Highlights of Ho Chi Minh
War Remnants Museum. This was our first stop on our second day in
Ho Chi Minh.
There are way too many exhibits to see in one visit. Taking pictures isn’t allowed. The exhibits force you to see the war from the Vietnamese perspective, which is only fair, I think. The one I found most interesting and well done was about photographers who were killed during the war. The majority were Vietnamese, but there were also American, French, British, Australian, and Japanese photojournalists. For each individual, there was a brief bio and statement of how he or she died, and some of their most important photographs. When you see the whole roomful of people who died trying to document the events of the war, it is very moving and memorable. Another exhibit I spent time in was titled American Atrocities, self-explanatory.
Close Encounter with
Aggressive Vendor. The museum closed over the noon hour and everyone had to
leave. We were walking in the general direction of our next destination, the
Notre Dame Cathedral, when a man selling coconuts approached us and placed his carrying
pole on Angela’s shoulder, then Tricia’s.
At first, we were amused by the man's antics, but after passing
the pole from Tricia to Katherine, he abruptly started slicing the tops off
coconuts, thrusting them into our hands, trying to put the drinking straws into our
mouths, and demanding money. We told him we didn’t want coconut water, but he
persisted, quite rudely. Luckily, a uniformed officer showed up, at
which point the man left in a hurry, and we had a new story to tell.
Cathedral and Post
Office. The Notre Dame Cathedral was
unfortunately closed until mid-afternoon, so we just took pictures from
the outside.
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| Side view |
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| Detail view |
The post office, a historic building, is across the street from the cathedral. It's currently undergoing a face lift. It’s quite beautiful inside.
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| Saigon Post Office from the front |
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| Post office ceiling |
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| Arch above door, with map |
The building is not only a post office, but also has banking services, travel agents and two gift shops. We spent the rest of the afternoon at an indoor market with dozens of vendor booths crowded together, a huge selection of items, and high-energy vendors given to hyperbole: "Madame, you are killing me!" (Said to me by a woman whom I offered the same price for trinkets that had been asked in Cambodia -- and was too high there! I didn't buy them.)
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| Enter the indoor market here! |
A O Show at Saigon
Opera House. In the evening we went
to the Saigon Opera House to see the A O Show, a combination of acrobatics and dance
accompanied by traditional Vietnamese instruments. Picture-taking
during the show wasn't allowed, but here is a link to a trailer of the performance if you
are interested.
The performance was very enjoyable – the dancers are highly skilled, the stories the dances tell all seem to have happy endings, the music lets you know you are in an Asian country but is easy on the ears, and
the opera house is beautiful inside and out. Here is a partial view from the front.
Amd here are some views taken inside.
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| Dancers being photographed with tourists |
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| Stairway where the dancers were sitting |
We struck up a conversation about Peace Corps service with some Americans on a tour of Cambodia and Vietnam. The couple in the photo with us below are thinking of joining the Peace Corps to liven up their retirement years. We continued the conversation over drinks and a late supper.
Walking back to the hostel, we encountered sirens, smoke, and traffic that was even louder than usual – Vietnamese drivers seem to use the horn as
their primary tool of navigation in normal traffic and become more vehement during emergencies. Here
is a brief video to give you the idea.
We found out the next day that a fire had broken out on a
boat on the lake in the park across the street. Good thing we didn’t cross the
street to cut through the park! As far
as we know, no one was hurt in the fire.
We left Ho Chi Minh the next day.
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