10/11: A Sunday Saigon Stroll

Our day's first priority was to take our souvenirs and gifts we’ve been amassing the last 6 weeks to the Post Office. The whole process took about 45 minutes for the man to check and pack each item into a box he supplied, and verify that we didn’t have any foodstuffs, even tea, Janina! Each item he packed had to jive with the 2 itemized pages we’d painstakingly written down last night. It only cost 888,000 VND, about $38, to send home by sea the 4.65 kg parcel.

 

How nice to get rid of that extra weight in our bags or do you think it just meant we might now have space to start supporting the local economy again?!

We made one last attempt, our third, to visit Notre Dame Cathedral in the same square but it was again closed unfortunately. The area was a popular sight though for weddings.

Walked across street as it was filled with people and we were curious what was going on. Noticed no one was sitting on the grass.

Photos of park:

View of the Cathedral from the park.

Thought the park might have been so busy because it was a Sunday.

Lots of vendors were selling trinkets and fruit. Why don't you give it a try and see if you can sit like Vietnamese people do all the time with their feet flat on the ground? I've tried and can't do it!

Yoyos – wow, does that take me back a few decades. 

Can’t remember seeing kids playing them  for ages in the US, do you?

Photos as we walked toward the Sai Gon Opera House:

Passed by men putting up propaganda signs that are EVERYWHERE in Sai Gon.

We saw 'cooking schools' all over Bali in Indonesia and here in Sai Gon. Some of the cooking schools located in Bali looked like little more than shanties. Not sure the one above really had the best view as they proclaimed.

Looks like a Vietnamese Colonel Sanders from KFC, we thought!

It was fun taking our time to just meander through parts of the city to see some of the tourist sights. Even though this area wasn't far as the crow flies from the madness surrounding our guesthouse, it seemed like a world away as there was less traffic, actual sidewalks to walk on and you see the grandeur and majesty of Sai Gon in an earlier age.

Photos of Opera House:

Lovely building but not quite in the same league as the one in Sydney.

Saw this/these at the bottom of the Opera House steps and stopped to take a closer look.

Bamboo fish traps used for fishing in shallow water and narrow lake areas. They are made of very thin sliced bamboo strips that are then woven together.

The continuous haze, pollution and exhaust from the motorbikes was tough for Steven as we meandered through Sai Gon. You have to wonder about the health risks being exposed to such high levels of pollution day after day for your whole life. We estimated about  40-50% of the the motorcycle riders wore cloth face masks, not disposable ones like the one Steven wore, Darlene.

We were standing in a mammoth plaza with the 135 year old Intercontinental Hotel on our left and then straight ahead what you see in the photo below.

Statue of Ho Chi Minh, the former president of Vietnam who lived from 1890-1969. Behind him is the former City Hall, now called the People's Committee.

Posing with 'every child's Uncle Ho'!

A view behind us.

Walked over to the Rex Hotel which was made famous during the Vietnam War. According to wikipedia, the hotel hosted the American military command's daily conference which was derisively named Five O'Clock Follies by cynical journalists who'd find the optimism of the American officers to be misguided. 

Took elevator to the rooftop so we could get some good views overlooking this part of the city. 

Views from the Rex Hotel's Rooftop bar:

So very peaceful and calm in this area of the city with hardly any honking horns or the endless roar of motorbikes.

Being at the bar area atop The Rex Hotel reminded us of visiting the bar atop the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Phnom Penh, Cambodia 2 years ago where US correspondents spent so much time in that city during the war.

The renamed People's Committee is the symbol of the French colonial era in Sai Gon. It was finished in 1908.

More views of the People's Committee Building:

Street scenes as we continued our stroll:

Stopped next at the busy Ben Thanh Market which covers 120,000 sq. ft and opened in 1914. There was an amazing collection of produce, meat, foods, and everything else under the sun. If you've been reading my previous posts about Asian markets, you know by now my take on these overwhelming markets and Ben Thanh was no different.

Photos from Ben Thanh Market:

You never see a market in Asia without the equivalent of a food court!

Notice from the photo below I wasn't exaggerating about the number of political signs everywhere in Sai Gon.

Great being outside again after the market madness - for me at least.

Exterior view of the market.

Very few skyscrapers in Sai Gon so this one caught my eye.

We walked over to Le C. Thieu St. also known as Antique St. that I had read about and just happened to be close by the guesthouse! 

We did manage to find something to load down my bag again!

I am glad we took the time in Sai Gon to learn about the Vietnam War from another perspective but spending three days in and around the city was, for us, quite enough. We didn't find the city to be an easy or very tourist friendly place but know, of course, we mostly confined ourselves to the sights in the downtown core and only scratched the surface of the huge city. 

Posted on 10/20 from Hue, Vietnam.