We need Dollar!

Trip Start Oct 01, 2007
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31
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Trip End Dec 20, 2007


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Flag of Vietnam  ,
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

We are looking to leave Ho Chi Minh but need US Dollar to pay for the hotel and our coach trip to Phnom Penh. We decide to head to HSBC to withdraw USD from our accounts. We spoke to one of the staff members from the helpdesk who said we could change Dong to Dollar if we first drew out the Dong. So we withdrew 8,000,000 Dong from the ATM's and went to the checkout. "I'm sorry sir, but we don't change Dong to Dollar here" is the response we got.  Apparently none of the banks do.  So our last resort was to go to a foreign exchange counter at a tourist information shop, two blocks away and get it changed into Dollar.

Now the relief had set in with regards to our finance, we set about exploring the key attractions the city had to offer.  Our first stop was a brief look at Notre Dame Cathedral - a replica of  the one in Paris.  It was closed so we took a few photos and made our way to a cafe for lunch before arriving at the war remnants museum.  The courtyard was full of abandoned weapons and machinery left by the Americans.  Tanks, planes, helicopters, missiles and so forth, littered the grounds.  We wove inbetween and made our way into the main building that housed photographs and accounts of the war.  The graphic accounts of battle tactics and torture were accompanied by horrific pictures of mutilated corpses and mass distruction.  There was even pickled babies on display. The result of the biological weapons America drooped on the country.

We then took a quick tour around the Reunification Palace which wasn't very impressive but it rounded off our tour of Ho Chi Minh well.
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