A Nice Walkabout in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City Day 1  9/26

Sorry I did not give you my first impressions of Ho Chi Minh City  yesterday as we were in the midst of getting settled in, laundry, finding cash, getting something to eat. 

Over the years in Beijing we have observed the popular mode of everyday personal transport evolve form the bicycle to scooter to the personal car. On our first trip to China the Bicycle was everywhere. Then on subsequent trips we noticed the motor scooter was everywhere. On this trip the traffic consisted of mostly cars and a few scooters. Maybe it was the winter weather, but most scooters have handlebar mittens. In China the traffic rules seem not to apply to the scooters and sidewalks can be fair game. 

Here in Ho Chi Minh City the scooter rules, they are everywhere buzzing in and out with the flow of traffic. Here in Ho Chi Minh City there seems to be a scooter dealership or repair location on every block. Everybody ridding on a scooter was wearing a helmet, even if there was one to four people per scooter. We did see a passenger dog and he was not wearing a helmet. 

The scooters are like blood cells flowing in your veins all heading in one direction flowing in and out and never stopping. I am always amazed there are not a lot of accidents as pedestrians do not have a right of way. The primary traffic rule here is “beep beep and go”, that is give your horn a couple taps and proceed on your chosen course. It is a system that just works. 

We got more laundry done and hanging to dry before we went to breakfast. I must say ABD finds places with vast breakfast buffets, lots a great fruit, wonderful pastries, interesting local offering like pork and shrimp wraps, a coconut crepe. 

At 0900 we met with our ABD guides and got oriented as to Ho Chi Minh City. 

The Park Hyatt Hotel is also a starting place for the Lindblad/National Geographic Vietnam trips. While walking through the lobby we ran into David Barnes, who was a guest speaker on our Nat Geo trip from Dublin to London. Briefly he is a well published historian who is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1998 and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2003. I was surprised he remembered me from that trip and we had a pleasant visit. 

We headed out and our first stop was the Central Post Office. Built between 1886 and 1891 by the well know architect Gustave Eiffel, the building has a vaulted roof and arched windows which reminded me of early European railway stations. An enormous picture of Ho Chi Minh overlooks proceedings. 

This is very much a working post office as well as several souvenir stalls. We purchased some post cards and got them sent off. I know I should have haggled a bit, but 10 nice post cards for $3.00 seems like a no brainer and easier to let it be. 

We then crossed the street using the “make eye contact keep walking at a steady pace not running” method. Here is the Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral. 

It was built between 1863 and 1880 by French colonists, is one of HCMC's architectural marvels. Erected exclusively with materials imported from France, it is one of the most popular things to see in Ho Chi Minh City. The official name of the church is “Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception”.  The interior was closed for restoration, so we were unable to visit the inside. 

In 2005, the statue of the virgin Mary located out front supposedly shed tears, according to eyewitnesses, although the Catholic Church refuted this event. But whether the Vatican approved of it or not, the alleged miracle caused such a huge commotion that the traffic jam could only be dissolved by police intervention.

I stopped on the street corner and took several pictures of the scooters as they passed. Some were loaded with various goods, while others were carried families. There just seemed to be a constant stream of scooters, the traffic reminded me of Katmandu. 

Our next stop was the Independence Palace also know as the Reunification Palace. This was the base of  Vietnamese General Ngo Dinh Diem until his death in 1963. It made its name in global history in 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its main gate, ending the Vietnam War. The building was closed for the next few days in preparation for the New Year. 

We then made our way to the Ben Thanh Market. This is a great place to buy local handicrafts, branded goods, Vietnamese art and other souvenirs. This market is big, but all the same it is well worth a look. We found it very busy and one could find just about anything one would want, from food to t-shirts, to watches, bags and hats. Haggling is the rule and expected. Nothing of interest struck our fancy so we headed back to our hotel to freshen up before finding lunch. 

City Hall

The Opera House

Along the way I stopped at bank with and ATM to get some additional cash. Here my credit card was eaten by the machine and not returned to me. The transaction was canceled. Calling Chase, I advised as to what had happened and they sent a message to the bank and were told the standard practice is to destroy the card when stuck in a machine. A new card will be waiting for me at home. Lynn has a duplicate card for this account so we are good to go. We always travel with several different payment options. I think the machine was not able to handle a heavy metal card. 

We stopped at the hotel to cool off a bit and regroup for the afternoon. I had read about an Irish Pub that sounded fun, so we were off to find it. Alas we found it closed and demolished.

The Park Hyatt 

So for lunch we found a coffee shop for a snack. We then stopped at a mini mart and got some chips and other snacks. Green Tea and Red Bean Kit Kats were found. Gotta love the various flavored Kit Kats one finds in Asia. The chips were kim chi flavored, I wanted something salty as all morning long I was sweating my normal heavy sweat. 

Tomorrow we are headed for a river cruise and should be out the whole day, so need to do some prep. I hope we get on a more normal sleep schedule here really soon.