A Half Day in Saigon

Our first view of Vietnam in the daylight.

We took the morning to be leisurely.  Bill awoke at 8, 2 hours after Theresa, and we slowly got up and going, making it to breakfast in the lounge by 9:45 (since it closed at 10:30).  The breakfast was awesome!  We expected a plebian buffet, and were happy to see a modest selection.  However, they also had hot food for order.  So, Bill tried the Hong Kong noodles, and Theresa got the Vietnamese noodles (Pho).  Both were very good!!  Theresa also got the Vietnamese coffee, which was tasty and sweet.

We went back to the room, Bill did the blog from yesterday and Theresa caught some shut eye.  It was a much needed nap from the aggressive morning of…well, it started at 6AM, so you know.  😊  We made it out of the building a bit after Noon, to get some money.  Vietnamese Dong is about 26,000 = $1, so we got 950,000 to ensure a selection of denominations.  There was a little mall next door and we found a lot of food options for 100K or less (like $4).  So, we are looking forward to some interesting lunches!

So which breakfast is better??

You choose!!

Notice the thin tall building WAAAAY in the back?  Later.

Look at those dark clouds amassing!!  Time to head out!

We headed back up to the room to pack for the day, and found the cleaning woman there.  Oops.  She needed 20 minutes so we headed to the lounge and tried the fresh coconut, and a few sweet treats.  

Finally off to the War Remnants Museum.  In every war, there are two sides to the story, and there are horrors from both sides, and in every case, it is the victor who gets to write the history.  So, we went expecting a version that was inconsistent with our notions. 

This is some efficient parking!!

Some of the display outside.  Tanks and a Chinook.

Outside they had a small but nice display of military equipment like tanks, artillery, and of course aircraft.  It was done reasonably well, but it seemed curious that there was not one example of the Viet Cong’s equipment.

A guillotine brought over by the French.
(Last used in 1960.)

Once inside, we checked out the various displays.  I won’t get into all of it, but the short version is “The great and brave people of Vietnam ALL wanted freedom, and the US blocked them".  There was some reference to the French fighting them prior to the US, almost as a footnote (one that named them as colonial bad guys).  They had a display showning the US resources used in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, but lacking context.  Like, the total amount of money spent, but without adjusting for inflation; and the tons of bombs dropped, but no acknowledgement that dropping bombs was in the early stages in WWII, and a single B52 carried as many tons of bombs as a whole squadron of B17s.  They even had a section on the war crimes…but only from one side to the other.  Display after display showed the weapons used by the US…but that’s it.  As if the VC didn’t have any weapons, and were such peaceful people being harassed by the US.

How does the Republic of Viet Nam "invade" (with the US)?

I think the name tells me what to expect.

Sounds like a "Ministry of Truth"!

"War against America to Save the Nation".

Cars don't stand a chance!!

We started heading back stopping at the Post Office on the way.  This historic building, built by the French between 1886-1891, was a critical communication center from the 1890s through the war, and even now.  It was nice.

Part of our walk back to the hotel.

Notre Dame Basilica (and statue)

The Post Office

Inside of the Post Office

Phone Booths!!!  (Without pay phones)

Book Street

As we continued, we cut through a little street, which turned out to be “Book Street”.  It was quaint.  But we didn’t buy any books!

Finally, back in our room…we shed our very wet clothes, and cooled and dried before getting dressed and heading to the lounge for dinner.  It was an OK spread, and we got some beef pho.  We then headed to the little shopping mall to see about finding a fan.

Good Night!!