Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
8th December 2010
Zoom! Another flurry of motorbikes whizzed past Aaron and I. Buzzing down the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City (Siagon), Vietnam. Yesterday we got a bus here from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Thankfully on this border crossing we didn't have any problems with mysterious fees. On our bus there was only one other person not from south-east Asia, so the crossing was a lot faster than our last experience. Aaron and I only have four weeks in Vietnam and we want to spend two weeks volunteering at a Friendship Village near Hanoi. This means we only have a couple of days in here before we head North.
Ho Chi Minh City has a population of about 5.38 million people and 4 million motorbikes! The traffic is insane! Waiting at crossroads with lights we saw people weaving in and out, darting through narrow gaps and going the wrong way down roads. At crossroads which didn't have lights people charged across in a crazy, ruthless, criss-cross. There's no way I'm renting a bike here! Even crossing the road on foot is terrifying! The trick is to walk across slowly. The drivers won't stop, but they will pass around you. Just don't make any sudden moves!
Our first tourist stop was at the reunification palace. Originally it was South Vietnam's Presidential Palace, built in 1966. The first communist tanks crashed through the gates on 30-Apr-1975, when Saigon surrendered to the North. Unfortunately I can't tell you much more than that since our guide-book was not very helpful! When Aaron saw Vietnamese tourists displaying the “V” sign in photos he decided we should do it too. I thought it was V for victory, but Aaron convinced me it's just a gimmick. It was interesting to see the tanks still displayed in the grounds of the building.
After lunch we made our second trip to the post office. First thing in the morning we had headed to the post office only to discover we are able to mail to the US, but we needed to bring one of our passports. This time we arrived fully equipped and proceeded to fill out three different forms per parcel. After we finished the stack of paperwork the man at the counter boxed our goods of all shapes and sizes masterfully. It was like watching an artist! Eventually they were sent off on their round the world trip and we headed onto our next tourist site.
The “War Remnants Museum”, previously known as the “Museum of American War Crimes” was very intense, disturbing and fascinating. Photographs displayed victims of war, both those who suffered during the war and those born with birth defects due to the use of defoliants. There was a display of newspaper articles about worldwide protests against the war, including those protesting in the US. The museum was obviously very biased, but the atrocities were undeniable. I couldn't understand how a government of a supposedly “civilised” country could be involved in this. I've never had much interest in politics before. I thought that those with access to far more information than me would be in a better position to judge, but I haven't yet seen the justification here. It also seems that the US government has done little to assist post-war. I wondered how the locals would react to American tourists, but we didn't have any problems. We discovered they certainly didn't have any qualms about accepting US dollars!
After dinner we went to a water puppet show. We didn't get off to a great start when we were given seats at the back of the empty theatre, but we soon discovered the other seats were booked in advance by tour groups who arrived at the last minute. The show was comprised of lots of little entertaining stories, the one set in a rainy storm was one of my favourites. Down the sides of the pool sat musicians and singers. At the end of the show the puppeteers came out from behind the screen at the back, dressed in their waterproof cloths!
Zoom! Another flurry of motorbikes whizzed past Aaron and I. Buzzing down the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh City (Siagon), Vietnam. Yesterday we got a bus here from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Thankfully on this border crossing we didn't have any problems with mysterious fees. On our bus there was only one other person not from south-east Asia, so the crossing was a lot faster than our last experience. Aaron and I only have four weeks in Vietnam and we want to spend two weeks volunteering at a Friendship Village near Hanoi. This means we only have a couple of days in here before we head North.
Ho Chi Minh City has a population of about 5.38 million people and 4 million motorbikes! The traffic is insane! Waiting at crossroads with lights we saw people weaving in and out, darting through narrow gaps and going the wrong way down roads. At crossroads which didn't have lights people charged across in a crazy, ruthless, criss-cross. There's no way I'm renting a bike here! Even crossing the road on foot is terrifying! The trick is to walk across slowly. The drivers won't stop, but they will pass around you. Just don't make any sudden moves!
Our first tourist stop was at the reunification palace. Originally it was South Vietnam's Presidential Palace, built in 1966. The first communist tanks crashed through the gates on 30-Apr-1975, when Saigon surrendered to the North. Unfortunately I can't tell you much more than that since our guide-book was not very helpful! When Aaron saw Vietnamese tourists displaying the “V” sign in photos he decided we should do it too. I thought it was V for victory, but Aaron convinced me it's just a gimmick. It was interesting to see the tanks still displayed in the grounds of the building.
After lunch we made our second trip to the post office. First thing in the morning we had headed to the post office only to discover we are able to mail to the US, but we needed to bring one of our passports. This time we arrived fully equipped and proceeded to fill out three different forms per parcel. After we finished the stack of paperwork the man at the counter boxed our goods of all shapes and sizes masterfully. It was like watching an artist! Eventually they were sent off on their round the world trip and we headed onto our next tourist site.
The “War Remnants Museum”, previously known as the “Museum of American War Crimes” was very intense, disturbing and fascinating. Photographs displayed victims of war, both those who suffered during the war and those born with birth defects due to the use of defoliants. There was a display of newspaper articles about worldwide protests against the war, including those protesting in the US. The museum was obviously very biased, but the atrocities were undeniable. I couldn't understand how a government of a supposedly “civilised” country could be involved in this. I've never had much interest in politics before. I thought that those with access to far more information than me would be in a better position to judge, but I haven't yet seen the justification here. It also seems that the US government has done little to assist post-war. I wondered how the locals would react to American tourists, but we didn't have any problems. We discovered they certainly didn't have any qualms about accepting US dollars!
After dinner we went to a water puppet show. We didn't get off to a great start when we were given seats at the back of the empty theatre, but we soon discovered the other seats were booked in advance by tour groups who arrived at the last minute. The show was comprised of lots of little entertaining stories, the one set in a rainy storm was one of my favourites. Down the sides of the pool sat musicians and singers. At the end of the show the puppeteers came out from behind the screen at the back, dressed in their waterproof cloths!
Comments
I think they probably have a few accidents, but probably most of them minor as they are traveling slower and getting hit by a motorbike is not so bad as a car. We didn't see anything though.
Afraid I don't know what Frogger is!