Ho Chi Minh City

Because I had just got off the bus and walked out to find a hotel, I had no actual idea where in relation to things I had ended up. I went down to the front desk and arranged to get my laundry done (at a high price), and then I asked about getting to a street called Pham Ngu Lao, which is where all the action is, traveller-wise. The man at the front desk didn't speak a lot of English, so I couldn't really explain to him that I wanted to walk. He kept asking me if I wanted a taxi or a moto-taxi. There was no way I was going in a regular taxi, so I eventually opted just to take the moto-taxi. Then I would know how far things were and it wouldn't be too expensive. The man called one for me and then arranged it all and told me how to pay, which wasn't unreasonable, although it seemed kind of high if the area was close. It wasn't. I had hoped that I was going to be getting off the bus the previous night in an area that was supposed to be close the backpacker area. I guess this was a different bus company than the ones the web page was talking about. It took about 15 or 20 minutes to get there. I wouldn't have wanted to walk that. I would never have found it for one thing, and I would have been tuckered out by the time I got there as well.

Once I reached Pham Ngu Lao, I started first by looking around for a good travel office. I don't actually know what such an animal looks like. And even if I did, I'm not sure I would recognize it amongst the hundreds and hundreds of travel offices along the street. Yes, I had found the backpacker area.

I pretty much just walked into one at random. Well, actually I walked into the first one that had someone outside asking if I was wanting to go somewhere. I sat down and began to figure out what I wanted to do. I had been told about the Cu Chi tunnels. These are the tunnels the Viet Cong used to terrorize the American soldiers during the war by hiding underground and attacking from seemingly everywhere and nowhere and then disappearing again. This was something I wanted to go and experience. There were two options for going to see the tunnels. There was a full day option that included a temple. The second option was a simple half-day tour that only went to see the tunnels. I have seen lots of temples. And I was told that it was nothing really spectacular. For both reasons, I decided on the half-day tour.

Then there was the Mekong delta. My one day down in Chau Doc and the trip to Saigon showed me that I would like to spend more time in the delta. As it happened there were three options to have that experience. There were one-, two-, and three-day tours down into the delta. One day didn't seem like it would be enough. The three-day option was going to go to Chau Doc. I had just come from there. So I decided to take the two-day tour.

Having decided that, I wanted to figure out what the city of Saigon was all about. And I wanted to figure out whether it should be Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City. I had heard the city referred by both names and when I had asked, I was told that it was okay to use either appellation. I suspected that that wouldn't always be the case. Whatever it was going to be, the tourist office gave me a map, after I politely said that a city tour that afternoon wasn't going to be necessary. Then I headed off to have a look at the attractions in Ho Chi Minh City. I started with the Independence Palace.

This was the last bastion of the government of the south during the Vietnam War. After the US exited the war, none too gracefully, the army of the south continued to fight for some time, but the forces of the north were too strong and eventually, all that was left was this palace. In April 1975, the northern forces crashed through the gates of the palace and forced the unconditional surrender of the south, thus unifying the country under a communist rule from the north. The palace was later turned into a museum, glorifying the win by the north, and denouncing the puppet government of the south, as well as demonizing the US in for good measure. It was quite thick, particularly in the pro-north documentary that was playing the video room. However, it was interesting to go downstairs and see the operations rooms that the southern government was using right up until the fall of Saigon.

Another attraction nearby is the Notre Dame cathedral. I guess the one in Paris isn't the only, but it's probably the only really famous one. Ha ha ha!! While I was walking I turned a number of moto drivers. One informed me that I shouldn't go to the cathedral then because it was closed and he would be glad to show me around and bring me back later. He looked a bit crestfallen when I told him that I didn't really care if I couldn't go in. I only wanted to see it from the outside. Oh, don't feel sorry for him. It was the truth, and I'm sure he found another fare. And I was polite about it.

Then I headed to a small museum that is apparently a great place for wedding photos. This was one of two couple who were having wedding photos taken while I was there. But other than, it wasn't much to write home about. The stuff inside wasn't overly interesting and the explanations that I could understand were sparse.

There was a good map showing the extent of Saigon and how it sits on its river.

And I did find it amusing that, although the propoganda demonizes the US for its actions during the war (which I am not excusing), they used a slogan that sounds a lot like one of the catch phrases of American Revolution. And presented in English like that, not even in Vietnamese, it seemed quite ironic to me. But maybe I'm just like that.

My final stop for the day was the Ho Chi Minh museum, Ho Chi Minh City branch. There are several dotted around the country. I will say anything against the man himself, particularly while I am in the country. He is pretty much the father of modern day Vietnam. He is a popular figure with many Vietnamese and it is due to his firing the imagination of the people that they threw off the colonialism of the French and then fought through the US attempts to control the country, to become the country it is today. But...

He is treated like some kind of saintly figure, to the point that it could almost be said that there is a cult of Ho Chi Minh. He must have had his faults. He can hardly not have had any, given that he was human. However, in the museum he is portrayed as completely pure and without any sort of error or fault. And again, the air in the museum is laced with the utter “evil” of the US and how they treated the country during the Vietnam War. On the ground floor, there is a statue of Ho Chi Minh, where no photos are allowed, and people lined up around the building in order to go in and pay respects to the man through the stature, offering incense and bows of reverence to the memory of the man. It is a bit silly, if you ask me. And again, I will never, ever, say anything like that to a Vietnamese person, since the legend is so important to the formation of the country as it is today.

Having finished with those sorts of cultural understanding visits for the day, I spent the next while trying to find a bank machine that would let me take out more than a hundred dollars (when converted to Vietnamese dong) at a time. I did, but it still only allowed 200 dollars. Good thing it's a cheap country.