Warning: This is a very long post so get comfortable!
On Tuesday morning we woke up ready to explore the massive expanse which we find ourselves in, that way we can start familiarising ourselves with the city and see some of the culture of Vietnam. We packed a bag and started off down the alley on our first, epic expedition into Ho Chi Minh City. We made it all of 30 meters when we saw a sign advertising guided tours around the city - a fantastic option for two wide-eyed, bushy-tailed and overwhelmed village folk from Howick. We met our tour guide, Quan, who preferred to be called Jacky (pronounced Jack-ay) after his idol, Jacky Chan. We were a group of 5 on the tour, and our first stop was The War Remnants Museum.
Along the way, in the mini van, Jacky tried to distract us with his likeable charm, as his colleague navigated the chaotic frenzy of scooters and taxis surging along the road. He told us interesting facts about his beloved city, like the fact that there are roughly 10 million people living in Ho Chi Minh and about 6 million scooters on its roads - that explains some things. We made it to the museum reasonably quickly, payed our entrance fee (not included in the cost of the tour) and began exploring the museum. It is a very graphic and emotional experience which really highlights the evils which America was guilty of committing in this country. Sadly, no real explanation is given as to why the war happened in the first place, and there is no real record of what the Vietnamese did to the Americans.
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| The view from our balcony |
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| The power lines are insane! Live wire everywhere |
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| Yes, people do really wear these hats |
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| War Remnants Museum |
The people of Vietnam love their coffee, and our tour included a visit to a little coffee shop for a tasting of their pride and joy - Weasel Coffee. This is super expensive coffee, and apparently we are very fortunate to be tasting it for free. On the way, Jacky explained why Weasel Coffee is so expensive. You see, the weasels (well, civets really) eat the fruit off of the coffee bush, digest it and yup... poo out the coffee beans - delightful! Jacky assured us that the beans are scrubbed thoroughly once they are sifted out of the poo, and before they are ground up for our enjoyment. We arrived at the little coffee shop and were each given exactly half a sip of this Weasel Coffee to taste with condensed milk. It was very nice, but it also wasn't worth the $8 for 100g that the shop was selling it for. Terbodore would definitely take our vote over Weasel Coffee any day!
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| Weasel coffee poster |
Our next stop was The Chinese Temple. The Chinese have been in Vietnam for thousands of years, and have kitted themselves out quite nicely. The temple is a work of art, and the detail is unbelievably intricate.
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| Thien Hau Temple |
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| Thien Hau Temple |
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| Thien Hau Temple |
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| The Chinese Market |
We then ventured over to the next Chinese strong hold - China Town. Like most big cities in the world, HCMC has a pretty large, pretty overpopulated free-for-all that is their China Town. We were given 40 minutes to wonder around this maize - 40 minutes too long, really. Nothing sparked our interest, and we felt rather claustrophobic.
Jacky and his side kick then dropped us back at their office and we had 1 hour to have lunch. We went back to our hotel and had Chicken Pho (a broth with chicken pieces, sprouts, herbs and noodles). It was very tasty, and may just be our 'go to' meal in times of uncertainty here in Vietnam.
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Chicken Pho - You get the base (stock, chicken, noodle) and add extra flavour
to your liking (sprouts, chilli, basil and lime) |
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| Lunch on our balcony |
After lunch we piled back into the mini bus (now a group of 9) and headed over to The Independence Palace, or Reunification Hall. Entry fees were paid (again not included in Jacky's rates) and we entered the massive grounds and headed towards the palace in the middle of this enormous city. Jacky then gave us a very interesting history lesson, explaining the whole lead-up to the war with the Americans, the rise of The Republic of South Vietnam and ultimately the fall of the South and the restoration of Vietnam as one, united country. We explored the 4 levels of the palace, and then headed into the underground bunker - a bleak and eerie place.
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| Reunification Hall |
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| An indoor garden in the centre of the apartments |
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| Some light reading in the library |
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| The getaway chopper |
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| Tanks breaking down the gates to end the Vietnam War |
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| Target Practice |
The Vietnamese government set up a company which benefits the handicapped people in the country, and they produce excellent, artistic pieces using lacquer and shells. We visited one of their factories and were impressed by how talented these craftsmen and women are.
