First Week in Vietnam

On Friday we flew from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon), Vietnam. We had been looking forward to our time in this country, and it was hard to believe we were already on our way there. After our short flight, we took a taxi to a guesthouse in one of the city's many alleyways. We were immediately overwhelmed by the traffic in the city. We were pre warned about this but until you see it, you cannot imagine what it is like. Vietnam is filled with motorbikes. Everyone has a motorbike and packs it full of things from bags of goods to three passengers. There are traffic lights on most corners but most people don't follow them. Crossing the street is extremely hard. We learned that once you go you do not stop. Just walk and cross your fingers that the motorbikes avoid you. We settled in and gained our bearings before heading out for dinner. We found a small outdoor restaurant that had cheap beer and good Vietnamese food that was not too far away. We both got a bowl of pho, then headed back to plan our only full day in the city.



We woke up early on Saturday and grabbed some coffee and pastries at a bakery down the street. From there, we decided to head to the War Remnants Museum. We had heard a lot about this place from other travelers that we met and from the owner of our guesthouse. The building looked kind of similar to the Korean War Museum in Seoul with all kinds of military aircraft and tanks out in a courtyard, but the inside was very different. Many of the galleries had some pretty graphic images that were very powerful. The most powerful of which was the "Agent Orange" gallery. After we toured the various rooms, we felt bad about what had happened to a lot of people in this country and about the role our country played in everything.

After we left the museum, we headed to the Reunification Palace. This building was the old estate for the president of South Vietnam until the end of the war. The cool thing about this attraction was that instead of renovating and updating the place, they left it in the same condition as it was in 1975. Walking around it felt like a time-warp. The furniture and decorations were really retro and fun to see. The basement of the building was even stocked with the usual bomb shelter gear from a few decades ago. Overall, it was definitely worth the hour or two that we spend there.



Reunification Palace















Later that evening, we headed back to a street where we saw some food carts that an expat had recommended the day before. We stopped for a quick bowl of pho on the street that was probably the best we have ever had. We thought about getting another bowl, but decided to save room for snacks at a local night market. That ended up being a bad decision in the end. The seafood place we stopped at was overpriced and the food was terrible.



Best pho ever!







On Sunday morning we took an early bus to Mui Ne for some beach time. We have been here for a few days and have enjoyed the slow pace of life after the chaotic traffic of the city. We visited some sand dunes and other attractions nearby on a short tour yesterday, and had a relaxing morning at the beach today. We head back to Ho Chi Minh tomorrow for another day, then fly to Hanoi on Thursday. When we were planning our trip, Vietnam was one of the countries that we were most excited for and it has not disappointed us yet. Let's hope the next leg of our trip is just as exciting.



Fred on the crazy sleeper bus to Mui Ne.

Location:Nguyễn Đình Chiểu,Phan Thiết,Vietnam