HCMC

At least he is wearing a hard hat.

The guesthouses and hotels that we could find online for HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City formally Saigon) were quite expensive, by our meager standards, so we decided to stay in a hostel for the first time since Singapore as it was only $6 each per night and had good reviews.

I got an email from the hostel manager about how to get to the hostel and here is an excerpt:

From bus station have many people try to cheat you, be careful! someone try to steal your bags, taxi drivers try to cheat you ( you ask them where my hotel, they will say to you that they know and they want you go by their taxi, they will say that they run by "taxi metres", you will think :" Oh my hotel is near, so even run by metres won't cost more money", and then you accept them. When you get on their car, they will try to take you go around, around with crazy metre lock run very fast and the end when you get off their car, you will pay nearly 20 USD even the real way is very short _only 3 mins walking). And also don't listen many people there try to sell you the room with cheap price, cos they will take you go many alleys zic zac and very deep inside, may be some of them will rob your bags or if they show you one place you don't like then they will take you go around around "zic zac" in deep alley, untill you tired and you couldn't find the way back, and then you have to pay them small money to take you go back bus station, or ...even you have strong mind, but they will follow you, you just say : "No" to them, don't let them follow you go to my hotel, cos they try to pretend to help you to show my hotel, then when you come to my hotel already, they will ask small money for tip, commission ( 1 or 1.5 USD). Just ask people who work in many shops on the street, go inside many shops or bars to ask, everyone there very helpful.

After that email, we decided it was simplest to walk and tell everyone "No". We tried to check in after our early morning flight but our beds were still being used so we dropped our bags and went for a walk around HCMC.

We got a map from the hostel and started to walk towards the Reunification Palace and the War Remnants Museum but when we got there they were both closed for lunch at the time and we decided that we might as well get lunch ourselves. We found this little restaurant that only had 3 things on the menu so we decided to try two of the three dishes. Janelle got a beef noodle soup

and I got beef and noodles but as a dish.

The pictures of the food don't look good but the taste was really amazing, quite possibly the 3rd best thing I have had in Vietnam after the Cau Lau in Hoi An and the Thit Kho Tau on the Halong Bay cruise.

After lunch we went to the Blue Jade Pagoda, which had a giant turtle pond of red eared slider turtles like I used to have.

The temple itself was really beautiful.

Afterwards we went to the War Remnants Museum which was originally named "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government". Outside are old tanks, artillery and helicopters. The ground floor has pictures and posters from around the world showing how everyone opposed the American involvement in the Vietnam war.

The rest of the floors showed photographs of people in the Vietnam war, the effects on the landscape and lingering effects of Agent Orange. Unlike the Korean War museum that we visited in Seoul, this museum didn't talk about the history of the war, when things happened or why. As the former name suggests, the museum was heavily focused on how America was an invading force that was opposed by the Vietnamese people and every other country in the world. I thought it would be hard for anyone who had not studied the Vietnam War to understand what had happened and I broke out the LP guide book to give myself a refresher course. Here is a quick summary of the Vietnam war from About.com:

The Vietnam War occurred in present-day Vietnam, Southeast Asia. It represented a successful attempt on the part of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam, DRV) and the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam (Viet Cong) to unite and impose a communist system over the entire nation. Opposing the DRV was the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam, RVN), backed by the United States. The war in Vietnam occurred during the Cold War, and is generally viewed as an indirect conflict between the United States and Soviet Union, with each nation and its allies supporting one side.

We went back to the hostel to check in and found that our room was empty of anyone else. We headed out for dinner and some drinks.

In the touristy area of HCMC there are several night bars that line the streets where everyone sits on plastic chairs enjoying the nice weather and people watching. We sat there for quite some time relaxing and taking in the nice evening.

Check out the rest of today's pictures in the slideshow below: