Ho Chi Minh City

We arrived early evening last night and were met at the airport by a tour driver.

First impressions of the city - hustle, bustle, people and traffic! Masses and masses of motor cycles and scooters going every, which way.  They seem to hunt in packs and at every junction/traffic lights there are twenty or thirty waiting to start off again.  It all seems to work, in that it almost seems choreographed at times.  On the other hand, we heard some stats today - four and a half million motor bikes in HCM City alone and many thousands killed every year.  

Our guide, Tam, tells us to get in a line beside him and move be ready to move exactly when he does.  It's quite scary! 

Itinerary for today (7th January)

- Notre Dame Cathedral

- Post Office

- Making rice paper

- Cu Chi Tunnels

- War Remnants Museum

Notre Dame was built when the French were the colonists here.  It's a beautiful cathedral and the French have left, not only a legacy of architecture, but of Catholics, our tour guide and his family included.  Open Catholicism was banned when the Communists first came to power but now it is tolerated. 

The Post Office was another building bequeathed by the French and was constructed in the style of a railway station.  Again, it's a handsome building and well worth a visit. 

The Cu Chi Tunnels were fascinating and were built painstakingly by the Viet Cong during the French, and later American, occupation.  They stretched over 155 miles and had various secret exits, one coming up very close to the American base outside Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). The local forces fighting against the Americans were very resourceful and had many hazards organised for the unwary! 

It was all in reaIly interesting as, of course, the majority of what we had heard in the past was from the American standpoint.  This was totally from the Vietnamese (now Communist) point of view.

Lunch was  at a "local" restaurant, recommended by our guide, where we had chicken soup with all the trimmings - including loads of greens (whole stems of basil and mint), spring onions, bean shoots, peppers, limes, soy sauce and chilli sauce.  Very good - and I had some local Saigon '333' beer as an accompaniment.  

Next stop was a lacquerware workshop, which was very interesting, but no good from the sales point of view as our luggage weight is right up to the limit (10 kilos less for Vietnamese Airlines than for Emirates). 

The last stop in an incredibly busy day was at the War Remnants Museum.  Understandably, it was very much from a Communist Vietnamese viewpoint and I found the first section we visited so emotionally difficult that I couldn't bring myself to see any more and had to wait for the Dave, Sandra & Brian.  We form a small group, which is great as we have a lot of individual attention.

I had hoped to include more photos but have had a few issues accessing them.  That seems to be sorted, but I have a feeling they might be so large that two per posting might be more than enough for readers at home.  If anyone has any info on this, please leave a comment or email me so I know for future postings.