Another short 1.5 hour flight and we were back in dry, hot country and away from Hoi An’s rain! Saigon is a big city with a population of approximately ten million. We were met at the airport by our guide who I could only describe as flamboyant. We caught about half of what he said in between his smiles and giggles… this was going to be fun!
As we were fairly late arriving we just had time to explore our local neighbourhood and grab a bite to eat. Our hotel (Silverland jolie) is in District 1 which is the centre of the city and where most of the action is, so a great location. We walked along the river and found a nice restaurant for a glass of wine and yet again some great Vietnamese food. On the walk back we took a different street and appeared to be walking through a red light district. There was massage parlour after massage parlour with young girls dressed in very fancy dresses and high heels sitting or standing around the doors.. it looked very dodgy!! When I asked our guide the next morning if we were staying in the red light district, he said “there is no red light district in Saigon, prostitution is illegal, yes I agree these girls are trying to attract men (in particular western white men) but we just don’t know what goes on in there”…. hmmm I think we do!!!
Next morning we were picked up to start our tour. We started with a drive out to the Cu Chi tunnels. This is where the Viet Cong (also known as the national liberation front), the army of the communist political organisation fought the US troops in the Vietnam war or as they call it here the American war.
On the nearly two hour drive from the city our guide gave us some information on how the tunnels were built and how they were used. In fairness the 250km of tunnels is ingenious. He kept mentioning the trunkle and it took me a while to realise he was referring to the jungle! He talked fast and got very excited about certain things so it was hard to catch it all but it was highly entertaining considering it was a very dark topic we were discussing.
When we got there we were shown a 15 minute video, made in 1968 with a voiceover of a particularly well spoken British woman! I found the video almost comical…. obviously it was very much from the Vietnamese point of view and the communist point of view so it was all very “hooray for the amazing communist soldiers”… I lost count of the amount of times it mentioned a soldier who was a hero for “killing Americans” … and “this young soldier, she got a medal for her role in killing x number of Americans”.. it was very bizarre. Another piece of footage showed how the soldiers enjoyed living in the tunnel “setting traps and playing around by day and killing Americans by night”.. honest to God, no joke – they were the words!! Even the music in the background was jubilant and very jolly hockey sticks!
It was all fun and games until we got inside the grounds. We were shown the famous tunnel entrances which would fit a tiny person and had a chance to walk into one to experience how small and claustrophobic they were. How people survived for weeks on end is hard to believe.
Another part of the grounds showed the various methods the Viet Cong used to capture the enemy (which was always referred to as the Americans even though the civil war went on for a lot longer than the Americans were involved) . They had all sorts of contraptions leading to holes in the grounds with stakes to trap legs etc… it’s no wonder there were so many wounded after this war with lost arms and legs.
There was an original tank and a display of guns and it seemed odd to me that anyone would want to pose for a holiday snap but sure enough, people posed at the tanks and guns smiling and giving thumbs up…. you’d have to wonder if they really understood what happened here.
As we made our way through the “trunkle” I could hear gun shots in the distance which seemed very peculiar so I asked the guide what it was. He explained that there is a shooting range where visitors can try out a gun that was used in the war – you just have to buy the bullet!!!! The sound of the gun shots, as we got closer, was so loud and honestly I found it terrifying – it totally freaked me out and I was horrified by the fact that no one seemed to think this was inappropriate. We were standing were people were shot and killed all around us.. not that long ago… and everyone was talking as normal (well loudly over the sound of the shots) and behaving like this was just another fun tourist attraction. I had a bit of a meltdown. I was surprised at how upset I got but I realised later that was the first time I’d ever heard a gun shot for real …. it frightened the crap out of me, my heart was pounding and I instantly started crying and wanted to get out of there. We continued through the exhibit but I couldn’t get far enough away from those gunshots quick enough. On reflection I think the other reason it upset me so much was that the whole thing was presented like a celebration. No matter which side you’re on I don’t believe that killing people should ever be celebrated, but that’s just me. In the words of Barret Strong & Norman Whitfield “WAR, HUH, GOOD GOD, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, SAY IT AGAIN”
Before we left the grounds we tasted tapioca – fresh from the local trees. It didn’t have any great flavour:
Back in the car we continued to have great chats with our guide who continued to get very excited about all sorts of things. As we drove past some Christmas decorations he let a roar “Merry Christmas” out of nowhere.. it was hysterical – he’d cheer up anyone! He was really knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions, all of which he prefaced with “thank you for your question”.
