3 - 5 March 2015
We "woke up" in Nha Trang after a pretty restless sleep. I woke up around 2:00 AM and couldn't get back to sleep, so I read until about 5:00 AM and dozed on and off until we pulled into Nha Trang around 7:00 AM. If you ask Tim how his night was he would tell you that he didn't sleep either, but every time I looked at him he was sound asleep.
We boarded another sleeper-bus to Ho Chi Minh city about 1 hour later. This time our seats were all the way in the back where there were 5 seats across. We actually lucked out on this one since the 2 seats there were in the aisle didn't have a pod to put your feet in, so Tim was much more comfortable. Plus, the other 3 seats had small, skinny Vietnamese so we had plenty of room.
We boarded another sleeper-bus to Ho Chi Minh city about 1 hour later. This time our seats were all the way in the back where there were 5 seats across. We actually lucked out on this one since the 2 seats there were in the aisle didn't have a pod to put your feet in, so Tim was much more comfortable. Plus, the other 3 seats had small, skinny Vietnamese so we had plenty of room.
We made it to Ho Chi Minh City around 6:30 PM and walked to our hotel. The hotel staff began apologizing that something was wrong with our room, but they have a sister hotel down the street, so they walked us there. We spent the night but wasn't satisfied since this hotel was older than the one we originally booked, so we checkout in the morning and went back to the original one where they put us in a really nice room.
After re-checking in we finally left the hotel around 11:00 AM for the suggested self-guided walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City. This walking tour is a 2.5 mile route that is supposed to take us 3 hours. Of course we knew that it was going to take us 5-6 hours the way we take our time.
First we walked down a street that was turned into a market. We were amazed at how many different items they can stuff into a small space. As usually there were many fresh fruit vendors and vendors selling at least 10 different types of rice.
After re-checking in we finally left the hotel around 11:00 AM for the suggested self-guided walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City. This walking tour is a 2.5 mile route that is supposed to take us 3 hours. Of course we knew that it was going to take us 5-6 hours the way we take our time.
First we walked down a street that was turned into a market. We were amazed at how many different items they can stuff into a small space. As usually there were many fresh fruit vendors and vendors selling at least 10 different types of rice.
As we continued walking we passed a typical food vendor that had tables and stools spread out on the sidewalk. We have seen this kind of "restaurant" all over Southwest Asia:
One thing that was surprising about Ho Chi Minh City was the modern skyscrapers amongst the classic French architecture. We didn't really expected all this modernness.
We then came across the Central Post Office designed by Gustave Eiffel...yes the same one...and built between 1886 and 1891.
Directly across the street form the post office was Notre Dame Cathedral, built between 1877 and 1883.
We now doubled back and walked to the address 22 Ly Tu Trong, the building used for a US helicopter rescue the day before the fall of Saigon. It is commonly believed, including Tim and I, that the building was the US Embassy, but this building actually housed CIA staff.
Next stop is an interesting roundabout with a weird flowerlike sculpture with water around it called Ho Con Rua (Turtle Lake). The best thing about this roundabout is that there was many restaurants around it, and just in time for lunch...and our first 333 beer.
After lunch, which was at 2:30 PM, we decided to walk back towards the hotel when we came across the "War Remnants Museum". Our initial plan was to go to this museum tomorrow, but since we were here we may as well check it out. The only down side of doing it today is we only had 1.5 hours till it closed.
Outside the museum had the typical displays we have come to expect with US armored vehicles, airplanes, and helicopters:
Outside the museum had the typical displays we have come to expect with US armored vehicles, airplanes, and helicopters:
The inside of the museum was arranged on 3 floors were you started at the top and made your way down. Here is the name of the very one-sided exhibits found inside.
I found this introduction to the "Aggression War Crimes" exhibit to be interesting:
Another interesting exhibit on how the rest of the world was against the US:
After learning how evil Americans are we left the museum and headed back to the hotel for a little rest before going out to dinner. For dinner we headed to the backpacker area. After walking around for at least 45 minutes we finally picked a restaurant. The interesting thing about this restaurant is that the kitchen is across the alley as you can see in the picture below...the kitchen is in the back left:
Next day we headed out to the Reunification Palace. This place was made famous by photographs taken on the morning of 30 April 1975 when tanks crashed through its wrought-iron gates after which the VC entered the palace and accepted the surrender of General Minh.
The inside of the building was left exactly how it was when the VC took over. This includes the 60's style furniture in the game room to the war room with maps still hanging on the walls:
We thought was was really cool was the old technology left on display including movie projectors and military communication systems:
After the palace we walking around a bit, had some beer (and pizza) and just took in the sites around us. Here are some of the highlights:
We then returned to the hotel for our last night in Ho Chi Minh City. Here is a picture out our window of the night skyline and a picture of the breakfast area on the top floor of the hotel.
Tomorrow we take a bus south to the Mekong Delta that promises to be quite interesting.