Scenes from Saigon
No wonder it’s taken until now to sit at the keyboard.
Vietnam was, in a word, FABULOUS. I approached the holiday with a reasonable amount of trepidation. I was worried about getting sick, crossing roads, personal safety, dodgy toilets, dealing with children in a chaotic environment…
All my fears were unfounded though. It was one of the best holidays we’ve ever had…and if you get a chance to go there, I say “GO!” Sooner rather than later, as the place is marching on. Ho Chi Minh City is being built up with skyscrapers, there’s now cable TV with American sitcoms and dramas and it will only be a matter of time before some of the loveliness of the country as it is now starts to change.
Anyway. I’m not quite sure how to deal with blogging about our experiences, so I think I’ll just throw up a few pics at a time over the next week or so and ramble around those.
So…to start in Saigon. Or Ho Chi Minh City. It’s officially HCMC, but the centre of the city is still widely known by the inhabitants as Saigon.
Traffic was manic to say the least. Crossing the roads requires a combination of blind faith and extreme risk-taking. We soon learned to step out slowly but steadily and progress across, hesitating only for cars/taxis/trucks. Motorbikes would swerve around you (hence the need for steady progress as they anticipate your movements.)
We loved the markets! The Ben Thanh Market was across the road from our hotel. Packed to the rafters with everything imaginable. Queenie tried to learn the art of haggling, but boy, those stallholders are good actors (mostly girls in their 20s). We soon discovered that every time we bought something we’d see it five minutes later for much less than we paid. Not that we cared. It was fun.
The Reunification Palace was an unexpected delight. It was designed by architect Ngo Viet Thu and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War (or American War, as it is now known in Vietnam). On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese army tanks crashed through its gates which marked the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War.
It is now left pretty much as it was in the 1970s and is open to the public. It is the most wonderful example of modernist architecture and interiors, with concrete bunkers underneath for conducting the war business when under threat of bombing. In fact, two bombs were dropped onto the Palace in April 1975 causing damage which has since been repaired.
