Sunday, February 1, 2009

Taking in Ho Chi Minh (Jan. 29/09 - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

The Lunar New Year once again threw a wrench into our plans today, as we wanted to leave the city for the seaside town of Nha Trang on a night train tonight. We soon found out that every train, bus, and plane there was booked solid all day. So we opted to take the bus tomorrow morning, which will get us there tomorrow evening sometime. We had all day to explore the city, so we wandered along the wide streets first to the Ben Thanh Market. This massive indoor market was jammed with a huge array of stuff for sale, ranging from cheap t-shirts to dried squid and silk pillowcases to fish sauce and fresh flowers. We made our way up to the War Remnants Museum, which displays images, weapons, and stories from the Vietnam War. Some of the photos were so heart wrenching and disturbing that you almost had to turn away. Once again, we left speechless and a bit nauseous. One saving grace was the large display of artwork on the way out that depicted scenes of peace on earth as drawn by Vietnamese school children.


We made a loop past the Notre Dame Cathedral, the opera house, the Saigon riverfront, and back to the market. The streets were surprisingly quiet since most shops were still closed for the holidays. We took in a sidewalk display of some amazing photographs of various scenes around Vietnam, and we also took in some fantastic cinnamon ice cream! By the end of the day, we felt like we had a feel for the city and a few more miles on our flip flops. We also confirmed an earlier observation that the vast majority of older caucasian men walking around seem to be "with" a younger Vietnamese woman. One guy was actually checking into our hotel with one while we were checking out, and we heard him ask her to come up to his room so she could "answer some questions" he had. Ewwww! We found a great little place serving pho (rice noodle soup) and fresh fruit juice for dinner, then we called it a night and packed up to hit the road again in the morning.

2 comments:

  1. ah yes, the "Alive and then Dead Market". That is what we called the Ben Thanh market - did you go down the one aisle with bunnies, frogs, fish, dogs, etc? Not exactly a pet store, but talk about the freshest meat ever. Blech. That market was a good time, when you get somewhat interested in wanting to buy something, they pull out a teeny tiny stool and make you sit for the haggling process. Kind of hilarious. I had to sit on that kiddie stool for awhile, but did make it out with that lovely set of dishes that I have now. Glad you got to spend a day in HCMC, it was a really nice town!

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  2. oh my god, that was there?!?! How funny. We saw (smelled!) the meat aisle and kept on going - didn't see any live animals, but it was the end of the day so maybe they were all... um, gone. That's awful! one guy did try to sell us a live snake at lunch the other day though. Good times!

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