Saigon Sightseeing
We had a cake induced coma sleep, followed by the smallest breakfast ever; through choice, I might add!
From there we went to the War Museum; it is a very sobering place as it shows the atrocities of war and in particular, those lives ruined by “agent orange”, a chemical that was widely used by the U.S military during the war to kill trees and prevent the Vietcong hiding in the jungle. The museum is run by the government, therefore it shows the war from the communist perspective and is incredibly anti-American. It was very interesting but I felt sick not only looking at the pictures of deformed people, but worse, they also had deformed human foetuses; it was awful! We asked Hoàng if people are anti-American because of the war; he said not in the south but certainly in the north. There was a photographic exhibition put together as a large number of war photographers died during the conflict, some of the pictures were horrendous but extraordinary.
As we met the guide reasonably early in the morning, we had time to visit the Jade Emporer Pagoda located on the fringes of District 1, where we are staying. It dates back from 1909 and was built by Cantonese Buddhists using feng shui principals. It was a beautiful little temple, but pretty busy because of the new year celebrations. We walked round before getting back in the lovely air conditioned car; I forgot to mention it was already 32 degrees and 65% humidity, the real feel was 39 degrees!
The car dropped us beside Notre Dame which is currently closed for renovation; we took a quick picture then headed into the post office. Normally this wouldn’t be anything to shout home about but it was built in French Colonial architecture and was rather beautiful; apparently, sending a postcard from here is the “done” thing....we did it, let’s see if it beats us home! We then walked, rather sweatily, to see the Continental Hotel, Opera House and City Hall, all built by the French and all stunningly beautiful.
After a slightly sozzled hour and a bit, we headed to the market. It was the usual; strange food in one section, jewellery in another, followed by cosmetics, clothes, fake bags etc! We didn’t buy anything but wandered around, trying to stay away from the Durian fruit as much as possible. If you don’t know what it is, google it!
We decided to walk back to the hotel to cool off and maybe make happy hour at the sky bar. The pedestrian street was now shut off as it was the official opening today, there was lots of music and a speaker (no idea who!) so we were diverted along another street. We wandered back towards the shop that I tried the traditional Vietnamese outfit; yup, you guessed it, I bought it this time! It cost £60 but it is beautiful and hand embroidered (picture to follow at new year - 4th February!)
We met Hoàng in the lobby and headed out for a morning of sightseeing. Our first stop was the Presidential Palace; this is the former palace and is mainly a tourist attraction now. It has remained unused since the communist regime seized it on April 30th 1975; Vietnams Independence Day and the day the north and south united as one country.
From there we went to the War Museum; it is a very sobering place as it shows the atrocities of war and in particular, those lives ruined by “agent orange”, a chemical that was widely used by the U.S military during the war to kill trees and prevent the Vietcong hiding in the jungle. The museum is run by the government, therefore it shows the war from the communist perspective and is incredibly anti-American. It was very interesting but I felt sick not only looking at the pictures of deformed people, but worse, they also had deformed human foetuses; it was awful! We asked Hoàng if people are anti-American because of the war; he said not in the south but certainly in the north. There was a photographic exhibition put together as a large number of war photographers died during the conflict, some of the pictures were horrendous but extraordinary.
As we met the guide reasonably early in the morning, we had time to visit the Jade Emporer Pagoda located on the fringes of District 1, where we are staying. It dates back from 1909 and was built by Cantonese Buddhists using feng shui principals. It was a beautiful little temple, but pretty busy because of the new year celebrations. We walked round before getting back in the lovely air conditioned car; I forgot to mention it was already 32 degrees and 65% humidity, the real feel was 39 degrees!
The car dropped us beside Notre Dame which is currently closed for renovation; we took a quick picture then headed into the post office. Normally this wouldn’t be anything to shout home about but it was built in French Colonial architecture and was rather beautiful; apparently, sending a postcard from here is the “done” thing....we did it, let’s see if it beats us home! We then walked, rather sweatily, to see the Continental Hotel, Opera House and City Hall, all built by the French and all stunningly beautiful.
It was only 11.30am but we were hot and sweaty already and it was due to get hotter! Thankfully, we had the afternoon to ourself so after being dropped back at the hotel, we went up to the infinity pool and sky bar to relax. We only stayed for a short time as Iain wanted to visit the Heart of Darkness microbrewery and I wanted to look in the market and buy an áo dài, a traditional Vietnamese garment so I could wear it at new year (lunar new year!)!
We decided to walk up what is known as the “pedestrian street,” it is currently overflowing with flowers for new year. We wandered in a few shops and I tried on one of the dresses, but wasn’t convinced....you know what will happen, I’ll end up going back for it! We kept walking until we found the brewery which wasn’t too far at all. We sat inside as it was roasting and the music was good (back to my Cathouse days in Glasgow!); we both ordered a flight of 4 and got totally different beers so we both benefitted! It was lunchtime so we ordered a plate of nachos too......
After a slightly sozzled hour and a bit, we headed to the market. It was the usual; strange food in one section, jewellery in another, followed by cosmetics, clothes, fake bags etc! We didn’t buy anything but wandered around, trying to stay away from the Durian fruit as much as possible. If you don’t know what it is, google it!
We decided to walk back to the hotel to cool off and maybe make happy hour at the sky bar. The pedestrian street was now shut off as it was the official opening today, there was lots of music and a speaker (no idea who!) so we were diverted along another street. We wandered back towards the shop that I tried the traditional Vietnamese outfit; yup, you guessed it, I bought it this time! It cost £60 but it is beautiful and hand embroidered (picture to follow at new year - 4th February!)
We got back to the hotel and headed straight to the sky bar; cocktail happy hour is from 6pm-8pm which means two for the price of one, happy days! A live band plays every Saturday night, its like the Vietnamese version of the voice (so I’m told!); some of the singers are good and others bad so you can just ignore the bad ones! We are still debating if we are hungry enough for dinner; beer, cocktails, nachos....oh and the tiramisu cake from last night, maybe not!
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