Good morning, Saigon!
For my first breakfast (even if it was at a very western style hotel), I decided to go with a traditional
Vietnamese style breakfast: At the top is pho, bottom left is congee,
and last but not least, strong, STRONG tea. All very good (even if I did
also toss in there a bacon and cheese omelet and sauteed potatoes).
This is the Ho Chi Minh Central Post Office, a marvel of the French
influence. It was designed by none other than Mr. Gustav Eiffel himself
in the late 1800's.
Directly across the street is Notre Dome, a beautiful Catholic Church.
This is a long park, located
between Notre Dome and the Reunification Palace. I can't seem to find a
name for it, but it was lovely to walk through it.
At
the other end is the Reunification Palace, that will forever hold it's
place in history as the scene of the end of the struggle of North and
South Vietnam.
I had wanted to go to the Warm
Remnants Museum, but it was closed for lunch, so it was time for lunch
for me as well. A local beer - Saigon Red and some sauteed cauliflower
and garlic was lunch - it was perfect!
While walking to the War Remnants Museum, I feel prey to a tourist trap. I was handed this very heavy pole, and then when I was caught off guard, the gentleman promptly pulled out a coconut and chopped it off, then demanded 15,000 dong. It was cheap enough, even though I hate coconut. Everyone has to be a tourist once in awhile!
Having studied American Military history fairly extensively, and having
read quite a bit about the America/Vietnam conflict, I went into this
museum knowing that it was written from the side of the victors. It was
pretty much exactly what I expected.
I
took a few photographs of the US military equipment that sat outside
the museum, and a few more images inside, but I am not going to post
them. I walked out of this museum thinking to myself that it was all
just a terrible waste for everyone involved, senseless death that all
could have been avoided. Out of respect for those that fought and died
on both sides, I'm going to not post those pictures.
There were big plans for the evening, but there was just enough time to take
a quick tour of the Reunification Palace, formerly the Independence
Palace that served as the South Vietnamese Presidential Palace between
1963 and 1975.
An example of one of the Soviet built tanks that were used by the North Vietnamese in the capture of Saigon in 1975.
The Reunification Palace (Formerly the Independence Palace) was preserved as a museum on the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Formal Presidential Dining Room.
South Vietnamese Cabinet room.
Office of the last President of South Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu.
Behind those iconic windows.
Formal Presidential Reception room.
Gambling Room. It was this room, more than any of the others that really
sunk home the idea that this palace was stuck in 1975 forever more. The
other rooms had a vague feeling of that era, but this room really put
it over the top.
This is the rooftop terrace, with a fantastic view all around.
View from the terrace.
And then the gates. You may remember them from this iconic image:
Walking back through the park, I spotted this street vendor making something (still unknown) that smelled and looked delicious.
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| It was. |
After all that walking around, a dip in the hotel pool was definitely needed. Added bonus? Glass sides.
And then came Vietnam Vespa Adventure. Simply one of the best nights of my entire life.
The tour arrived at the hotel with a helmet, a scooter and a driver.
Before I knew it, we were off into the warm humid Saigon night.
Riding in traffic really isn't as bad as it seems. Everyone knows what they are doing, and everything just flowed like a river of scooters, cars and pedestrians. Interestingly, the bellman at the hotel gave this advice on how to cross a street in Ho Chi Minh (there are rarely crossing signals): just walk out into traffic slowly, make no sudden moves, and don't retreat! And, I'll be damned if it doesn't go against EVERYTHING I was ever taught about not walking into traffic, it works.
First (free) beer of the night at the bar owned by the Vespa tour group. Kevin, our tour guide gave us the rundown of the night, and a little history of the food we were going to be eating. I was so excited that much of this has been forgotten, sadly.
More scooting.
First up was a local restaurant in District 4 that served seafood.
Crab legs encrusted in rock salt. Amazing.
More local beer.
Frogs legs.
Scoot scoot scoot!
Saigon was decorated for the Vietnamese New Year Tet, starting in a few days.
City Hall.
Next it was to traditional Vietnamese food, various types of meats and seafoods that you eat wrapped in lettuce. You put it together yourself.
Yet more local beer. Hey, it was included in the price of the tour!
Next up was a coffee house, with live music. I had my first (iced) coffee here, ever. I figured it was traditional to have a leisurely coffee at the end of the day in Vietnam, so I needed to try it. Probably won't turn into a coffee nut, safe to say.
Sadly, by this time my phone was running out of battery, so the rest of the night is lost to history. They finished up the evening by taking us to a bar that featured several live bands playing rock and roll. Hot, sweaty, and awesome. Two gin and tonics later, and the night was over. Over four hours of buzzing around Saigon was utterly amazing.
