tet introduces spring in Vietnam, and coincides with the Chinese Lunar New Year. found PHO24, which specializes in what could easily be our most favourite food, Vietnamese soup consisting of shin bone broth, rice noodles, a few herbs, and meat. Most shops were closed as people were gearing up for the Tết Holiday. HCMC was set to party, the parks were full, and there were huge venues set up for music and entertainment. Fatigue set in so we retired for the night. At midnight the sounds of fireworks woke us and we rose to see the spectacular 20-25 minute show from our window!
The convenience store next to our hotel happened to carry Bailey's, and it went well with our coffee before the buffet breakfast in our hotel whichwas delicious. Lulu, our Cu Chi Tunnels Tour guide met us at the hotel and a half hour ride later we arrived at a Handicapped Artisans Workshop. About 200 disabled workers have been trained to make beautiful art with egg shells, mother of pearl or gold leaf shellac. We purchased lovely pictures and a couple of wine holders. From there we travelled to a rubber plantation and stopped to view the trees. We arrived at the tunnels in the Cu Chi region about 11AM.
Impressive Watercan
Flowers adored the stream coming from the watering can. It was HOT! A documentary made in 1986 guided us through the basic workings of the 250km network of tunnels. These tunnels were used by the Viet Cong as hiding spots during combat as well as communication centres, supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters.
Because of the bombing, the fighting, and the extensive use of "agent orange" which eliminated all foliage, the locals resorted to living in these tunnels for years. They even had safe areas for the children. We were shown various booby traps used against the enemy, the tools they used to dig the tunnels (started in1948) and how the Cu Chi people used the American bomb casings to create weapons and tools to help their cause. We entered a firing range where Maurice shot 10 rounds with an AK47, though it did take 16 bullets to get 10 good shots. The noise was frightening and deafening! We crawled through about 100m of 'enlarged for tourists' tunnels. We would not fit in the real ones.... Let alone live in one! I will never look at an access door again the same way. The entrances/exits so well disguised, they
Silverland Hotel
This is the entrance to the lovely hotel we stayed at in Saigon. The location was fantastic. The service was excellent, the room large and quiet, and they even cooked us an omelet at the buffet breakfast. were impossible for the Americans or us for that matter to locate.
We arrived back to HCMC by 2:45PM. We visited the Museum of HCMC and the Notre Dame Cathedral across from the impressive French style post office. The traffic was crazy so pedestrians would cross the street in groups. The lady next to us grabbed Linda's hand and guided her across the street. Linda did the same with Maurice and we safely got across. We found the Garden Barbeque Restaurant and enjoyed the kebabs we grilled right on our table. The ambiance was lovely.
Next morning, February 20th, we slept in and visited with family via Skype. After breakfast we moved from the Silverland Hotel to the Lan Lan 2 Hotel and made plans to go to the beach at Vung Tau the next day. We visited the History Museum and discovered that as early as 1000AD, the Vietnamese had an educational system that streamed people into various fields according to their abilities. We were impressed with the dynasties dating back to 29AD.
We took a cab to the backpackers street called Pham Ngu Lao, which we had read about on the reviews of things to
Transporting Beer via Motorbike
This worker was able to take 29 cases of beer to the market on his bike without tying them down. do in HCMC. There were many side streets full of hotels, hostels, bars, restaurants, and massage places. We both had a 60 minute massage for $21 total, and Maurice lay next to me and I watched the tiny young masseuse crawl up and down his spine! We wandered around and discovered the Albatros Book Corner where beer cost 9,000d or 55 cents. We visited with people from all over the world, a journalist from Australia, a couple of Brits and a couple of Canadians. We walked back to the hotel, taking our lives in our hands crossing the streets. We had to go as a group and move forward steadily while motorcycles, cars, buses and anything else that was on the street flowed around us! What an adrenaline rush just crossing the street!
February 21, we were up early and ready for our 7:20am bus pick- up to Vung Tau, situated on the coast. It was the closest beach to HCMC so we thought we would check it out and spend the day. Our man picked us up and delivered us to the bus area which happened to be next to the backpacker street. We boarded a modern 25
City Hall
A perfect example of the blend between old French colonial style and new style high rise buildings. passenger bus and left the city.
