Visible from the heights..

03/01/2007 Trah Lin and Ho Chi Mihn City

We woke up to get the 08:00 bus to HCMC today. After muddling around the bus center for 30 minutes, we were ushered onto a bus and left for HCMC. After 3.5 hours, we were back in the chaos of Ho Chi Mihn. After making our way back to our hotel and storing our gear, we decided that we would spend the day going to the Presidential Palace and the War Remnants museum.

The Presidential Palace is nothing special. It isn’t much to look at either. Looks like the defacto communist office building. The building was used for meetings with dignitaries and the president and his family used to live there. Worth seeing if you are ever in HCM with an hour or two to kill.

The War Remnants Museum was definitely worth the visit. This is dedicated more to the effects of the Vietnam War as opposed to the war itself. Photos from both sides of the conflict and in addition there is a lot of pictures and information about the atrocities committed by the Americans ( agent orange, murders etc.) There was also a section dedicated to the methods of torture used by the Chinese, French and Americans during the respective occupations along with a mock jail.

After that we made our way to Ben Tahn market and ate dinner there. This was probably the best dinner of the whole trip. We had Red Snapper, Grouper, raw spring rolls, buttered frog, lemon grass chicken, beer, white coffee, snails and more beer. Ito also bought our dinner for us. This feast, for four people, was barely 25$. After going back to the hotel, Ito and I went out to continue drinking at bar in the area that catered to foreign travelers. After some more drinks and educating him on the finer points of english interaction with women, we called it a night.

04/01/2007 Cao Dai and the Cu Chi Vietcong Tunnels.

We took a bus northeast of HCM to visit a famous temple, Cao Dai. You can read the wiki entry on it for more information. Very interesting architecture and decorations.

After this, we went to the Cu Chi Vietcong tunnels. This are was one of the largest bastions for the VC in the south. Somewhere over 120km of tunnels. Again the wiki article is a an interesting read.

The best part was firing off an AK47. It’s a bitch to hit center mass on auto. Burst isn’t so bad.

After a 2 hour bus ride back to HCM, we were ready to enjoy another night of delicious and cheap seafood at Ben Tahn market. The place we ate wasn’t as good as the night before, but it was still good. This meal was also by far the most expensive of the trip. It cost about $35USD, but mainly because we ordered 4kg of crab, which was about $8USD.

05/01/2007 HCMC - Cholon Area (Chinatown)

Everyone was sick overnight, something we ate. Probably near the Cao Dai temple, where our tour stopped for lunch. Traveler’s diarrhea or maybe the oil for some of the food was really bad. In the morning time we went to a pharmacy and bought some medicine which seemed to help.

After that we went to the Cholon area. This is also the Chinatown part of HCM. We went to a temple, of which I cannot remember the name and then one of the largest markets in the area. If you want a Louis Vuiton or Channel knockoff, this is the place to go. Cheap and decent quality for many of the fakes I have seen in Asia.

After that we went to the Goverment Tax Free Shopping complex to get presents and food. This is actually a good place to shop. The prices are the same as in the markets ( but you can’t haggle here,) and the quality is a little better. There was also a grocery with both vietnamese and western home products. So I picked up a lot stuff that I cannot find in Japan for really cheap. I spent $23USD here and got a lot!

-2 kg Vietnamese Coffee ( Mocha and Espresso)
-Vietnam Coffee Press (stainless steel)
-A lot of various candies and dried fruit
-Shampoo, soap and various toiletries
-Hot Coch Sauce
-Spring roll wrappers
-Tea

And a lot more… sooo cheap. This place is definitely worth a stop, especially if you don’t want to have to deal with buying alot of stuff in the markets.

The rest of the day we spent relaxing around the hotel, preparing for our departure the next morning.