GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!! Today was our visit to Ho Chi Minh City although we arrived in the port of Phu My, about a two hour drive each way from the city. Fortunately we had a nice, air conditioned bus because it was about 92 degrees outside, and most of the buildings we were in had only fans---no AC.
Our guide, whose name was Tuan, started with what we thought was a little humor and soon realized was the truth. He said that the Americans drive on the right side of the road, the English on the left, and the Vietnamese on both sides!!
Some quick facts: Vietnam has a population of 88 million; 40% are Buddhists and 60% other religions; Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam (formerly Saigon until it was renamed after the Vietnam War); it is a Communist government ;French influence still evident – including colonial housing style; Nguyen popular family name in Vietnam.
There are 8 a/2 million people in Ho Chi Minh City (from now on referred to as HCM) and 4 million scooters. That was easy to believe on our drive in to and around the city. Helmets are required by law. We have lots of pictures of how these people transport their items on these scooters – very ingenious. Note tires around the 2nd guy’s waist! And these are just a few we took!
Also, on the way into the city there are lots of little cafes for people to stop in, cool off their engines, and have a coffee – plus they have lots of hammocks for people to relax in while they are there.
In the rural area, rice is grown. The soil is better in S. Vietnam where they can grow rice 3 times a year (each season lasting 2 months). The North can only grow two seasons of rice. Rice is eaten at each meal. In the rural areas, they eat only two meals a day, while in HCM they eat three meals a day. Because these farmers get up early, work hard in the fields, eat so little – they are not fat. Their diet is healthy – even with less food. However, they do make rice wine which is 45% alcohol. The men drink a lot of this after work.
Fifteen years ago, the people didn’t have electricity.
Doesn’t seem to be a problem now! But there might be other problems that need attention!
Now almost everyone has a TV in their home. However, up until five years ago, they only had black and white TV.
Our first stop was the former Presidential Palace now known as Unification Hall.
This shows the distance from the gates to the front of the palace.
This building was made famous when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the front gates in 1975, signaling the end of the Vietnam War. Apparently, when the N. Vietnamese generals went into the Palace to the cabinet meeting room, the S. Vietnamese said they were waiting to hand over the power to the North. The North replied, “You can’t turn over something you don’t have.”
This building is now a museum. On our tour inside we were able to see the reception and dining rooms of the President’s quarters and the basement with its ancient American-made telecommunications equipment still in place and strategic military maps lining the walls. Outside, we saw the tank that crashed the gates.
Our next stop was just a 10 minute photo stop at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office. They were both built by the Frenchman who built the Eiffel Tower. The twin spires on the Cathedral have long welcomed arrival in Saigon to passenger liners that traveled the winding Saigon River. The post office was interesting with its high, vaulted ceiling and old fashioned wooden telephone booths.
We then went to the History Museum which shows the evolution of the cultures of Vietnam, from bronze-aged Dong Son civilization to modern day Vietnam. We didn’t get to explore this museum – just saw a few artifacts. The main reason for being here was to see a short performance of traditional water puppetry, a unique art form that was once staged as entertainment for kings and emperors.
Had lunch at the Renaissance Hotel – it was a buffet of American and Asian food. Doug liked it better than I did. There were not many Vietnamese dishes on the buffet. Bought a couple of scarves in the hotel gift shop that were interesting.
We then went to another shop around the corner from the hotel that served us traditional Vietnamese coffee as we browsed the gift items. We are sure our guide is related to the owner since none of the other tours made this stop!! Vietnamese people drink a lot of coffee, and they are the 2nd largest exporter of it (after Brazil.) In southern Vietnam, where it is warmer, they mainly drink iced coffee. We sampled the coffee (hot and strong), thought it was good, and ended up buying some, of course! Story on some Vietnamese coffee, called weasel coffee: the Vietnamese think some of their best coffee is made from when the weasel eats the coffee beans in the fields, gets so “jangled” after so much coffee that they throw it up, and then the people take that and process it into coffee. We are not sure if that is the coffee we sampled/bought or not!
Then we went to a shop where all the other Amsterdam tourists also went. There they demonstrated how they make their lacquer ware. It is a very time consuming process if done correctly. They had a huge gift shop of nothing but items that were lacquered. There were huge items such as room dividers and large pictures to small boxes and trays. We bought a few things there as well.
Fortunately for our wallets, the rest of the tour was just a “ride around” showing us the Opera House and the Town Hall (which used to be the Hotel de Ville.) It is an ornate beautiful building. We also passed by the historic Rex Hotel where every day during the Vietnam war press briefings were held on the roof of this building.
Ho Chi Minh City is one of old and new. There are very new modern buildings and some from the early 1900s. There are business people in suits and then some like this:
An interesting contrast between the old and new. Many rural women wore this type of hat.
We returned by the same route back to the ship after a full day of sightseeing. The other tour that would have been interesting to take was the one to the tunnels where the Vietnamese lived and fought from these during the war. They are now open to the public, so have been expanded and lit so visitors can experience the vastness of these tunnels. Our friends who went on this tour told us about it and said that the guides there referred to the war as the American War and were shown pits that were designed to trap and/or kill the enemies who fell into them. They were also shown a movie that was very anti-American before the tour of the tunnels. On our tour, we experienced only a neutral tone from our guide about the war years.
When we returned to the ship, we watched the sail away and then enjoyed the special Asian BBQ on the Lido Deck. We met up with Craig and Diane and shared stories about this interesting and informative day.
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