I. Vietnam
Chapter V. Ho Chi Minh City
Day 12 Pho Metal Jacket
We arrive in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh at 5.20am. It’s too early for anything to be open. So, we stop for coffee near the train station and wait for dawn. Then, we get a cab to our hostel.
MAP
We’re staying three days in the city. For our first day, we will mostly walk around and visit historical monuments. Our first stop is the Art Museum.
They also have many propaganda posters.
But the coolest looking ones are the ‘be safe’ posters…
For our walk along the riverside, the sun finally decides to join us.
It’s a pleasant walk, but we’re definitely not on the tourist side of the river.
And the traffic is so much worse in this part of town - with motorbikes everywhere on the road AND on the sidewalk.
Eventually, we arrive at a famous roundabout, near the Jade Pagoda.
Walking a bit further, we find one of the most famous pho restaurants in the city. It looks more like a school canteen, but they have really tasty noodle soup.
There’s also a small park to relax after lunch.
In Vietnam, most people don’t drive a car because they can’t afford it. That’s why there are so many motos around. They are much cheaper. People often sleep on top of them.
Our next stop is the Reunification Palace.
The Reunification Palace is one of the most important historical buildings in Vietnam and a symbol of the end of the Vietnam War. It was here that, on April 30, 1975, a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through the gates, thus signalling the fall of the city. Today, it’s open to visitors.
It’s an interesting piece of history, as well as architecture, because it has remained untouched since the 1970s.
The top floor has a private cinema
And even a heliport.
But the most fascinating is the bunker in the basement, with its own telecommunication centre, the war room and the President’s bedroom.
Outside, there’s a reproduction of the two tanks that crashed the gates of the Palace in 1975. As well as a few other vehicles.
On the way back, we stop at a church. It’s definitely of French influence.
In Vietnam, the cable lines are so famous, they have their own T shirts.
Soon, we’re back into heavy traffic. But that’s all right, because we’re going near our hostel for dinner. In what I call ‘Ho Chi Minh’s Kao San Road’…
There, we find the perfect restaurant and some really cool T shirts.
Using the Wi-fi in the restaurant, we find the best rated agency around and book a half day tour for the Cu Chi tunnels tomorrow.
We get back to our hostel around 10pm.
Day 13 Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons
We get on the bus at 9am and it’s a 2hrs drive to the Cu Chi tunnels. Tunnels were dug by the VC during the war to facilitate communications, mount surprise attacks, and protect themselves from the bombs. In the district of Cu Chi alone, more than 250km of tunnels have been discovered. The network (several stories deep) included trapdoors, field hospitals, storage facilities, kitchen and command centres.
Our guide today is a young, energetic History student, with perfect English and deadpan humour. He is both very knowledgeable and full of anecdotes about the VC war tactics.
However, we’re not going inside the tunnels. It’s more like a stroll in the forest.
That’s because most Westerners couldn’t fit inside the tunnels. We tend to be taller than Asian people.
The VC were awere of it. Sometimes, they would build tunnels with a large entrance that would get tighter along the way. GI in pursuit would get stuck in the middle - with no chance of getting out.
Inside the tunnels, the soldiers would barely have any air at all. So, they would dig small holes to breathe underground. And to make sure the GI would not notice them, they would dig their holes in a termite mount.
For the roofs of their shelters, the VC used thick dry leaves. Because, as our guide demonstrates, those dry leaves don’t burn.
VC uniform. Many women became guerilla fighters during the war.
During and after the war, many bombs didn’t explode. The Vietnamese learned how to disarm them and recycle them. To disarm them, they would usually work in pairs. One would saw off the metal, while the other one would pour cold water on it to cool it down.
This tank has been destroyed by a landmine and has remained there since.
There’s a shooting range and war inspired souvenirs. But I didn’t care much and the sound of gunshots is deafening when you stay so close without protection.
Our guide also explained how the VC made sturdy sandals from tire treads and how they would put their foot on the wrong side of the shoe, to leave confusing footsteps that would lead the enemy to the opposite direction.
But, undoubtedly, the most fascinating part of the tour is the presentation of all the ingenious traps the VC would come up with. Each one clearly designed to kill, maim or incapacitate enemy soldiers.
