Tag Archives: Ho Chi Minh City

Asia, Vietnam

Mekong River Trip

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Mekong River
Mekong River
We decided to do the first trip on the Mekong to get away from the hustle of the Ho Chi Minh City for the day.  We booked a tour to take us to one of the floating markets.  Now, when I say floating market, I picture ladies with conical hats in boats selling flowers and pineapples etc…NOPE!  This was a HUGE out on the open water, with large boats, floating market.  It was like wholesale for the tiny markets–basically the Costco of the floating markets, and definitely not as visually appealing, but still cool to see.  Because there are so many boats, merchants display whatever they’re selling at the top of poles.  You see the veggie you like dangling way up in the air, and you know that’s the boat you want to see.  FYI: Buyers had to make some serious purchases of serious quantity.
Mekong River Boats

The tour also took us through the process of making puffed rice, rice paper/wraps, coconut candy, and fed us a bizarro lunch, complete with live traditional Vietnamese singing.   The fish looks kind of disturbing in the picture, but it was “crusted” with puffed rice, and was actually tasty.  The fresh Vietnamese spring rolls were not my favourite, but Jon ate them–cucumber, pineapple, fish and all!

Fish with popped rice “crust”
Making rice paper

Our Boat for the dayFor me, the most interesting part of the day were the stilt houses on the delta, and the different styles of housing, methods of fishing, and strategies for gardening we saw.

Seeing a different lifestyle, and how it all just falls together made the day trip worth doing, even if being on a tour was slightly cheesy.

 

Happy Travels,
~j

Asia, Vietnam

Saigon

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For our sixth day in Vietnam we found ourselves in the bustling Ho Chi Minh City. It was a super hot, very humid day for wandering around. The buzz of scooter traffic and constant honking of horns does. not. stop.

Luckily, walking around to see the sites in Ho Chi Minh City is easily done (if you’re able to get over the fear of crossing the busy streets!). There are several historic buildings close proximity of each other. I wasn’t able to find our tourist map, but this one will do nicely for you. I’m sure the hotel that provided it on the internets is lovely.
Ho Chi MInh City Map

We visited the Reunification Palace to try to escape the heat for a bit, but that plan didn’t work. FYI: None of the buildings had air conditioning, so it was just as hot inside as out! Reunification Palace, though not as cooling as we’d hoped, was worth the visit.

As headquarters for the South Vietnamese during the war, there were a lot of maps, and historical memorabilia on display. *(The elephant leg trash cans were uber-creepy!)  April 1975, the civilians and employees at the building were part of Operation Frequent Wind, with an escape taking place minutes before the building was overrun. On April 30th, 1975, a tank from the North Vietnamese army rammed through the front gate, and ended the Vietnam War, and reunified Vietnam into a communist state.

Reunification Palace, HCMC
Reunification Palace, HCMC
A few of the other sites we managed to see were the Saigon Notre Dame or Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the Rex Hotel and the Saigon Post Office. The basilica is beautiful inside, but I may be biased–if you know me, you know I LOVE visiting churches…yes, still after seeing hundreds!

The Rex Hotel was nothing to marvel at, but was significant to the Vietnam War.  The first guests of the hotel, before it was even opened in 1961, were 400 soldiers from the US. During the war, the roof top bar was the place to be for correspondents and military alike.  And, the Saigon Post Office, with its impressive arched ceiling, was where you might have received some of your post cards from if you were lucky enough to receive one.
Asia, Vietnam

Goodbye Vietnam!

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Today is our last day in HCMC. It feels like we have been in Vietnam for longer than a week. Everything is tiring-just going out here brings an onslaught of touts. People try to sell the most random stuff. Everyone in the non-food markets is pushy and grabby and really aggressive while operating under the name of good customer service. Even away from the uber-touristed streets this happens.

The food markets, while interesting, smell like Durian fruit or dried fish. Alternating between the two is enough to make even the most iron-stomached person feel sick in a short period of time.

Tonight we fly to Siem Reap. Let’s hope Siem Reap smells better than Saigon.

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Update

UNESCO Update and Next Destination…

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So, the UNESCO World Heritage Site tally is up to 16. If everything hadn’t gone wrong with air fare to Chan Chan in Peru, we’d have seen that too. Yellowstone National Park was the last UNESCO site visited. If all goes according to plan we’ll add at least 5 more on our next trip.

Next intended destination–Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Fingers crossed for affordable air fare. Hopefully we’ll be able to visit three sites in Vietnam–Complex of Hue, Ha Long Bay and Hoi An Ancient Town , one site in Cambodia–Angkor Archaeological Park and one site in Thailand–Historic City of Ayutthaya.

I’m uber excited for Vietnam, mostly for the over night stay in Ha Long Bay, and for the trip through the floating markets on the Mekong River. Ooo, and the architecture and history in Ho Chi Minh City. And for all the photo potential! Gotta love being a nerdy traveler.