Good morning Vietnam

Sunday 14th January 2007
Didn’t think we were going to like Ho Chi Minh when we arrived yesterday, but today, after a good night’s sleep, it looked good. Vibrant is the word, I think. Yes, busy, dirty, hot, loads going on. Very hot. And sunny, mostly, which was nice. Got a really good night’s sleep after a very nice meal of Pho (which seems to be the national dish – white rice noodles in a sort of chicken broth with chicken pieces) – in the hotel restaurant. We’d walked around a bit, but decided to take the easy route of hotel restaurant, not something we often do, but after all the travelling it seemed a good idea. And it was.

Moved hotels this morning to the tour hotel. Similar standard, both ok. And what a busy day. We first walked to Ben Thanh Market in the centre of the city. Sid bought some lightweight trousers – we think he got done on the first pair at around £12, but did better on the second – exactly the same but he bid them down to around £4. Everything is about bargaining, which should be good for someone who spent a large part of his working life bargaining, but somehow that doesn’t seem to follow.


We then walked to what is called the War Remnants Museum. Apparently it used to be called the Museum of American and Chinese Sins, but that didn’t go down too well with the ‘forgive but don’t forget’ philosphoy. It was incredibly moving. And very fairly balanced, recognising that the South Vietnamese were party to the American aggression, as it is called here. One exhibition hall was just photos from the photographers who were killed during the war (from all around the world) and it really was a tribute to the power of excellent photojournalism. Many of the photos were familiar to us, the Pulitzer Prize winners like the young woman running away from the Nepalm attack, the dreadful photos of the My Lai massacre. Another hall, had all the posters and news coverage of the protests around the world against the war, including a photo of the Trafalgar Square/Grosvenor Square demo of 1968 that both Sid and I were on, though separately and before we knew each other, of course. Very evocative and we both came away quite sombre. We then went on to the Reunification Palace which was the Independence Palace until the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. That cheered us up a bit because it was like a 1960s local government building anywhere in the world. But a very heavy propaganda video rounded it off and made us laugh.


Tonight we met our tour guide, Chi, and the rest of the group. Very mixed age range and all seem ok, but more on them as trip progresses and we get past the first impression, ‘let’s all be nice’ bit. Some look very fit, others not quite so, but tomorrow will be the first indication of how well I’m gong to keep up!!!!

Another thing worth mentioning is the traffic here, though no words can describe it. Motor bikes and scooters have taken over from pedal cycles and there are literally thousands on every street. I’d been warned how difficult it was to cross the street, and only some video photo may show the reality. We’ll try to capture it.

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