Back in the city we had an amazing lunch and then it was off to see the city highlights. We started with the Reunification Palace. Not a palace like we saw elsewhere, more like a 60’s soviet building.
Very interesting to walk around and see all the differooms where meetings took place and guests were entertained.
Including the secret bunker in the basement – I don’t think they’ll be using this equipment any time soon:
Next was the post office a striking French building allegedly designed by Gustav Eiffel but the locals say that’s rubbish!
Opposite the post office is Notre Dame Cathedral which is closed for refurbishment but still a popular photo stop:
Next stop Ben Thanh market which had everything from clothes, shoes and souvenirs to fruit, veg, coffee, lots of dried fruits, nuts etc and fish.. the smells (as you can imagine) were delightful!!!
As an added bonus, as it was just around the corner from the market we stopped for a quick look at the Mariamman Hindu temple – really colourful:
We were so full from the lunch that we ended up going for cocktails that evening… again!! Sure why wouldn’t you.. only a short time left on the trip!! We went to the famous Caravelle hotels’ rooftop bar which had great views of the city. View of Bitexco building where we had a drink the next night!
On our last full day in Saigon I started out with crocodile for breakfast and as yesterday the tiniest cup of tea was put in front of me (and nearly brought me to tears) I was armed with a takeaway cup and a Lyons teabag… aha… best cup of tea of the entire trip (39 days in!!!)
After a quick stop at The People’s Committee Building:
We set off for the museum of fine arts. The building itself is quite unusual – in parts it was beautiful but along the side corridors it looked like a prison. It had a lovely air flow as all the windows were open so was very comfortable to walk through the rooms. It was all relatively modern art, a lot of it revolutionary and then post revolution (their words, not mine). Ho Chi Minh was referred to as Uncle Ho when he inevitably turned up in some of the paintings!
In the afternoon we had a cooking lesson at The Saigon Cookery School. It was great fun. There were six of us getting instructions from the chef and we made fresh spring roles, green mango salad and fried rice in lotus leaf. Then we got to eat it… delicious!
Considering we were fed we decided to head for some early cocktails and hit a couple more rooftop/sky bars. (There are a lot in Saigon) Firstly the Bitexco building which is the tallest in Saigon. It was really far looking down from the 50th floor.
Then we hit the Grand which had a lovely view of the river with some nicely lit up boats:
Last day before flying home we hit a couple of final tourist spots. First the Emperor Jade Pagoda which is a Taoist temple, built in 1909.
It had the strangest menacing looking statues
Unlike Tibet where there’s money all over the statues here they have a safe in front of each alter!
They had a separate security guard in the room with the Buddha:
Outside the temple was a pond with a lot of turtles:
Last on our list was the Vietnam History museum. There are a number of museums in Saigon most notably the war remnants museum and another Ho Chi Minh museum but I couldn’t face anymore that so we opted for the wonderfully charming and interesting antiquities museum:
On the walk back to the hotel I had a final banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) and we said our goodbyes to Vietnam.
I’m typing this as I sit on the plane heading for Abu Dhabi. I can’t believe I’ve been six weeks on this amazing trip through six countries. I had a wonderful partner in crime to share it all with – thanks Suzanne! We had a great time from start to finish with no flight issues or major problems along the way just fun and adventure the whole time.
Goodbye Saigon, I hope to be back again some day (in my head I’m already planning a return trip to Vietnam).
Bye for now everyone – I hope I didn’t bore you all too much. Now that I’ve got the hang of this blogging – I literally got up to date yesterday so getting this done by the skin of my teeth – I’ll try it again on my next adventure starting in January. Until then…
odohertyelaine 