We’d managed to lose day, very poor show really as we had arranged to go into the city of Hoi An only to realise we already had tickets to get to Ho Chi Minh!
Woolly says – I’d checked under the bed and table, in the bed and behind the bathroom door but hadn’t managed to find the day so instead gave Jo a few kicks to show my levels of distress. By the time we arrived in our new city I had already developed a liking for it, traffic jams took things to a whole new level, but the buildings are modern, the pavements are walkable and the variety of western food that fills the street side cafes that serve under the trees. Ho Chi Minh City, also known informally and widely by its former name of Saigon, which I believe is based on a musical called that, I’ll have to find out the words! It’s the largest city in Vietnam by population, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later an independent republic of South Vietnam 1955 – 75. On 2nd July 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Định Province and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after their revolutionary leader. After a good nights sleep I led the way down the narrow alley that housed our digs and into the thriving streets, we seemed to play chicken an awful as we crossed roads, I’m very diligent about using the green man, it the two wheeled drivers begged to differ and merely scooted around us as we ran over the Zebra’s (not real ones!)
It was easy walking except for the delays at junctions, but with the heat in the mid 30’s it was a hot experience. Our first stop of the day took a while to circumnavigate.
Woolly says – We found the Independence Palace easily enough but having walked through a convenient gate were told to walk all the way round to get our tickets, it was a long plod, we could see the palace but couldn’t get in. By the time we had finally arrived at the ticket office we had thirty five minutes before it closed at 11am, who closes at 11am I wondered, don’t they realise there are tourists making there way there to admire, photograph and give you money! We paid, before galloping into the building, well I galloped because I’m an exciting type of person, the women shuffled along somewhere behind me. The Palace is also known as Reunification Palace, is built on the site of the former Norodom Palace which was constructed in the 1800’s, constructed in the 70’s it bares no resemble to a palace more of a conference centre. It was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War as well as being the place that had been battered a bit when on April 30th 1975, a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates and the war in Vietnam was at an end.
I had to agree with my small friend, it didn’t have a palace feel and as we wandered through the ground floor it appeared more and more of a hotel with glass walled rooms full of chairs for the Presidents meeting room, the Vice president’s meeting room, not to mention the ambassadors and the First ladies meeting rooms, it wasn’t giving me a wow factor.
Woolly says – We moved up a floor and admired immensely long dining tables and a few more reception rooms before finding ourselves in what had been the private rooms for the president, rooms surrounded a lovely courtyard, the rooms were uninspiring and merely looked again, like hotel rooms. The rooms shared by the first lady and the top man started with a dressing room longer than a netball court with a row of wardrobes with enough space to live in! The bedroom contained a seating area and had plenty of space, the bathroom was still full of toiletries, a time warp in fact, I wonder if the President had missed his shampoo when he had left? Another climb up and we found a partly covered terrace with a handy helicopter on the pad, now’s that the sort of transport that I could do with!
Keeping a firm hold on his paw before he decided to take fligh,t we stood looking at the two large red painted circles on the tarmac, they showed where bombs had hit the palace in 1975 causing the inhabits of the palace to run to the bunker.
Woolly says – A bunker! Something that my bestie and I love is a good bunker and as I hopped down the stairs to well below the building I hoped they would live up to my expectations. The first room had walls covered in maps of the undergoing missions in 1975 with small rooms running from it including a sleeping room for the President. It was a mini warren but as most of the rooms continued a desk, chair and filing cabinet I ran out of steam quite quickly. Steps finally led us back to ground level and the rear of the palace which looked as conference centre life as the front. A handy café presented itself so having wrestled the map from Jo and ignored Zoe’s prompts from her online maps I considered our options, finding a little bit of Paris was a few metres up the road so it seemed sensible to go that way.
Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon was established by French colonists who initially named it Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Saïgon, in 1863, the first thing I noticed was the two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 metres (190 feet) before quickly realising that it was closed!
Of course, it’s closed! Reinvention work was underway and having taken a few snaps we headed onwards.
Woolly says – Having had a quick look inside the highly impressive Saigon Post Office we continued down the road, there were certainly a lot a great buildings to admire in amongst the skyscrapers high above us. The lovely delights of Ho Chi Minh City Hall or Saigon City Hall or Hôtel de Ville de Saïgon or Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Head office, why does it have so many names! Was built in between 1902 and 1908 in a French colonial style for the then city of Saigon and I have to say it was glorious, we stood admiring it for a while before trotting to our next destination. It took a while to find the Museum partly because we were looking for the Revolutionary Museum which turned to to have a name change to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, this wasn’t it’s first change of name or use as it had over ten in its lifetime. The lovely grey building was another reminder of the French presence and as we climbed the steps into it’s cool interior each room was well set out and gave us lots of information on the crafts of the Vietnamese, how life is lived in the city and a whole floor giving us further knowledge of the French occupation and the Vietnam war with photographs and memorabilia donated by many people who had fought.
One area was dedicated to theatre and music in the country whilst another showed us how the money had changed from metal pieces with holes in the centre to paper notes later than an A5 piece of paper.
Woolly says – I’d spotted a sign for another bunker and hurried the group downwards, so I could have a full investigation, it was a bit of a let down with only two rooms one with a few maps tacked to the walls and one with a sofa and some chairs in, not the exciting tings I had longed for. We exited into grounds and were able to survey the lovely old building that continued the exhibits before heading for the gate and a much needed sit down. The tree lined streets shaded our walk and as we sat cooling ourselves with cold drinks we all agreed that we liked Ho Chi Minh….or is it Saigon!