Saigon
Trip Start
May 12, 2005
1
7
33
Trip End
Sep 11, 2005
Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam
Thursday, May 26, 2005
I've been very definitely sticking to my own two feet and have walked miles and miles exploring the city centre, Chinese quarter and more than a few back streets, in search of interesting things not in the guidebook. Came across an interesting art exhibition, two funeral processions and lots of makeshift ancestor-worship shrines - in shops, outside houses and by market stalls. I've steadfastly ignored all offers from the moped and cyclo drivers. (Is it bad that I've learnt how to say "No" in Vietnamese, but haven't felt the need to learn "Yes" yet?)
One of the major sights of the city was the War Remnants museum. Apparently it used to be called 'The Museum of War Atrocities committed by the USA and China', but they're trying to encourage US visitors nowadays! It was pretty horrific - lots of war photographers' photos of the action, including pictures of people affected by napalm and agent orange, and Viet Cong (VC) guerillas being tortured.
Got the chance to see how the VC infiltrated the countryside around Saigon when I visited the underground tunnel system they dug at Cu Chi, just outside Saigon. The 100m of tunnel you could actually go in were very cramped, hot and dark, so probably a good thing that the whole 25km of tunnels aren't open.
And I've met a real Viet Cong resistance fighter: 96-year-old General Ngo Toai, who still owns the Binh Pho noodle soup shop that served as the secret HQ of the VC in Saigon, from where the huge 1968 'Tet Offensive' was planned. I just went for noodles and the atmosphere, but got to meet the old man himself, who was having his own dinner on the table behind me.
Staying here one more day (waiting for laundry back from hotel), then moving on to Dalat, an old French hill station in the S Vietnam highlands, from where I have booked onto a two-day, 120km mountain bike ride through national park to the sand dunes and beach at Mui Ne, on the coast (sounds downhill all the way to me). V excited about it, although not entirely sure how I will cope in the heat and humidity. Should be cooler in the hills though.
Meeting lots of people - other travellers mainly, although I have been making a effort to have drinks in back-street (i.e. non-backpacker) cafes, to practice my few phrases of Vietnamese in places where they don't speak any English. Have spent last few days with Aaron (Aussie, also did homestay), Gavin and Orla (Irish), Joe (older guy, American-Korean) and several others - all really lovely. Had an interesting conversation on the way back from the Cu Chi tunnels with Josh, a fairly quiet American lad, who'd been listening very intently to the guide all day. He'd never been out of the States before coming to Vietnam and openly admitted that he was a typical insular American, who doesn't really take any notice of anything in the world outside of the states (although he had heard of Bush's best friend Blair). However, he's come to Vietnam specifically to find out about the 'American' war (as it's known here) because he knows lots of US veterans and is hoping to find out what made it so awful that no-one ever talks about it.
Everyone in the hostels and on trips is keen to give travel tips about where to go and what to do, so no scarcity of people to chat to. 'Word on the street' is that Hoi An (on the coast in central Vietnam) and Halong Bay (the Red River delta, near Hanoi) are beautiful. Lots of people have also recommended visiting Sapa and its minority villages (in the mountains near the Chinese border), but I'm not sure I'll have time to go that far north.
Cathy