When the French were in Vietnam, they built The Notre Dame Cathedral and The Post Office. Two very impressive and beautiful buildings. Interestingly, the French imported all of the materials needed to build the cathedral and did not use any from Vietnam. In the post office, there were old phone-booths with various city names on them and the local time for that particular city. Pretoria was one of them, but the clock had stopped working.
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| Notre Dame |
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| The Post Office |
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| Post office interior - (Former) President Ho Chi Minh |
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| A little piece of home |
Our tour was over and we were exhausted. On the way back to the tour office, Jacky offered to drop any of us who would be interested off at a large tourist market not far from the office. We thought that it might be fun, so jumped out at the market stop. We walked in, adamant not to be ripped off again. This market was far more appealing than the China Town one, and we walked through, interested to see what we might discover. We got to the food section and thought that we would have a fresh fruit smoothie. Mel quickly became the victim of a tug-of-war match between two competing stall owners, as a little man pulled her one way, a not-so-little woman pulled her the other way. The lady won, sitting Mel roughly down on a small, plastic chair just outside her stall. We ordered two pineapple smoothies and weren't disappointed. They were AMAZING!
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| Our restaurant |
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| Deeeelish! |
We then thought that we would get some fruit for breakfast. We cautiously approached a stall and asked how much for a banana. "25, 000," replied the lady. "Each??" we enquired in unison. "No, for whole bunch," replied the lady. Ross thought that was a pretty good price, but Mel (remembering how we were ripped off the night before), suggested that we find another stall with bananas and compare prices. That we did, only to be told the exact same thing. Ross spotted some peeled and sliced mango and asked how much that was. It was 30, 000. We remembered that negotiating is a way of life here in Vietnam, so suggested that 20, 000 was a better price. The lady immediately came down to 25, 000 - a bargain!
It was beginning to get a little late, so we decided to go back to the hotel. We walked out and looked at the surroundings, trying to figure out where we needed to go. We were swamped by taxi drivers and guys who offer lifts on their bicycles. We politely declined, figuring that the only way to learn the city is to walk and find our own way around. Our hotel was only a 15 minute walk away in any case. So off we went, recognising various landmarks from our tour earlier in the day. We were definitely on the right track! So, with confidence, we walked up this road and down that one. Our road-crossing skills went from novice to expert very quickly, and we were making excellent headway through the bustling Ho Chi Minh City and towards our hotel. That was until we recognised the building in front of us... It was the market, and we had just done a (very big) loop!
Our pride was a little bruised, but Ross insisted that, "Getting lost will help us to learn the city." So off we set - in a different direction this time. Time was no longer on our side, and as the light began to fade, the traffic began to swell. The buildings began to light up with flashing lights, and suddenly every street corner began to look the same! We kept calm, pulled out the cell phone and asked good old Google where we needed to go. Piece of cake! We were only a few blocks away, so the cell phone went back into the pocket and off we went. And we walked... and walked... and weaved through millions of scooters... and walked some more. We thought that we should have been at the hotel by now, so we took out the cell phone again, and asked Google again where we should go.
Somehow, we had managed to bypass the street which our hotel is in and carry on going for a number of blocks. The funny thing is, we were certain that we were recognising shops and buildings all the way along. Google pointed us in the right direction again, but we somehow got dazed and confused by the bright, flashing lights and streams of traffic. We were lost - again! So there we stood, on the corner of one of the busiest intersections that these two small town, flustered birdies had ever seen. We spent a few minutes trying to Google shops around us to get a route to the hotel, but to no avail.
A very friendly man saw our distress and asked us where we were trying to go. We told him and he said that we were only two blocks away. We thanked him sincerely and headed back to our hotel - and some sanity. We had managed to turn a 15 minute walk into a 2 hour expedition through the maize of Ho Chi Minh. We ordered dinner (Mel had a chicken salad and Ross had fried rice with chicken and pineapple - served in a pineapple too!!), ate and then went up to our room. Phew, what a day!
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| An anti-poaching poster (we think!) |
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| Pineapple and chicken fried rice |
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| The little restaurant at the bottom of our hotel |
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