This one is called a ‘fish trap’. The spikes retract as soon as your feet touch the ground.
‘Spiked coconut’.
Watch your head…
Door trap‌
At the very end, volunteers can get inside a tunnel supposedly fit for foreigners. It’s less than 30m but you gotta crawl on all fours, the heat is almost unbearable, and you have to move pretty fast because only the guide in front has a light. I don’t know how many times I bumped my head against the ceiling.
Last but not least, we can try tapioca dipped into peanut powder. It tastes fine (kinda like a dry turnip), but it was the daily meal of the VC during the war. And you wouldn’t want to eat this stuff every single day for years.
Back in town. For dinner, we look for a Czech restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet. I really like Czech food. But I was expecting somethink low key, with a couple of tables. It’s located at the end of an alley. However, when there’s actually a cart to drive you from the main street to the restaurant itself, you know it’s not gonna be cheap…
The place is really fancy and they brew their own beer behind the bar. The food looks excellent, but this is clearly one of the most expensive places we’ve been so far.
Since we probably can’t afford most of what’s on the menu, we just get a pint and a couple of –surprisingly filling - appetizers.
Tomorrow is our last day in Ho Chi Minh – and in Vietnam. To celebrate, we book a walking Street Food Tour for the evening. Back to the hostel at 11pm. Gotta get up early once again.
Day 14 Apocalypse Now
We’ve already seen a lot of places in the city. But there’s one more I have to visit – the War Museum. Quinn has already been there 3 years ago and she wants to sleep in. I book our bus for Cambodia early in the morning and go on my own.
If you want to learn more about the Vietnam War, this museum is a must see – albeit not for everyone. It gives you a point of view on the subject that you would never have heard of in History class. This is the war as seen through the eyes of the Vietnamese people. And neither the US nor the French are the good guys.
1945
1946
1950
1951
1953 - 54
1954 - 55
1955 - 59
1960
1961
1962 - 63
1964
1965 - 69
1970
1972
1973
1975
The picture on the left reminds me so much of The Thin Red Line (Malik, 1998)).
Once I’m done with the museum, we have lunch together. And then, we split up again until 5pm, to start our street food tour.
Our guide is a young and friendly girl, with really good English. We first take a cab to get to a poorer district. We’re going to get some fruits in the local market.
This is the perfect opportunity to try all these fruits we’ve seen, but knew nothing about.
This one is called ‘Custard Apple’. It tastes like custard – and apple. But it has all these annoying watermelon-like black seeds inside.
This is a Star Apple – very milky. Doesn’t taste like an apple at all.
We also got a glass of sugar cane juice. Very refreshing. The cane is crushed and the juice falls into a container.
After that, we walk along the alleyways to get to our first stop. Here, we have some bread stuffed with rice cake –it’s as filling as it looks. It’s going to be difficult to save space for later.
Then, we go for ‘Banh Mi’. Pretty much a meat sandwich. But the bread is really well done. Just like a French baguette.
After all this bread, we stop for a drink. But not the one I expected… Quinn goes for one glass, I don’t. Just in case, I don’t want to upset my stomach when we’re so far away from the hostel.
A fresh coconut. That’s more like it.
Next stop – fried pork spring rolls.
What follows is White Rose Shrimp Dumplings with some veg.salad. But at this point, I’m really not hungry anymore.
For dessert, we try a Hong Kong specialty -flan inside an eggshell (they actually use the word ‘flan’ in Vietnamese).
Although the flan was the dessert, we still have one dish to go before the end -Seafood barbecue. It’s definitely one of the best BBQ I’ve had. I’m not hungry, but these scallops are so light and tasty, they’re gone before I even know it.
The place is packed. There’s also someone singing karaoke for money.
With so much garbage on the floor, you would think that these people had no education at all. But in Vietnamese culture, if you like a meal in the restaurant (not at home, mind you!) it is well considered to make a mess, so that other people passing by know that the food is good.
After the tour, we both get a pair of chopsticks as a gift. Time to go back to the hostel and pack our bags.
Our journey in Vietnam is over. The one in Cambodia has just begun‌