Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
We were eager to meet Tri Dung Nguyen (Zoom), as Gail and Lloyd had used his tour services on two prior trips to Vietnam, and we were also eager to visit Ho Chi Minh City, a place filled with centuries of history. As Saigon, it was the capital of French Indochina from 1887 to 1902 and again from 1945 to 1954. Saigon would later become the capital of South Vietnam from 1955 until its fall in 1975. In 1976 it was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.
We enjoyed one of Vietnam's iconic dishes at Pho 2000, known as the restaurant where former President Bill Clinton tried his first bowl of pho in Vietnam during his state visit in 2000, seen in the photos on the wall behind us.
Across the street is Ben Thanh Market, one of Ho Chi Minh City's oldest landmarks. Built in 1870 by the French, the market was initially called Les Halles Centrales before being renamed Ben Thanh in 1912.
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The market has 4 main entrances, 12 gates, and around 3000 stalls. Just about anything is available here, from souvenirs to textiles to fresh produce. It would be easy to get lost in this huge market!
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Vietnam definitely has a motorbike culture! In Ho Chi Minh City, where most of these were taken, motorbikes are the dominant form of transportation. The variety of things we saw being carried on the backs or fronts of motorbikes was amazing! We repeatedly saw families of four, sometimes including a sleeping baby, all on the same motorbike.
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Next, Zoom took us to the legendary Rex Hotel to have coffee on their rooftop bar.
The hotel was made famous during the Vietnam War when it hosted the American military command's daily conference, derisively named Five O'Clock Follies by cynical journalists. Its rooftop bar was a well-known hangout spot for military officials and war correspondents.
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At Minh Phuong Lacquerware Factory, we learned about the labor intensive process that goes into the beautiful lacquerware pieces, the painted finishes, the mother of pearl inlay, and the application of intricate pieces of eggshell. After watching artists at work, we visited the showroom and chose a small painted tray to bring home.
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This building was originally called Independence Palace, built for the president of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, in the architectural style of the 1960s. It went down in history after North Vietnamese communist tanks crashed through its gates during the Fall of Saigon in April, 1975. The iconic scene of the arriving tanks, and a soldier draping a Viet Cong flag over the palace, was witnessed around the world as the moment that marked the end of the war. That November, the building was renamed Reunification Palace.
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The Central Post Office in Ho Chi Minh was constructed between 1886 and 1891 and is still a functioning post office today. Designed by French architect Alfred Foulhoux, it is a beautifully preserved remnant of French colonial times.
In the morning after breakfast at the hotel, Zoom picked us up for our ride to the airport and our flight to Bangkok.
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