Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) Part II

The next day we went on a walking tour around the city center. The botanical parks were really nice, but the nearby Reunification Palace was closed. Apparently there is some famous footage of North Vietnamese tanks crashing through the palace gates. (I wasn't alive at the time, so I don't recall the footage; however the LP had a poignant story about the fall of South Vietnam. After the Northern Vietnamese stormed the place, the South Vietnamese official [who was in charge] said, "I have been waiting here all day to transfer power to you." To which the North Vietnamese official replied, "You cannot give up something you do not have.") In all honesty, I wasn't too fussed about missing out on the Palace. I should slap myself for saying that; I'm starting to sound I'm jaded or something.

After we walked around the circled the locked palace grounds, we checked out the Notre Dame Cathedral, which looked like the average European cathedral. However, it was far more wild to observe such architecture in the midst of a very 'Asian' city. The nearby post office was really pretty, quite unlike our post offices back home. That basically concluded our sightseeing day.

Jon and I then headed to a nearby shopping center. I was looking for a new bag, because the one I bought in Phnom Penh was a piece of crap. It fell apart in 24 hours, which has got to be a record of some kind. I didn't find a bag, but I did find a movie theater. (Great excitement!) We bought tickets for some movie with English subtitles, then dashed off to the arcade to play a few games. The movie was called something like, "Two become One". It turned out to be a rather wild Thai movie about a woman who had breast cancer, with some rather unusual religious and romantic subtexts. It was definitely unique. Once the movie was finished, Jon and I headed back to the arcade to play a karaoke singing game. The selection process for the songs took ages (there were many to choose from), finally we picked songs and sang along. (I'll have you know the karaoke machine told me I was an excellent singer. The next time I sing along with the car radio, and somebody tells me to shut up, I will inform them I am an "excellent singer" and I am under an obligation to share my beautiful voice with the world.)

After our karaoke session finished, we walked though the main part of town, which was lit up and consequently looked very picturesque. Jon grabbed some food, but I held out for dinner elsewhere, at a vegetarian restaurant near our guesthouse. My food was pretty fabulous. I watched 'American Wedding' on the tv at home before calling it a day.

The next day, we booked a tour to a Cao Dai temple and the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cao Dai temple was the most unusual church I have ever visited and the rituals seemed somewhat cult-like. The religion itself is a polygamous sort of marriage between Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, with elements of any other religion you can imagine. Everyone wears white nightgown looking things, sit in (sex-segregated) rows on the temple floor, and bow their heads in time with the sound of a gong. I kept thinking it might be like an inside peek at a Freemasons' ceremony or something. (One of their sacred symbols appeared to be a sort of freaky looking eye.)

The Cu Chi tunnels were pretty unbelievable. They were really really really teeny. I had to crawl on my hands and knees for a few yards. It was definitely not for the claustrophobic. The tunnel I crawled through was actually recreated; however, miniature scale models gave us a better insight as to how the tunnels functioned. It was basically like a larger version of an ant city. There was an exhibit on the traps the Vietnamese used to kill and maim American soldiers. Pretty gruesome stuff. The place also had a firing range, where you could shoot M-16s and AK47s. I declined to do so. It seemed like a rather macabre activity, when you consider the many people who lost their lives to such artillery (on the same ground) in a not-so-distant war.

That evening, we did a bit of a restaurant tour. We had some veggie spring rolls at the vegetarian place, then took a taxi ride to a restaurant where you grilled your own food over a fire. We wandered around the city for a bit after dinner, but there wasn't much going on in the streets. On our way home, we ran into Bridget, Chris, and Mark at the bar with the homemade brew. We sat down on some benches next to some tuk-tuk drivers and had a fragmented (albeit interesting) conversation. They would periodically clink glasses with us and shout out, "Yao!" Fun was had by all.

The last day in Ho Chi Minh was definitely my favorite. We decided to go to Dam Sen park, which I thought was a ordinary "trees and flowers" park. To my delight, I discovered it was an actual amusement park! Getting to the park was a bit of work. One dodgy moto driver took us in the opposite direction and tried to make us pay double. After failing to negotiate with our original driver, we found two other moto drivers to take us. My moto driver was a girl, and she was a wild one! (I've never seen a female moto driver). Our two drivers played chased each other through the crazy Saigon traffic. (We drove the wrong way into oncoming traffic--several times. By 'traffic' I mean about fifty motos were coming at us!) I felt wobbly, yet highly exhilarated, when we arrived at our destination.

The park had a dinosaur area, with statues and a ride! Of course we rode on the dino-ride, and of course it would have been tighter if my age was 2+4 and not 24, but it was still loads of fun. After a wee bit of coconut soft-serve (If only they made that in the states!), we wandered over to the bumper cars. I was jostled around quite a bit, but I got a few good hits on people. The ice palace was next; we donned gigantic coats and headed into a frozen 'wonderland' (basically a giant refrigerated tank) that boasted mock-ups of St. Petersburg, Aztec pyramids, and chess sets. It felt odd to be so cold, around these parts I'm perpetually sweating.

The park also featured a roller coaster. Now the roller coaster is made for people who are not near as tall as Jon; therefore Jon's shoulder harness didn't buckle--at all. The dude operating the roller coaster told him to 'hold on and try not to fall out'. Jon looked worried. I murmured vaguely comforting things about centripetal force and the laws of gravity. These words did not bring the rosy glow of comfort to his cheeks. Anyhow, I really enjoyed the ride. Fortunately, Jon didn't fall out; that would have been a real bummer. We caught a 3D movie and checked out the section that displayed 'giant animals crafted of china plates'. That was pretty unusual. On the whole, it was a totally random, and totally terrific day.

Dam Sen was our last day in Ho Chi Minh. We bought an 'open' bus ticket and headed north to Mui Ne the following day.