We arrived at the bus station in Vung Tau and downloaded maps on the IPad. Linda overheard English being spoken and made her way there. Danny, an American, and his Vietnamese wife Hau were taking the free shuttle to the beach and invited us to tag along. They took us to their favorite Banh Khot ( rice cakes with shrimp or pork or ...) restaurant for dinner. They then walked us down to the beach and showed us where the ferry terminal was. We parted ways and walked along the beach until we saw umbrellas. We sat, read and relaxed. After being washed up onto higher ground 3 times we'd had enough, so we took a cab to the other side of the bay. We had Turkish ice cream instead, homemade with rum soaked raisins. Yum!
We strolled along the waters' edge in the afternoon heat making our way back towards the ferry terminal. We watched families playing in the shaded park area, swimming in the greyish sea water, sitting on tarps playing cards, eating, sleeping and enjoying the CNY. As we strolled we observed rats at play as well, lots of
Handicapped Artisans
This is the mother of pearl that they use in their art. Nobody was working today as it was the Tet Holiday! them! Aren't rats nocturnal? We found a bar near the ferry terminal, had a beer and visited with some people that had immigrated to the warm climate and simple life of Vung Tau. Ferry time approached and passed, no ferry! We were told the boat was not coming. Some people accepted refunds, however we were stranded and so began attempting to gather 6 people to share a cab back to HCMC. Many people were very upset, but finally the ferry company refunded us AND provided a coach bus ride back to HCMC. We arrived back around 7:30, disappointed that we didn't get to experience the speedboat. Even though Maurice was under the umbrella and not exposed to direct sunlight, he still burnt while Linda managed to get quite burnt front top to toe.
Sunday was a nice sleep in. Baileys and coffee is always the best way to start the day. Breakfast was delicious with both eastern and western types of food offered buffet style. We headed to the Vietnam War Memorial Museum and got our history lesson on Vietnam. Under French control until WW11, they were more or less left on their own and on September 2, 1945,
Handicapped Workers Art
200 people, all without legs, and some without arms work at this art factory, and produce gorgeous art. We felt we had to buy some to help support these people. Ho Chi Minh declared an independent Vietnam called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. However, the French kept fighting. Ho Chi Minh founded the Vietnam Communist Party in the north while the south fought for independence and in 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem was elected as President of the Republic of Vietnam. The Chinese were supporting the north, France was losing the war and USA was supporting the French and the hated Ngo Dinh Diem. France eventually abandoned Vietnam and the Americans continued the battle. Thus 17 years of war ensued. The statistics are staggering regarding the war, but seeing the people that still struggle as a result was humbling! The terrible effects of Agent Orange devastated the country and its' people, and we saw many crippled and deformed people in Saigon.
We visited the Unification Palace which was beautiful but not extravagant. We were limited as to what we could view. That was the most disappointing historical site of all the ones we visited. We spent some time shopping and Linda ordered a custom made Vietnamese outfit form a booth in the Ben Thành market. We wandered through the quiet park and watched as they took down decorations and cleaned
Our Favorite Art Piece
This is what we bought from the Handicapped Market. It fits nicely on our living room feature wall. up from 3 days of festivities. Linda went for a pedicure, 100 000d and haircut 100 000d, while Maurice got a massage for 200 000d. We met a young Californian lady who is teaching in Beijing and went to a lovely rooftop restaurant for supper and spent the rest of the evening swapping stories. After dinner we decided to go to the Thu Bar and meet up with people we had met in the afternoon. It was Bazaar! The Philippino band was the best part. We walked Anne to her alley and headed back to our hotel. Maurice noted that the area had lost some of it's glamour and didn't feel entirely safe anymore.
February 23rd, we woke at 9, had breakfast and then completed the difficult job of finishing our bottle of Bailey's. We headed to the market to pick up Linda's outfit, then shopped for shirts, shoes and souvenirs. It was hot! We headed back to the hotel to shower and pack. We wandered to a park near the market and visited while trying to cool down in the shade. After a while, we thought we'd explore the streets a bit and came upon a group of
Traffic out of the City
There are lots of motorcycles on the road, and they simply give way for vehicles. people making a lot of happy noise. When we stopped to observe, they shoved beer in our hands and encouraged us to join their fun, which we did for a few minutes. We had our final cold noodle bowl in Vietnam, gathered our belongings from the hotel and walked to the bus terminal. We caught bus152 and made it to the airport in 20 minutes and it cost only 20,000 dong ($1.20) for both of us. Check in went quickly, we napped for a bit and caught our flight back to Kaohsiung.
What a great place to celebrate Tết, the arrival of spring and Chinese New Year's.
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Mallory and Warren
non-member comment
Saigon
Really enjoyed your blog. Brought back many memories from when we were there a few years ago.