Disclaimer: this is unfinished work. The photos aren't up and it hasn't been proof read properly, so beware of spelling mistakes and typos! The Internet has been consistently bad over the past month or so, meaning we can't upload photos. We just wanted to get something readable up in the meantime!
Today we decided to head for the War Remnants museum. During the night, we had been rudely awakened by a group of people who arrived at about 1am. Rather than try and keep the noise down, it seemed as though they were intentionally trying to make as much noise as they could. All 3 decided to have showers and make no effort to whisper. Our other roommate, Charlotte and I were unimpressed and gave them dirty looks whenever we saw them. We gave ourselves a bit of a lie in after our unwanted alarm call and we were surprised to see the late arrivals up and out already. We went down for breakfast and then prepared ourselves for the heat onslaught. It just seemed to be getting hotter and hotter as the days went by and we still weren't quite used to the opressive humidity. The war remnants museum was a fair stroll away, so by the time we arrived we were dripping with sweat. We bought our ticket and entered, admiring the tanks and helicopters that were placed around the front entrance. The first room we entered was seemed to be the Ho Chi Minh propaganda room. It contained staged photos of him working with a fisherman and spoke very highly of the former leader. From the first descriptions it was clear that this museum was only going to describe one side of the story, which is fair enough considering where we were but it didn't really paint the full picture. We left this first room and moved on to photos of all the rallies held around the world that supported the end of the Vietnam War. Next, we wandered up some stairs and ventured round a few rooms that had personalised stories of horror, such as US soldiers entering villages and murdering everyone in sight. These rooms contained photos and physical exhibits from the towns that were effected, as well as accounts of survivors. The final room we got to see was the weapons room, a selection of guns, ammunition and mines used during the war. There was more to see but an announcement came over a tanoy that they were closing between 12 and 1.30. We didn't fancy hanging around in the heat for the place to reopen, so we had a quick nose around the souvenir stalls to see if there was a better pinbadge on offer but there wasn't so we made our way out. We guessed they were closing for lunch and couldn't really understand why they couldn't have lunch at different times to keep the place open but there was nothing we could do about it. Saigon didn't have a great deal to offer and we still had 3 days left before we moved on. After stopping at a bakers and having some interesting pastries for our lunch we went back to the hostel and relaxed. With time on our hands, we thought we should spread out our activities for the week and try and avoid the constant sunshine. That evening we found a restaurant tucked down a road that was highly rated on Tripadvisor. I had a pasta dish but we can't remember what Charlotte had. We weren't really impressed by it, which may explain why we can't recall it.
Saturday
Our weekend was empty but we wanted to escape the confines of the hostel for atleast a few hours. So we decided to wander in the direction of the Saigon River. It took us a little while to get there and didn't really have a path following the side of it. Eventually we managed to cross a very busy road and one seemed to appear out of nowhere. There were a few tourists in the area aswell but there wasn't a great deal to see. As with every other river we had seen in Vietnam, it was a muddy brown colour and filled with rubbish and waste. After a couple of hours spent by the river and making use of the many benches we were accosted by a man wanting us to take a boat ride. We rejected him though for the same reason we did the man in Hué, his boat looked ready to give out any moment. We found ourselves in the posh area again and were desperate for a cold drink and some food. This time we didn't even bother checking out the nearby cafés as we knew they were out of our price range. We knew where we wanted to go and marched off in the direction of home. On the way, we stumbled across Ho Chi Minh square and took a few snaps. Our destination was the Hungry Pig, where we'd had dinner a couple of nights before. This time, we made our own sandwich by ticking what we wanted on a laminated piece of paper. Once again, it didn't disappoint and was nice and cheap compared to the expensive end of town. As ever for Saigon, we retired to our air conditioned room to avoid the hottest part of the day. We were productive though and sorted out our transport for Australia, which meant we had everything booked up tor arrival in New Zealand. We had our heart set on a Saturday night curry for dinner but when we turned up to the restaurant it was full. We could have waited but decided to head somewhere else instead. Another restaurant we had been to before but not quite as good as the curry house.
Sunday
This was a complete and utter rest day, in fact apart from some food, I'm not sure we even took a photo to post up here. After enjoying a Banh Mi (sandwich) up north in Hanoi, we decided to try one from the South but we couldn't really tell the difference between the 2. It was enjoyable though and lunch for 60p is not to be sniffed at. Something else of note that occurred was that we started taking our Malaria tablets, which would see us through our entire visit to Cambodia. The side effects list was as long as my arm and included diarrhoea, vomiting, hallucinations, mouth ulcers, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, itching and dizziness. We were hoping to avoid the majority of these but would have to wait and see. They managed to squeeze us in to the curry house that evening but we didn't have as good a time as we did the first evening we went there. For starters, Charlotte was laughed at when she ordered her dinner. She ordered Butter Chicken, which at home is quite a mild dish and even said as much on the menu. The waiter asked if she would like it spicy or medium, to which Charlotte replied that "it is mild anyway, it says so on the menu". The waiter was baffled by this and said that if she wanted it mild it would be bland. We were pretty sure you can have a very tasty curry without it being spicy and insisted that it should be mild. After that was sorted we preceded to be stared at constantly by a lady who was sat on a table next to us. It was very annoying, to the point where we would be talking about it quite loudly while she was doing it. We also took turns to stare at her while she was staring at us but she never really got the point. We ate our feast (we ordered quite a bit) and asked for the bill. After filling out a quick questionnaire (we had down the same in the previous visit) we waited and waited but the bill wouldn't come, we even handed the questionnaires in, and hoping that that would speed up the process, but it didn't. We asked for the bill again and had another questionnaire brought to us. We turned him away though and asked for the bill, again. After a while it was still nowhere to be seen and we gave up and went downstairs to pay at the counter. The waiter insisted that he was just coming with it but we didn't really believe him. We paid and despite receiving a Christmas card from them, we were a little disappointed.
Monday
Our final day in Ho Chi Minh City and our final day in Vietnam. We had enjoyed the country but had probably overestimated the time we would need in Saigon. The last thing on our list was the Independance Palace. We had passed it when we walked to the cathedral but hadn't noticed it. It was only when we got back that we realised we had been so close. Anyway, we took on the Saigon traffic for one final time. A tourist ticket cost a significant amount more than one for a local. We didn't really have a problem with how much the locals pay but we couldn't see why the tourist price shouldn't be the same. We paid anyway and entered into the grounds. With the coach load of Chinese tourists hot on our tail, we took some snaps of the front and entered the palace. Over the few hours we were there, we took in 3 floors, which contained various rooms, such as a cabinet room, the presidential offices and even one where the presidents wife held her functions. The highlight though was the basement, which contained the war room with maps showing progress and Viet Cong supply lines and various communication rooms with telephones still gathering dust on the tables. After a quick peak in the kitchen, which still had most of its original equipment we left through the gardens. Having come out a different way that we had entered, it took a short while for us to get back on track. After we had found our way we headed for a cafe we'd spotted on the way that morning and treated ourselves to a very tasty sandwich and a nice cold fresh orange juice for our lunch. We stopped off at the supermarket on the way home and picked up some supplies for our coach journey to Cambodia the next day. We cooled off in the room during the afternoon and ventured out one final time to the Hungry Pig for our dinner.
That was that for Vietnam. As ever we had enjoyed small town Hué, more than we'd enjoyed the chaos of Saigon or Hanoi. However, we had both loved Vietnam, the food was good and cheap, the people were friendly and, although we were constantly sweating, we couldn't fault the weather.
James and Charlotte
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