Arriving in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)

We were up bright and early this morning so that we could leave for Da Nang, which is where the airport is located, by 7:40.

We got checked in and then had to wait about an hour before boarding our flight to Ho Chi Minh (HCM). Brad and I lucked out and were seated in the exit row, so we had a lot of room to stretch out and enjoy our 90 minute flight. After all our very long flights, this one seemed like nothing!

We arrived in HCM at 11:15, but had to take a bus from the tarmac to the terminal, which took about 20 minutes. We could already feel the hustle and bustle of being in a city of 10 million people! After getting our bags, we walked quite a ways to get to our bus. The ride to our hotel took about half an hour through the lunch rush hour traffic. There are far more people driving cars here than anywhere we’ve been, which may speak to the wealth here as Vietnamese pay 100% (or more) import tax on vehicles.

I will also be curious to see the fashion here as matching outfits for couples, parents and children, and siblings has been quite popular elsewhere (especially in Hoi An). I’m still trying to convince Brad to jump on this trend with me, but no luck so far!

After a quick refresh, we went for lunch at Pho 2000 where Bill Clinton ate when he was president. We all had variations of pho, which was very good! We then went on a small walking tour with Tong before he dropped us all off at the War Remnants Museum. I was looking forward to seeing this museum and learning more about the Vietnam War, but I was not prepared for what was to come. In North America, I feel that history museums present a sanitized version of events. Here, the history of the war was told through personal narratives, shocking and disturbing photos, and a message of “Americans committed war crimes and genocide.” In many ways, the information about mass slaughter and unending bombings was hard to read, but also incredibly important to understand the impact. There was one room that contained dozens of photos of those impacted and disfigured by Agent Orange and it was so completely upsetting that I suggested that Brad not view it. I think many of the images will stay with me for a lifetime.

The museum was a heavy visit, but we were so glad to have gone to it.

After a few deep breaths, we decided to walk over to the Reunification Palace, the church fashioned after Notre Dame (which is under construction), and the post office, which is a relic from colonial times although still fully operational! We were pretty hot after all the walking, so we went over to the Heart of Darkness brewery and had a few beers and great literary references! If you’ve seen Apocalypse Now (set in Vietnam!), it is based on Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness.

By about 6pm, it has begun to rain, although the rain was light and warm. As a note about temperature, Tong said it was much hotter two months ago and that today was considered a “cold” day in HCM. It was 35c.

Anyway, we walked back to our hotel and got ready to go for dinner with Tong and about half our group. Some of our group members have not been feeling well, so they did not join us.

Tong took us to a great little Vietnamese place where I had soft shell crab with tamarind sauce and a “pumpkin” flower salad (it had tiny zucchini’s and zucchini blossoms as a salad - SO good!) and Brad had catfish in a spicy sauce, which was also excellent!

We stopped at East West Brewing for a night cap and then it was off to bed as we are off to the Cu Chi tunnels tomorrow morning!Read more