Tour of Duty - The South

I have to admit even I was a little sleazed out when the taxi pulled up outside the alley leading to our hotel. It was dark, seedy and lookin a little dangerous. I don’t mind staying at a dive but I had deliberately booked nice place for mum and dad. We checked straight in and went to bed as it was past midnight. I don’t think Mum slept all night, she seemed in shell shock!

And what a difference a day makes! We went down for brekkie about to suggest we change places when the girl at breakfast was so friendly, the girl at reception was gave us little maps and called cabs for us, and the alley turned out to be a bustling strip of mini hotels. I think in the end Mum and Dad loved the personal nature of the place and rated it more than the boutique hotels we stayed at!

Of course Ho Chi Minh City lies on the same latitude almost as Phnom Penh (and Kampong Speu) so suffice to say it was bloody hot. Bloody hot and bloody busy. Still, being the masochists we are we were determined to explore this city.

The sights were nice, such as Jade Emperor Pagoda (which is a functioning temple that was teeming with people. It was fascinating to see people do their religious ceremonies but we kept out of the way out of respect).


While waiting for the national museum to open, we wandered around the zoo. The conditions were pretty appalling for the animals but there were lots of bizarre concerts, like a guy balancing giant vases on his head, a guy playing two flutes with his nose and a slapstick chef. The bonsai gardens were nice at least.

The national museum was really great and even had a mummy and not the yummy kind!

Inside was a small water puppet theatre so we were able to catch the show as we had missed in Hanoi.

At the museum chronicling the liberation of Saigon there was some great photos including this one entitled “Generals and Senior Staff of the USA and the Puppet Government outdo each other in fleeing.This one is a photo of the tank that crashed through Independence Palace (Now Reunification Palace) and just outside was a member of that group of tanks that did. It also had all kinds of tanks, planes etc outside which there were tones of kids playing on which was a little unsettling. I am sure if I took a photo it would have ended up on a Radiohead album cover and no one wants them to do another album now do they?

The next day we headed out to view Diem’s (South Vietnamese Catholic Dictator that pretty much everyone in his own country tried to kill and eventually got him – This was rebuilt just before he was killed because his own airforce bombed it trying to kill him) Palace (read Reunification Palace). It was pretty modern which was surprising but altogether nothing too special. And of course the Museum of war crimes which is interesting but altogether too unpalatable to put photos up.

For our last night in HCM we went to an uber nice restaurant called Mandarin. We had a set like 10 course seafood meal for 50US which was divine. And even Condie had eaten there and after a few bubblies mum insisted on trying to have a photo taken of the photo so we could pretend we had been there at the time. Who knows maybe it worked?

Anyway we parted company the next day, quite a few kilos heavier, some tourist crap but probably most from the food. It was great to see the folks in the region and can’t wait to see them next. Vietnam is well worth visiting and I was relieved that they seem to have chilled out a bit but their manner is much more forthright and businesslike that the happy, laid back Khmer . I know where I am glad I am working :)

Ciao!