Packing it in

Today's aim was to pack in as much as possible - and I certainly think we achieved that! Waking early as expected, we got ready and wandered down to the hotel breakfast place. What a pleasant surprise - with a great mix of Asian and European food. We started as we meant to continue and had some local Pho (beef soup with noodles) for breakfast - all made in front of us. Even the filter coffee was half decent. Suitably charged for the day, we loosely followed the route we had planned, to catch the key sights we wanted to see.

What a delight to walk through a local park and see the locals enjoy morning coffee surrounded by a sound of chirping birds. Men doing what looked like tai chi, several groups of scout-like kids dancing to music and peals of laughter coming from another group of kids playing some kind of game with blind folds - all added to our first real experience of Ho Chi Minh City.

Right - on to some serious sightseeing now... and the nearby Independence Palace beckoned.

Independence Palace

This is a large government building built in the 1950's, and remains largely untouched from that era - due primarily to the collapse of the Sai Gon Government in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam war. Full of presidential rooms, sleeping quarters and an extensive bunker for war operations, the Palace was definitely worth the visit. We chuckled at the old style phones and the very 60s/70s décor. Next to the palace was an outdoor coffee place that looked to be well frequented by locals. We took a bit of a gamble and went in - and it was so worth it. The iced coffee is the most delicious I have ever tasted (Sandra - this is a true match for the frappes in Greece!).

Helping a local family

Next stop on our informal walking tour was the War Remnants museum. We got scammed on the way - but did get a priceless photo (see the pic on the left). The museum is obviously a memorial to the war - presented from a Vietnamese perspective - which is a bit perplexing due to the North versus South angle. The place was full of statistics about the atrocities of the war from every angle. Quite confronting in some aspects too - especially with some of the photos on display. You can't help but wonder why on earth the war took so long to resolve and what on earth is attempted to achieve (apart from a large dent in the US coffers). The fact that an apology has been provided by the US - albeit several decades too late - is food for thought.

A brief visit to the closed Notre Dame cathedral and the central railway station rounded out a very busy morning. It was all getting a bit serious by this time of the day - and a brief but heavy shower forced us to take cover and sample some cocktails.

Cocktails in the rain

Continuing to wander through central parts of Ho Chi Minh City and suck up the atmosphere, we were rewarded with a lovely lunch experience at a modern food court - sampling the most delicious spring rolls either of us had ever tasted. Much more walking later and we ended up at the obligatory Ben Thanh markets - wandering around the usual collection of utter touristy crap (Vietnam style). Here you can get men's suits made in just 24 hours, buy any amount of tourist paraphernalia, as well as purchase a wide variety of food items. And it is packed. The operators aren't too pushy - a quick shake of the head will usually see people leave you alone.

We'd walked just over 10kms by this point in the day, and we needed a swim. A refreshing couple of hours, more cocktails and a decent dunk in the hotel pool were just what the doctor ordered. To top it off, we indulged in foot massages as well - what bliss!

View of Ben Thanh markets at night

The night markets are also one of those things that you just have to see when you are here. More crap - most of it exactly the same as the other stalls - and local food were the order of the day as we settled into the rhythm of the first evening proper in Ho Chi Minh City. We'd heard about the rooftop bars here - so looked up a local one and went to check it out. The views at OMG were spectacular, the cocktails perfect and food was pretty good too. We can definitely see the appeal of these places!

By the time we made it back to our hotel, our feet had done some 13 odd kms. A long day full of culture - but a very enjoyable introduction to Vietnam.