Ho Chi Minh in a Day

Trip Start Nov 12, 2008
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Trip End Dec 02, 2008


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Friday, November 14, 2008

Ho Chi Minh City in a day. It is possible but I know that there's a lot that we're missing. After arriving late last night, I don't know if there's words for how good it felt to fall into bed and finally sleep. This morning we had a tour that started at 9am. So after a shower and chicken noodle soup for breakfast at the hotel we met Tien, our guide for the day. He herded the five of us into the van and we gladly stepped in. The more we rode around the more grateful I was that we had a driver. There is no way I could drive around in this town and I think the motorbike option would have given me a panic attack if I'd had to do it myself. There doesn't appear to be any actual rules for driving, instead things like the double yellow line in the middle of the road is more of a suggestion of which side you stay on - but maybe you do and maybe you don't.

There isn't really words for all that we've seen today. I think the most depressing was the war museum which had tanks and a few planes in the courtyard area. Inside there were pictures from the war - pictures of the US and Vietnamese soldiers fighting. Victims of agent orange. In the main room I found myself staring at the young soldiers hoping not to see my dad's picture and yet seeing his face on every young U.S. soldier. Needless to say, I skipped the war crimes part of the museum, as well as the part about where they kept the prisoners of war. No need to go in there. The museum was oddly objective though which I found interesting.

We also visited a pagoda which was followed by the Vietnamese version of Notre Dame which the French built when they were here. There were a few other places like the huge Chinese market we went to as well as the fabulous lunch we had. Fresh seafood and noodle bowls for all! We ended the tour with a trip to Independence Palace which, before 1975 was the American Consulate and Central Operations for the war. There were two Russian tanks there to represent the two that broke through the front gate at the end of the war. Parts of today were extremely difficult to go through and we're all jet lagged but doing pretty well ovrall. Other parts were peaceful (at the pagoda) and relaxing (lunch).  Those are the highlights for today. We're heading off to dinner soon and then possibly to a discoteque if we're not too tired. Our bike tour of the delta starts tomorrow and we're staying at a guest house tomorrow night on an island. So good-bye until I get a chance to get back online.
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