We're back from our week long October adventure in Vietnam with lots of stories to tell and pictures to share. The direct flight from Shanghai Pudong airport on Vietnam Airlines was just under four hours, so it worked out well with the kids. Elijah slept most of the way. We arrived Sunday evening shortly after 6:00pm to a very humid Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. Once off the airplane, my thick, curly hair immediately started to frizz and turn itself into a nice puffy ball, and my clothes stuck lovingly to my skin.
It took awhile to get our visas after we got off the plane, even though we had applied ahead of time on-line through myvietnamvisa.com. I stood in a long line with a bunch of other foreigners waiting for them to process our paperwork and hand over our passports before we could clear immigration. Shay chased the kids around the airport for about 1 hour until we finally had the new visas in hand. First hurdle succeeded, then on to customs, securing currency, finding a taxi and getting to our hotel. Vietnamese currency is in Dong, and 20,880 Dong equal 1 US dollar. This took some getting used to, as a 100,000 bill would only be about $5.00. So even though it seemed like you were spending a lot of cash by forking over handfuls of bills, you weren't really setting yourself back much.
First impressions of Ho Chi Minh on the taxi drive from the airport to our hotel--throngs of motor bikes like you've never seen before! Like moto armies. Not much English spoken, so it was hard to communicate with our driver. We arrived at our hotel in the late evening and ordered in Pho Ga (chicken Pho soup) from the coffee shop/cafe located downstairs beside our hotel/serviced apartment Somerset Chancellor in District 1. We woke up to an overcast sky and then down pouring rain. . .the rain slowed a bit and with the help of the front desk we arranged for a driver to take us around for the day to several sights. We started out with the Reunification Palace, the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese army tank crashed through its gates.
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| Here is a photo I found from April 30, 1975 |
After visiting the Reunification Palace we went to
Ben Thanh market, a sprawling marketplace that's been around since 1914 in
the downtown area of Ho Chi Minh City. Shay bought some fresh mangosteen,
Addie picked out some cute Vietnamese style dresses and I found a lovely
bright colored patchwork fabric purse. It was hard to keep track of the
kids and shop here, as Addie and Elijah wanted to run around and explore and
touch everything. Lots of little stalls crammed together and connected
with little pathways. It was like a little market maze with new
discoveries around every turn. The market opens up near the fruit
section.
Our last activity and first real adventure for the day was our excursion to the Cu Chi Tunnels, about an hour and a half outside of Saigon. The way there was bumpy and our driver was going a bit too fast, honking his way around every bend and warning motos on the road that he was coming and they better move out of the way quickly. This was a really fascinating tour of the elaborate underground tunnel system built by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War to elude the American soldiers and to fight stealthily with quick escape routes underground where larger-framed American soldiers could not pursue them.
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| An original entrance to the tunnels |
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| Trying out the tiny VC tunnel entrance in the ground |
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| An American tank left from the war |
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| Crater left from an American B-52 Bomber |
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| Shay and Elijah navigating one section of the tunnels made larger for foreign tourists to fit through. Still very claustrophobic and tight, hot, and a bit creepy. |
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| Addie loved exploring the tunnels and wanted to keepgoing with our guide, though the rest of us were ready to get out after a few minutes. |
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| Tight squeeze |
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| This was on old boobie trap with spikes --nasty and definitely creepy, considering it was built to kill American soldiers |
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| And just when we thought things couldn't get any more like Rambo First Blood, Part II, they asked us if we wanted to buy some ammo and shoot guns. |
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| Look at this crazy pile of shells |
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| Getting out some pent up aggression |
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| Washing up at the "Bamboo Sink" |
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| After all of this, to end our tour, we were taken to picnic tables and served tea and tapioca root dipped in sugar. This was our friendly guide, son of Viet Cong who fought in the "American War" as they call it. |
Stay tuned for the next installment with pictures of our trip to the southern coast beaches of Ke Ga Bay and Mui Ne area.
