Ho Chi Minh City - the locals call it Saigon

Dec 24

We took a flight from Danang about 40 minutes from Hoi An to Saigon now called Ho Chi Minh City or HCMC for short. We like our hotel which is conveniently located to the sights we want to see. We walked to a nearby Indian restaurant for lunch and had a dosa masala, a crispy veggie pancake filled with potatoes, onions and chillies. We both now have colds so we napped after lunch. We walked to dinner and oh my goodness. What an experience. This town is about 13.7  million people and I think they were all out for Christmas eve. As I have mentioned crossing a street in Vietnam is an art form. You carefully leave the curb and watch the motorcycles carefully. You should not run or stop as they anticipate your moves and go around you. Same with cars. If you run you break the  r hymn. But holy crap Batman there were hundred of them at the big intersections. One particularly difficult intersection had uniformed men helping folks like us. They came up to us and said 'follow me' and we did very closely. The trick is to hold up your arm so the drivers can better see you. Still it is a true challenge and experience like none other I have had. Our dinner was in a beautiful old villa with a spiritual décor and quite lovely. The meal was great; five spice pork, barbecued eggplant with purple rice and four kinds of rolls (salad and spring) and I think our most expensive meal in the 12 days we have been here, about $34.

Dec 25

We received a Christmas card from the hotel with a hand written message. Very sweet. After breakfast we headed to Starbucks for our morning fix. We started on a three hour walking tour suggested in our tour book. Our first stop was the famous Ben Thanh Market. Famous is right. The aisles are extremely narrow with shops on each side. See photo. The shops are so close together it is not possible to determine where one ends and the next starts. Each shop has at least one person standing in the aisle yelling at you as you pass by. The say 'what are you looking for? I have cheap'. They literally thrust merchandise in your face. A shirt, a blouse, whatever.  It was chaotic. After after two minutes we stopped staying 'we aren't looking for anything. We just want to see the market'. We made no eye contact and looked for the nearest exit. Pure Asia again. Confined space, too many people too close, and lots of racket. Oy!

After 2.5 hours we were bushed as we are still dealing with colds. We came back to the hotel and went next door for a simple lunch. A little later we headed to the spa for foot massages. I fell asleep in the waiting area and snored lightly according to my husband who said he wasn't embarrassed. What a guy! Back at the hotel I napped some more. For dinner we stayed in the hood again. While eating someone brought a motorcycle into the restaurant and later someone left on a motorcycle that was parked in the restaurant. Turns out they rent them and keep them inside. Whatever...while on that subject of motorcycles they are in great abundance here and are parked on the wide sidewalks which also means when someone is parking or leaving a parking spot they ride on the pavement which means you had best watch out because they rule and pedestrians have NO priority here. They are quick to beep their horns at you. When they are coming from behind you have no way of knowing which way to move, left or right.

Fine Art Museum

 New Skyscraper that is supposed to look like a lotus blossom.  ????

Interior of famous Majestic Hotel

 Mekong River and sky line

Opera House

Display of baskets on a bicycle

 Dec 26

Interior of PO

Central Post Office being painted

Today we finished the walking tour after getting tickets for a cultural show for tomorrow. It has received rave reviews and one of the guests at our hotel had recommended it. We went into the central post office that had been designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1886. It was beautiful with a barrel roof. There were an amazing number of small souvenir shops set up inside this still functioning post office. The building is currently being stored to its original colors. 

Vendor selling baked goods

After the walking tour we decided to walk to a famous Jade Emperor pagoda built in 1909 which turned out to be quiet a hike in the heat. It was filled with 'phantasmal divinities and grotesque heroes'. Joss sticks filled the place with smoke and incense. We took a cab to the restaurant where we wanted to have lunch. This was a fascinating place. Along the perimeter of the very large spaces were a series of 'stations'. Each was a place that prepared a certain dish. The menu was all Vietnamese food and extensive. We had grilled chicken thigh and spring rolls. The grilled meats here are fabulously delicious. We were not disappointed. We walked some more looking for a bookstore I had seen from the cab. We need a 2015 calendar but so far everything we have found isn't big enough to write appointments or events on the actual date. We had no luck at this bookstore though they did have calendars. Because we had walked for hours we took a cab back to the hotel and showered and rested. It is in the high 80's-low 90's here and humid.

