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.