The Rex Hotel, where we started and finsihed our tour.

Day 16: Saigon whirlwind tour

Another whirlwind tour day. We start off at the Rex hotel, famous due to the fact that Army officers used to hangout on the rooftop deck and watch the bombing raids across the river during the war. However, since its morning, we merely meet for our walking tour there. We see Ho Chi Minh City Museum, which is actually a pretty interesting museum that has two different aspects: the first, an all around history of HCMC’s history in terms of agriculture, architecture, art, and generally how people lived in the area through the ages. The second is regarding HCMC’s place in Vietnam’s liberation, both in terms of the French rule and the Vietnam war (what they call the American War). This was mostly just preparation for the War Remnant’s museum (which was at one time called the war crimes museum). We were prepared for the massive propaganda campaign. And, it was interesting. The bulk of the museum really focused on the impact of Agent Orange on the people and there was a section on journalists lost in the war, which was particularly interesting. But, there was a lot of anti-American that was both subtle and in your face. What the museum was missing was context regarding the situation. Also, the captions don’t quite fit the picture. There were two things that stood out to me. The first is that even without context, the guest comment book was full of a lot American resentment. The second is that I realize after thinking back is that there is a lot of talk about how there were a lot of civilian and women and children casualties, while at the same time, in other museums (and somewhat here), there is a lot of talk about the youth and female involvement in the guerilla war effort and how effective the Vietcong were in guerrilla war, including the fact that many were regular people.

We tried to find a place for lunch, but the first two choices were not available. One is literally not there (the building is not there, it’s completely knocked down) and the other is under construction. We consult our friend Lisa's book (Frommers) for another option and it rocks. Joanna has Vietnamese steak; I and two others have the steak pho. Pho is soup and it is awesome. We loved our meals. And, Joanna ate Vietnamese. After lunch we head to the reunification palace, which was the Presidential Palace, but got taken over during the war. It was eire and cool walking around the Palace. It is preserved almost as it was on the day it was taken over in April of 1975, when the Republic of South Vietnam ceased to exist. On the morning of April 30, 1975, the first tanks to arrive in Saigon crashed through the front gates of Palace (a moment captured by many journalists). It’s pretty amazing how well kept the palace actually is, there were maps, communication stations, phones and even desks, that were left as they were.

After the palace we took a long walk to see the Jade Emperor Pagoda. The long walk consisted of us crossing the most complicated and busy street yet. It must have been at least eight lanes wide and there was a constant stream of cars. There was no island in the middle, but we had to step over (actually for short people like Joanna and I, we had to step on a over) a massive guard rail. One of the things that we learned early is that you have to just have to walk (not run) and don’t stop and the motorcyclists won’t hit you. So, we made up our minds and just started walking. We cheered when we had finally crossed the street and the locals all laughed at us. It was well worth it. The Pagoda is not often visited by tourists, but is a regular place of worship for many locals. It was small, had interesting architecture, full of locals and a lot of small place to explore. The architecture has Chinese influences and was very ornate. There was a constant smell of incense in the air due to all the worshipers and for such a small pagoda, there were many small, almost hidden, rooms to explore with a new god to worship.

We ended our tour, taking a cab over to the Rex Hotel for drinks on the rooftop bar to enjoy some nice sights of the city. We had to end it early though, because we had to head over to the hotel to book our trips to the Mekong Delta and the Cu Chi tunnels.

We had intended to have dinner at Lemongrass, but instead went next door to Augustin’s for French food. We had great steaks, good wine, a nice dessert and great coffee. We ended the evening at the Sheraton Hotel rooftop bar for great views of the city.