The next morning I packed my bags and headed to the airport and Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon), Vietnam. I used all my USAirway miles for a first class ticket on Lufthansa. Not nearly as good as Cathay, but way better then American Airlines.I found the most challenging part of Saigon was the traffic. I don't think there are any traffic rules, and if there are, no one bothers to obey them. The taxi from the airport to the hotel was a cheap $5.00. The Majestic Hotel, one of the old famous Saigon hotels, was right on the Saigon River.
Above is Hoat, my tour guide for the next two days, and yes, that was my transportation. There is a video clip of the ride at the bottom of this posting.
Motorbikes are the most popular means of transportation. The city has 9 million people and 5 million motorbikes.
Hoat met me in the lobby and before I knew it we were off on the motorbike - the only way to travel in Saigon. The motorbikes from China cost about $500 new.
At first I was really scared - swerving in and out of traffic, but later in the day I kind of got used to it. Our first stop was the Ben Thanh Market, where you could buy anything - prepared food, clothing, vegetables, meat (unrefrigerated, of course) and fresh flowers. I made my first purchase of the trip - five t-shirts. I'm sure I overpaid, even bargaining down to $4 each.
The fresh flowers were amazing - and millions of orchids.
I have no idea what this is, but it was colorful.Next we took a long ride to the much larger Binh Tay Market in Chinatown. I doubt there isn't anything you couldn't buy there. It just amazes me that there were 10-25 stalls selling identical merchandise. I made no purchases here, but took many photos.
Then we stopped at three Chinese temples. There are memorial plaques for people who recently died. You can see the dates on the bottom of the cloth.
Most people who enter light some incense - interesting smoke pattern above.
The War Remnants Museum was the most disturbing stop on the tour. I know it is one sided, but it graphically showed the US atrocities during the war. I'm still thankful for my high lottery number - 222 - in 1970.
This is the Reunification Palace. It was the former residence of the French governor general, later occupied by the president of South Vietnam. The president fled the palace from the rooftop helipad before the army from the north crashed through the gates on April 30, 1975.
Then we stopped at three Chinese temples. There are memorial plaques for people who recently died. You can see the dates on the bottom of the cloth.
Most people who enter light some incense - interesting smoke pattern above.
The War Remnants Museum was the most disturbing stop on the tour. I know it is one sided, but it graphically showed the US atrocities during the war. I'm still thankful for my high lottery number - 222 - in 1970.
This is the Reunification Palace. It was the former residence of the French governor general, later occupied by the president of South Vietnam. The president fled the palace from the rooftop helipad before the army from the north crashed through the gates on April 30, 1975.We motorbiked back to the hotel. I was so comfortable that I took the video footage, which you can see at the bottom of this post.
The next day Hoat and I headed to the Saigon River to find a small tour boat. But first we had to cross the main street of at least ten lanes, with no stop lights in sight. You just slowly cross as the motorbikes gently swerve around. Hopefully the buses, trucks and cars do the same.
We hired a small boat and headed down the river. This is the main port for the country - so there were many freight ships loading and unloading. Rice is the major export, as it was in Thailand.
The next day Hoat and I headed to the Saigon River to find a small tour boat. But first we had to cross the main street of at least ten lanes, with no stop lights in sight. You just slowly cross as the motorbikes gently swerve around. Hopefully the buses, trucks and cars do the same.
We hired a small boat and headed down the river. This is the main port for the country - so there were many freight ships loading and unloading. Rice is the major export, as it was in Thailand.We saw where the Viet Cong hid during the war. We then passed some half million dollar homes. After returning, we had an excellent Thai lunch.
We wandered the city in the afternoon. Above is the post office and below is the city hall. We also visited the opera house, Notre Dame and many old and famous hotels. I took a nap before another Vietnamese dinner.
Here's a vendor we bought coconuts from.
The next day I visited the Mekong Delta. The boats were probably pre-war and scary as hell. We road in large and small boats (four man paddled by oars). There were only eight of us on the tour and all had a good time. On the ride to and from the delta we saw many rice fields. Most had tombstones, since the farmers wanted to be buried with their family and crop.
Here are the small boats we rode in.
If you recall, when I was in Ushuaia I took two penguins with me to give to Eric and Rachel. Well they escaped from my room in Saigon and this is what happened to them. Oh well.
On my final day of this five week journey, I took a hydrofoil to the popular beach resort of Yung Tau - about an hour and a half away. When I got there I had my best meal in Vietnam - a spicy shrimp dish with vegetables - yum, yum. It was in an air conditioned restaurant, which means the windows are open and the fans are on.
It was then back to the hotel to pack for my flight home. It took 41 hours from when my first flight took off until I landed in Orlando. My luggage even made the three connections. I went from Saigon to Bangkok to Tokyo to Dallas and finally to Orlando. Home at last.
We wandered the city in the afternoon. Above is the post office and below is the city hall. We also visited the opera house, Notre Dame and many old and famous hotels. I took a nap before another Vietnamese dinner.
Here's a vendor we bought coconuts from.
The next day I visited the Mekong Delta. The boats were probably pre-war and scary as hell. We road in large and small boats (four man paddled by oars). There were only eight of us on the tour and all had a good time. On the ride to and from the delta we saw many rice fields. Most had tombstones, since the farmers wanted to be buried with their family and crop.
Here are the small boats we rode in.
If you recall, when I was in Ushuaia I took two penguins with me to give to Eric and Rachel. Well they escaped from my room in Saigon and this is what happened to them. Oh well.
On my final day of this five week journey, I took a hydrofoil to the popular beach resort of Yung Tau - about an hour and a half away. When I got there I had my best meal in Vietnam - a spicy shrimp dish with vegetables - yum, yum. It was in an air conditioned restaurant, which means the windows are open and the fans are on.It was then back to the hotel to pack for my flight home. It took 41 hours from when my first flight took off until I landed in Orlando. My luggage even made the three connections. I went from Saigon to Bangkok to Tokyo to Dallas and finally to Orlando. Home at last.
Here's a video clip of the boat ride in the Mekong Delta. My own African Queen video.
Here I am on Hoat's motorbike.
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