We had read about a Singaporean restaurant that served black pepper crab and decided to go there. We had eaten this dish in Singapore and loved it. The restaurant was quite expensive but we decided to splurge. It was less expensive than going to Singapore. So we had our crab and curry and enjoyed the meal but it didn't measure up to our memories. Our bill was $80 and that was drinking bottled water folks, no wine!

Dec 27

Today we are meeting a friend's son who lives here. Bi  is Vietnamese and was adopted by Nancy and her husband when he was about six or eight I think. He was raised in Portland OR and went to China for his college education. Ultimately he decided to settle in Vietnam. He now works for school as an interpretor for engineers students who are doing internships. He said it doesn't pay well but he does get to travel which he loves. As we all know salary isn't what makes you happy in work.

Bi took us to another fabulous Vietnamese restaurant. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and hearing about his life here. At one point he raised hogs, 200 of them and had a fish farm. He said he had never worked so hard in all his life. 

That night we attended a dance performance at the Opera House that was based on traditional Vietnamese life but presented in a sort of Cirque du Soleil fashion.  It was wonderful and amazing.  The nights in Saigon are dramatically lit.

 

The lovely town of Hoi An

Dec 22 Winter Solstice

We took a bus from our hotel to Hoi An, an ancient city a few hours away to the south. This bus was quite unusual. The seats were  double decker, three rows down the length of the bus and were fully reclined. There were about 40 seats in all. As a 69 year old I found it awkward at best getting down near the floor to then slide into the seat. Fortunately the back could be raised partially but the rest of the seat remained reclined.. As you entered the bus we were required to remove our shoes and put them in a plastic bag and carry them to our assigned seat. Ron and I 'sat' across an aisle from each other as there are only single seats, unlike trains, buses and planes where usually there is a row with two-five seats across. It rained the entire trip and the windows fogged up so I slept much of the way. We had a rest stop and I found it a test of flexibility to get out of a reclined seat that was about four inches from the floor. Part of the trip we were right on the coast or in the mountains but visibility was poor most of the time. The bus was unheated like much of Vietnam, we have experienced. Everywhere we have been, we find most locals are wearing flip flops and no socks. Occasionally I see socks  or shoes instead of sandals. Locals will also be seen wearing their winter coats while working at a counter.

When we got off the bus in Hoi An, two men ran up to us and wanted to take us to our hotel on their motorcycles. No thanks, it is raining for crying out loud. They insisted there were no cars in Hoi An. It is best to thoroughly read your tour books. Ours said there were two reliable cab companies. We told the men we planned to take a taxi and the men yelled there are no taxis. About that time a taxi picked up some of the other passengers. A woman whom we had spoken with on the bus got out of the taxi and asked if she could help. She was Vietnamese. We asked if her driver would call a taxi and she said yes. Then another taxi arrived and we were on our way. 

Our hotel is located right on the river and very scenic. The entire old quarter is quite atmospheric. Our hotel was an easy five minute walk to old town. The old quarter is small and easy to cover in the two days we have. It rained all day and we got soggy shoes and clothes even with umbrellas. Hoi An is one of the nations wealthiest towns, a culinary mecca with cooking classes offered everywhere. Hoi An is also one of the country's most important tourism centers. There are Japanese and Chinese influences here. Hoi An was a port prior to the river silting up. For four centuries it was one of Asia's major international ports: Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Spanish, Indian, Filipino, Thai, French, Dutch, Portuguese, British and American ships came to call. Chinese and Japanese traders in particular left their mark.

We walked past the Japanese Covered Bridge that was originally built in the 1590's, the Fujian Chinese Congregation Hall which was transformed into a temple to worship a deity from a Fujian province. 

