As if you didn't see that title coming!!! On Wednesday morning we awoke safe and sound in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) after a bit of crazy day traveling on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, we begun our day at 06:00 in Kep. We needed to be able to cross the border and get from the small Vietnamese town of Ha Tien (just on the other side of the border) to Saigon that day. Wary that we did not want to get scammed out of loads of money, we had arranged with a trustworthy Western run guesthouse in Kampot that they would arrange to take us across the border straight to Ha Tien Bus Station where we would get on a bus to Saigon. At 07:00 two motos turned up and we were not happy. We were lead to believe this would be a car. After a bit of an argument with them on the phone, we decided we were running out of time already that day and got on the moto's with all our stuff. It was actually quite fun and we got to the border around 08:30. It was really easy going through the border. Our motos came with us and before you knew it we were at Ha Tien bus station around 09:00. We then found out that the 10:00 bus we were heading for was indeed now the 08:30 and had left. There's absolutely no way of finding this out in advance. We then had to take two more motos to the next town to try and get on a bus. When we got there, of course this bus was $35 each (should of been $8 each) so at this point we were scammed but at least we were on the move.
We started our journey on a public bus to Long Xuyen (halfway point) whilst watching the locals pay about $0.10 for the ride. Four hours later when we arrived at Long Xuyen, the bus conducter signaled to us to get on another bus to Saigon. Luckily this was an A/C bus full of monks! You can't go far wrong with a bus full of monks. The next 4 hours wasn't so bad and we got some sleep. Eventually rolling into Saigon bus station at 18:30. A quick (fair priced meter taxi) to our hotel and we were soon out and about, toasting to the future (with a Saigon beer no less) and ignoring the hassles of the day.
Our guest house, Luan Vu on Bui Vien Road, is LOVELY. And the staff here were excellent that evening. We went to sleep looking forward to the next day.
On Wednesday, we awoke, had our free breakfast, and quickly got out for the day. We were roughly following the Lonely Planet's walking tour with a few personal alterations. We started by walking to the Ben Thanh Market. It was very fun and vibrant and we thought we'd go back there for lunch. We then wandered up the road to a destination favoured by Ame: The Continental Hotel. This featured heavily in the book "The Quiet American" which Ame read and we both watched the 2002 remake of the film with Michael Caine. The day pictures of hotel were good but we've included a shiney picture of it at night from later in the day.
We then sat in their cafe for about 2 hours reading aloud the entire modern history of Vietnam (according to the Lonely Planet). It was so relaxing to take some time out in a nice, comfortable place. It was very interesting and factual read and I realised how little I actually know about the Vietnam Wars.
After all that blooming brain activity it was time for some nosh. Off back to
the market for some Pho (Rice Noodle soup) and Chicken noodles (with two large bottle of water it all came to about $3.5). It was delicious and felt very real as all of the locals were eating there too.
Next, it was on to the now called Reunification Palace. This Palace has a complex little history. First it was the French Governer-General's in 1868 called the Norodom Palace. Then, when the American's starting getting involved in foreign affairs in the mid 60's (when it was extensively re-built complete with underground bunker) it was known as the Independence Palace or Presidential Palace. It continued with this name during the whole of the Vietnam war. After the Americans pulled out in 1973 (after a grostesque war that really gained nothing for anyone except delaying the inevitable of the North Vietnam taking the whole country), the North Vietnamese started advancing towards Saigon. In 1975, then then President of South Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu, made a military blunder by making all units fall back for protect Saigon. This meant that the towns and cities along the way were taken sometimes without a shot being fired.
As the tanks approached Saigon, Thieu resigned and fled the country with millions of US Dollars. Leaving Duong Van Minh as president for just 43 hours. On the 30th April 1975, North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the Independance Palace (a little like this one...)
I quote from Lonely Planet (the definitive source of all history of course):
"After crashing through the wrought-iron gates - in a dramatic scene recorded by photojournalists and shown across the world - a soldier ran into the building and up the stairs to unfurl a VC flag from the 4th floor balcony. In an ornate 2nd floor reception chamber, General Minh who had become head of the South Vietnamese state only 43 hours before, waited with his improvised cabinet. 'I have been waiting since early this morning to transfer power to you', Minh said to the VC Officer who entered the room. 'There is no question of your transferring power', replied the officer. 'You cannot give up what you do not have.'"I think the whole thing sounds very dramatic! So with all that said, here it is:
To look at it isn't that exciting, but the history of it made it so much more interesting. We had a bloody good walk around the whole place. Of particular interest was the creepy underground bunker. This still had untouched communication devices downstairs from that day, presidential quarters (incredibly basic) and war room. It was weird walking through it's corridors.
We spent about an hour there and it was well worth of $1 entrance fee! It had a small museum inside that was very interesting.
Next we embarked on a slow walk back to our accomodation via a brief glimpse at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum. We were a bit museum and historied out by this point so we just took a picture of the stunning old colonial architecture:
We then went to a trendy ice cream joint called X-Cafe, took in another small outdoor street market then made it back for a quick shower and out in a taxi to watch sunset on the 23rd floor of the 5* Sheridon Hotel! After being turned away from the Sky Tower in Bangkok, we decided to dress smart and me in jeans so we could get in. It was certainly very swanky but we needn't of bothered dressing up as all the other tourists were in their bum-bags and shorts! It's nice to be smart sometimes though.
The views were stunning. Eventually we got a window seat after being very patient (of course everyone is vying for one) and we took yet another stunning sunset shot.
It was also happy hour were you bought 2 cocktails and got 2 free. A little odd but it meant we got two drinks each and didn't cost that much relatively speaking considering where we were.
We had researched a good charity restaurant for dinner that trains up street kids and disadvantage kids in the restaurant business. We were so impressed with what we found. It was super. We had traditional Vietnamese food, one dish was beef and thien ly flower. Never had flowers for dinner before!
Ame even enjoyed some lotus tea! All round it was a fantastic meal. We got the taxi on the way home to drop us just at the corner of our accommodation so that I could take some experimental no-flash ISO 800 pictures of the cross roads of traffic. Anyone who has been to Vietnam will remember the first time they crossed 8 lanes of crazy moto madness and rejoiced when then reached the other side of the road. The city is crazy and vibrant but some how a bit more charming than Bangkok and a load more developed than Phnom Penh. I hope I captured some of this in the below photos.
It was then off to bed to rest up for another near full day in this interesting and fun city.
On Thursday, we had our brek and sorted some jobs. We needed to check out at 12:00 and be back in the hotel by 19:30 to be picked up by our overnight bus to Nha Trang on the East Coast.
So we headed out to find yet another cool, charity run cafe Suzo for a spot of lunch. Then we walked to the Fine Art Museum.
I was surprised how much we liked the contemporary art as it was very war related. I suppose it showed everyday life and thoughts rather than out and out war shots. It was interesting.
Then we jumped in a taxi and tried to go to this cafe up near a pagoda we wanted to see. We found it but we're pretty sure it had changed name. That's the problem with guide books sometimes as cities change so rapidly. It was still nice and we had an iced coffee to try and beat the heat fatigue.
The Xa Loi Pagoda was cool. They are amazing structures and they feel very Asian. We had a little look about and then jumped into another taxi.
We've already picked where we're going for dinner tonight. To be honest, we've loved Saigon, but it's time to move on. It is a little exhausting. We'll always remember for the crazy crazy moto traffic zooming and swerving around us.
So I sit writing this in Suzo (again - it's got good wireless connection!) eating a fruit platter. Tomorrow we shall awake in Nha Trang.
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