Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) 25/5/16 – 27/5/16

Day 10
Picked up at 10am, (yeah our first lie in in 11 days), by our private car and transported to Da Nang airport. Whilst driving through Da Nang we couldn’t believe how big this city was. We had driven through it a couple of days ago at night time and it looked impressive with large sky scrapers and neon lights everywhere, in the daytime it was as impressive with beautiful views everywhere, we even passed over the famous “Dragon Bridge”. A beautiful city right on the beach front. We will defiantly be back to this city.
Our flight was delayed by an hour, but the airport was pretty cool, very clean, tidy and neat. (Flying Vietnamese Airways is really good). Once on board it took less than an hour to reach our destination, and a further hour private transfer to our hotel. Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon), looked massive as we flew over it and is divided into 10 Districts, with its centre in District 1 – which is where we are staying. We arrived around 2.30pm and had a free afternoon, until our guide picks us up at 7pm for a night dinner cruise. So no time to unpack, as we headed straight back out to the city once checked in. District 1 is like any other inner major city, with high end shops and restaurants with lots of traffic everywhere and hundreds and hundreds of people of every race. The one thing we haven’t got used to yet is the constant honking of horns from cars, buses, trucks and motorbikes, it’s endless and quite severe on the ear drums.
As stated we were picked up at 7pm prompt and taken to the Saigon river. WOW there were so many junks all lit up at the edge of the river bank. Ours was the Bon Sai Cruise (junk boat) (no not small by any means), we were shown to our table and the 8 course mega feast began. It was so yummy, one by one the dishes appeared as we sailed along a brightly coloured waterfront. Sky scraper after sky scrapers all lit up in many neon lights ever changing. Whilst dining we listened to a traditional Vietnamese band, which were quite good. They even got Tina up to play the tambourine, (the Sally’s would have been proud). The cruise and the menu took over 2 hours to get through and on our return we sat under the stars watching the night go by. Beautiful.
Day 11
As per our program we were picked up at 7.45am after breaky, for our city tour. We visited Notre Dame Cathedral, and the largest post office in Vietnam, which is still doing it stuff today. We were informed that they were built at the turn of the 20 century, by a French architect, when Vietnam was under the ruling of the French. What came next was the Reunification Palace, where the president of Vietnam surrendered in 1975 after Vietnams independence. This palace was stormed by the locals minutes after he was thrown out, and it is still as it was mid 70’S and open to the public. We were shown around the different state rooms and actually got to see his office with the desk where he surrendered from. Quite an amazing place.
From there on in our tour became a little unnerving really as we went to the remarkable site of the War Remnants Museum – from the invasion of the Americans in the Vietnam War. Inside we walked from room to room, with little artefacts other than dozens and dozens of photographs with a description of what each one represented. As we walked around and read the many manuscripts, we became more aware of what the war was about. I had learnt very little at school about this so was obviously naive about it. The actual photos of common villagers as they were massacred in their 1000s was appalling yet intriguing, along with stories of how the locals were tortured again in their 1000s in POW camps, held, mutilated and butchered by the yanks. There was 1 sign that stated, “they all must be killed no matter what” which was signed by the President of the USA that was a centre piece to the exhibition. We then went outside where actual artefacts from the war had been gathered. These included what was know as “tiger cages”, these cages were no bigger than a coffin, see through, and made of barbed wire, but as you read the stories, 3, 4, sometimes 5 prisoners were placed in these. We saw the shackles that they were kept in, we saw the “boobie traps” that had been used, the cells where 20 men or women were kept in. These looked no bigger than what we see on TV now for prisoners in our jails. It showed photos of American army men with mutilated bodies, some of which they strapped to their tanks, cars etc as trophies. It was very very disturbing. We then went upstairs to another photographic exhibition, this time we saw the effects of “Agent Orange” one of the chemicals used to murder the locals. However some survived, and gave birth to babies, which were deformed beyond recognition. I swear there was not a dry eye from anyone coming out of this museum. I am deeply saddened to see what this war did, but pleased I strained myself to get through the whole museum.
Bizarrely we were then taken to a factory, where these disfigured babies that were born after the American use of agent orange, survived and we’re working making the most beautiful arts and crafts and selling them to the tourists. These people, some in their 30’s and 40s live work and play in these factories. Apparently the government opened up such factories, after independence to help them continue living. It was shocking but all had the biggest most beautiful smiles on their faces. We were speechless for a while, just absolutely “gob smacked”. The mood on the coach was sombre and we all sat in silence.
We then travelled 70km out of the city to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These (according to Google), were started in 1940 when Vietnam was at war with the French. The tunnels which are about 3 meters underground, and only 1 meter high, go across most of the country. It is where the locals lived during the war, and again in the war against the Americans from 1960 to 1975. They are a network which connect villages to villages, towns to towns etc. Some people even lived in these for years on end, not venturing out into the open world. Some are now open to the public, and we were informed they are a top attraction for tourists. One thing that I didn’t like was a ‘history’ video on the bus about the tunnels which was basically a propaganda film stating the tunnels were built after the Americans bombed so the villagers would be safe, not true at all.
We eventually returned to our hotel around 7.30pm, completely shattered and emotionally drained. The more I’m getting to know about the Vietnamese, the sadder I’m getting. They have not had an easy life at all, and to think they have been at war so many times in my lifetime is unbelievable.
Overall we were not overly keen on Ho Chi Minh City, it was dirty, smelly and didn’t feel like it had any cohesion, at least where we stayed.