I’m not sure that I’ve mentioned that the coffee in Vietnam is really good. It’s a great way to start your day along with all the fresh fruit from our regular breakfast buffet. After yet another delicious breakfast we loaded all our gear onto the bus and headed for the airport to fly to Saigon via VietJet Airlines.
The flight itself was short and uneventful and before we knew it we were in a bus wending our way through a steady stream of motorbikes and cars that seem to flow like a very technical white-water river. Somehow it works though we did pass a fender-bender.
Our hotel is the Lotus Boutique. It isn’t quite as classy as the one in Hoi An and the rooms are much smaller but it is clean and will do the trick.
Ho Chi Minh City (AKA Saigon) is a teaming sea of humanity (approximately 9 million) and vehicles – mainly motorbikes – in constant motion. Crossing the street is an acquired skill requiring dollops of courage, focus and chutzpah. I try to get in the middle of a crowd and just let myself be carried along.
We had about half an hour to settle into our rooms and then we were off by taxi to the War Remnants Museum. We had about an hour or so to absorb this testament to the horrors of war. We started off by making our way around some of the left-over military machinery and then wandered into the museum. We moved slowly from room to room taking in the terrible pictures, reading some of the personal testimonies, viewing the devastation of war. The room dedicated to revelations of the effects of Agent Orange was particularly awful. This war I heard about as a teenager that was raging half-way round the world was right here.
We quietly gathered outside the museum under the bamboo trees where our guide sat patiently waiting. He took us from the depths of personal reflections to the edge of our seats as he loaded us onto Cyclos. Our Cyclo drivers expertly joined the rushing traffic to take us on a wild ride to view some of the highlights of the city.
Our first stop was to view the statue of Thic Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk that set himself on fire to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government in 1963. The statue is right beside the intersection where it happened.
Next stop was the Independence Palace on the site of the Norodom Palace which had been built by the French and had been named after the Cambodian King of that time. It was the home of the French Governor-General until the Japanese took it in 1945 but soon returned it to the French at the end of WWII. But by 1954 the French had to hand it over to the Vietnamese people as part of the Geneva Accord when they withdrew from Vietnam due to their defeat at the hands of Ho Chi Minh. Diem took over the palace as President of the Republic of Vietnam but during the Vietnam War it was bombed by two of his pilots as a coup attempt in 1962. Diem escaped the assassination attempt and rebuilt the palace by the end of 1963.
Our last stop was to view Saigon’s Notre Dame Cathedral as the original in Paris was burning. Across the street is the iconic Post Office built by the French in the Gothic Renaissance style with many of the flourishes the French are known for.
A final dash of our Cyclos through the mad traffic back to our hotels to clean up and get ready for supper. Then off to the Street Market for a true-life experience. We made our way round the various stalls choosing our meals then gathered on the second floor to gorge on Vietnamese fast-food.
Now I am back in my room and I really have to get to bed because we are up very early tomorrow for our next adventure.