We flew Jetstar Airways, a low cost carrier, to Ho Chi Minh City. The flight was short (about an hour and 20 minutes), which was good because the knee room was quite tight! At Ho Chi Minh City, we got a cab, and thankfully had directions written in Vietnamese to the hotel that we could hand the driver.
The Saigon Mini Hotel is pleasant. Small, but clean, and the staff is exceptionally friendly. It's certainly no-frills, but the price is right! The entrance is down an alley and hard to find, but staff is stationed on the curb of the main road to help and direct people with bags as they come out of taxis.
Saigon traffic is rather crazy. It's certainly not as bad as India, but it's a little wild. Motorbikes far exceed the number of cars on the road (cars are almost a rare sight!) Horns reign supreme, replacing turn signals and mirror-looking for lane change warnings. There are exactly zero stop signs, so smaller intersections are a zoo of motorbikes flowing past one another. (Even at large intersections, traffic lights are not always obeyed perfectly). All this makes crossing the street an extreme sport. We've found that just stepping into the road and moving steadily with purpose works best. The motorbikes just part around you. (Alternately, we follow locals and schoolchildren as they cross the street. They're fearless.)
We took a long walk from our hotel to the Reunification Palace where we stood outside the (famous) gates, but decided not to buy a ticket to enter.
Instead, we walked a few blocks west of there to the War Remnants Museum. In the front courtyard of the museum stand several tanks, planes, helicopters, and howitzers left behind by the Americans. There is also a replica of the Tiger Cages where the South Vietnamese kept political prisoners. Otherwise, the museum seems like an extensive photography exhibit. Plenty of captions beneath black-and-white images of the war and the Vietnamese countryside emphasize the Americans' cruelty. (Funny, no mention of the Hanoi Hilton. Hm.) A very large portion of the museum is dedicated to documenting the terrible effects of Agent Orange. Each section of the museum is bookended with quotations of American soldiers, politicians, or journalists speaking about the inappropriateness of the United States involvement in the war. While it was interesting to us to get a new perspective on the story of the war, it certainly is only ONE perspective displayed throughout the exhibits.
We walked on to the Dan Sinh Market, which sells primarily machinery parts, and military surplus goods (mostly reproduction, although, there were a very few historic items). Chris was on the hunt for an American lightweight rucksack with metal framing, but had no luck (but did find a French one). He ultimately bought an American nylon pack with no frame, but got a decent deal.
For dinner, we went to a chain restaurant, Phở 24. Chris was blown away by the delicious complexity of the phở broth, and ranks it at the top of his pho experiences. Lily, as always with phở, was non-plused. (Soup is not a meal. Soup is soup.) We went to a cafe in a backpacker-y area and had some wonderful Vietnamese coffee and fruit salad.
Back at the hotel we fell dead asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment