Reunification Palace

Today we are on a private tour of a bunch of landmarks and places in HCM City. We have a lovely air-conditioned bus to take us around (it's 37 degrees here today) and our first stop was Reunification Palace (aka the President's House).

We went through a bunch of rooms and our guide explained all the design choices and symbolism and history of each room. We learnt some very interesting things about Vietnam's history and the various wars. My favourite room was the Ambassador's room, which was a beautiful combination of wood and gold design. It was amazing to see how every room had different context and colour, but still aesthetically fit within the context of a presidential palace.

Also, apparently Vietnamese thought that Australian soldiers were the best of anywhere in the world because they shoot the best. Oh, and the reason for the random animal tusks and tails is that they are all gifts from other countries to represent a famous Vietnamese saying that essentially means (we hope from top to tail that everything sails smoothly).Read more