There are a number of old houses that are open to tourists as part of the old town ticket. You get to go to five sites for the fee you pay and you choose which of the 22 sites you want to see. Because it is such a small area it is easy to see five in a day. We visited the Tan Ky house built two centuries ago by a wealthy Vietnamese merchant. The architecture was influenced by Japan and China. 

note how close the river is to the door way

The interior courtyard lets in light, allows the resident to collect rainwater and provides ventilation. The house backs up to the river and has been flooded numerous times. One wall had been marked where the water level was during numerous floods. Several marks were over our heads.

We also visited the Assembly Hall of the Cantonese Chinese Congregation. Apparently each group had their own hall, a placing for celebrations and gatherings. This place had some fantastic dragons made from mosaic tiles. Saucers were scales. Way cool. See photos. We ended the sight seeing with the Tran Family Chapel built  in 1802 for worshipping family ancestors. The chapel was built by Tran Tu of the clan who ascended to the rank of Mandarin and served as an ambassador to China. Somewhere in all that touring we ate our best meal ever in Vietnam at a place recommended in Lonely Planet. They had a brochure on their cooking classes so we signed up for the next day.

Dec 23

After breakfast we went to Old Town for some decent (non-Vietnamese) coffee. We have yet to get good coffee in a hotel. We then headed for our class  Taste Vietnam Street Food Tour. OMG what an experience. There were six students including us. The school is a restaurant as well as a school. We entered a large room that had numerous cooking stations along three of the walls. It was fun and a big yum. Our instructor lead us by each station to explain what the food was and offering us a taste of anything we wanted. One section was called 'weird wonderful foods' which included pigs ears, two kinds of snails, brains, worms, offal which I call awful ( liver, intestine,  etc.).

Our lunch followed; it was tremendous both literally and figuratively. . We didn't do much cooking but did prepare dishes to be cooked. We had rice paper rolls with shrimp and pork, crispy spring rolls, jack fruit salad with about 10 ingredients, crispy pancakes with pork, shrimps and sprouts which we did cook ourselves, rice cake pork and chillies cooked in a banana leaf, and Hoi An famous noodle dish with marinated pork. We topped the meal off with our choice of ice cream. I had mango sorbet.

After lunch we walked to old town and visited the folklore museum before finishing the afternoon with another Americano and chocolate tart. Goodness, we are going to hell in a hand basket in this town! We went to another fabulous restaurant for dinner. This town is a great place to eat.

At night the entire old town is lit up like a Christmas tree.  All through town are Chinese lanterns that are lit from within; reflecting in the water of the river.

The way of Hue

Dec 19

We got picked up at 6:00 a.m. to go to the airport. Our flight to Hue was short, a little over an hour. It was cold and overcast here. We took it slow today since we had run ourselves ragged the day before and Tricia was coming down with a cold. We walked to a nearby veggie restaurant for lunch then came back to the room and rested. That night we ate near the hotel at an Italian restaurant.

Dec 20

We walked to the Citadel, about 30 minutes from our hotel. It was
built in 1804-33. The walls surrounding it are two meters thick and the walls are 10 km long. The moat is 90 meters across and 4 meters deep.

Emperors lived in a complex within the citadel. Part of this area was known as the Forbidden Purple City. The complex is huge. Much of it was destroyed during the French and American Wars. In the Imperial enclosure only 20 of the original 148 buildings survive although reconstruction is on going. Because I developed a cold we came back to the hotel afterward and I  slept and rested the rest of the day.

 

 

Dec 21

I felt better today so we walked to the Ho Chi Minh Museum only to be told it was closing for lunch.
This was a long walk so by the time we got back to the hotel I
needed a rest. I slept again until lunchtime while Ron went to the local market to take pictures.

When he returned we found the third best restaurant in town just a couple of blocks away. Both of us had pho for lunch and we were told that the restaurant had only opened five months ago.