Here are some of our favorite photos from the trip (each photo is a thumbnail linked to a higher quality picture.):
146) Reunification Express Overnight Train, Quy Nhơn, Vietnam, February 25, 2025 - The bus brought us to the Quy Nhơn train station. We got there 30 minutes before our train (which only stops at this station for about 5 minutes to unload and load passengers so we stayed in the lounge until the announcement to prepare. We were quite efficient and were settled into our car before the clickety-clack of the wheels could be heard. I had my lukewarm pesto fettuccine and cold cheesy bread, washed down with an "orange drink" (aka Tang) from the train station vending machine. Better than last night’s frozen veggie pizza but it is safe to say I was looking forward to more delicious Vietnamese food once we arrived in Ho Chi Minh city the next morning. As the train rolled down the tracks I spent some time trying to make a visible dent in the so called mattress on my sleeper car bed.
147) Sài Gòn (aka Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - You get a sense of déjà vu reading the first bit of this write up. This is because once again I had a remarkably crappy sleepless night on the overnight train, this time the train from Quy Nhơn to Ho Chi Minh City. The motion of the train and the myriad noises that come with lots of people in a confined space didn’t bother me but the rock hard mattress was a deal breaker. I just could not get comfortable with my hips, my shoulders and my elbows all hurting. I think I nodded off for a little between 1 and 4am but for most of the night I was listening to podcasts. On the plus side, I am now caught up on two weeks of downloaded podcasts... our train rolled into Ho Chi Minh station at 6:15am and we all zombie walked from the platform to the bus. The drive from the train station to the hotel was our first glimpse of Ho Chi Minh City and wow. This is a frenetic place. 13 million people live in this city and even at 6:30am the traffic was astounding. Literally, hundreds of scooters back up immediately whenever a light turns red. The roads are just a river of scooters with a few cars, trucks and buses acting as log jams. The other thing that was immediately obvious is that Saigon is hot, hot, hot. I didn’t check the temperature on my weather app but my sweat-o-meter said it was mid-80s with high 70s of humidity. At 6:30 in the morning. I we were thinking back wistfully on the chilly, rainy days we had been experiencing in the north.
148) Bưu Điện Trung Tâm Sài Gòn (Saigon Central Post Office), Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - It was a short bus ride to our hotel - the Central Park Hotel. We couldn’t check into our rooms yet but did have access to a couple of rooms for our group to shower and freshen up after the overnight train. Most of the group were jumping right back on the bus for a 1 1/2 hour drive to visit the Co Chi Tunnels - a section of underground bunkers built by the Viet-Cong to support their military operations during the war. We decided to skip the trip and inside focused on seeing Ho Chi Minh City. First, we paid the hotel to get breakfast at their buffet which gave us some real food and some much needed caffeine. After that we, along with one other tour member Angela, met up with our guide Minh in the lobby. He brought us on a 1 1/2 hour walking tour of the central part of old Saigon. This included seeing Book Street, the old 19th century French Central Post office, the Opera house, the old US CIA building where the famous "Last chopper out of Saigon" photo was taken, Independence Palace, the Notre Dame of Saigon Cathedral, Bùi Viện Street, and the Ben Thanh Market. Whew! A thorough overview of Ho Chi Minh City.
149) Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - Perhaps my favorite was a "Cafe Apartment" building. These were old French colonial buildings which had been turned into fancy apartments for the rich and powerful during the post-1954 South Vietnam era. Once the Vietnam War was over in 1975 these buildings were confiscated by the Communist Party and the apartments handed over to families as rewards for their support and/or fighting during the war. Unfortunately, these housing grants didn’t come with any legal titles to prove ownership since everything was collectively owned and now, in a more liberalized economy, these families can’t turn these apartments into any sort of wealth because they can’t be sold. Since these old colonial buildings are now in popular historic districts which are heavily touristy (IE: gentrified) the families are now sub-leasing their apartments to cafes and shops in order to earn high rent on these spaces they cannot sell. We went into one of the 19th century apartment buildings that is now basically a mall but with all the shops and cafes in a precarious situation since they can’t legally protect their space’s lease. It was a funky place with a fascinating story.
150) Nhà Hát Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh (Saigon Opera House), Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - One interesting cultural experience was visiting the Opera House. This is another classic French Colonial building with a grand arched facade. In self-crazed Asia the entrance of the Opera House has become an insanely popular spot for photographs and in addition to the usual cloud of teens crowding the steps for selfies there were also many couples dressed in fancy clothes getting wedding photos at the Opera House. Out front, there was a smattering of classic cars including a Triumph convertable and an American Ford Mustang that were also being used as props for photos. Finally, the ultimate example was a professional model with a full photography crew was strutting her stuff in a slinky dress while a couple of bouncers tried to run off anyone who dared photo the whole spectacle.
151) Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - Our walking tour ended at the Ben Thanh Market. At that point we started a slow walk back to the hotel with a couple of stops along the way to take a deeper look at a few things we'd seen on the tour. Once we got back to the hotel we could check into our room which meant we could change to dry clothes after two hour in the hot Ho Chi Minh City weather. We found a couple of different spots nearby with good looking food. We went back out with Jonna going one direction to get papaya salad and me going a different direction to pick up a vegan Banh Mi sandwich (along with chips and a soda at a nearby convenience store.) We met back up at the room to enjoy our lunch. Yummy and once again we were amazed that lunch for both of us was under $5 total.
152) Bảo Tàng Chứng Tích Chiến Tranh (War Remnants Museum), Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - At 1:30 we went back down to the lobby to regroup with Minh and Angela and then we took a bus to the War Remnants Museum. This was a three story building surrounded with substantial grounds. The museum tells the story of the Vietnam/American War from the perspective of the current government. I didn’t question most of what was presented but it was also clear what wasn’t being said and also how what was being said was part of carefully crafted propaganda ("History is written by the victors"). Nonetheless, the information presented definitely shows how horrific war is regardless of the politics or ideologies of those involved. Around 58,000 US soldiers were killed and around 380,000 injured. By comparison about a million Vietnamese soldiers were killed (both North and South) and about 2 million civilians were killed. Then over 28,000 more Vietnamese have been killed *after* 1975 by unexploded ordinance and many more thousands killed or maimed by the genetic damage done by defoliants like Agent Orange. It is no wonder that the modern Vietnamese government's approach to International Politics is to stay independent and neutral. When you lose 3 million people (in 10 years - even more when you factor in the Japanese invasion in WWII and the 8 year war for Independence against the French) I think it fundamentally shifts a country’s outlook on conflict... at least for a couple of generations. At the War Remnants Museum we met back up with the rest of our group who had come straight there from the Co Chi Tunnels. Apparently, seeing both in one day is an even more moving experience.
153) Bảo Tàng Chứng Tích Chiến Tranh (War Remnants Museum), Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - One of the most moving parts of the War Remnants Museum was an exhibit on the journalists who were killed coveing the war. This exhibit had photos by the journalists, photos of the journalists and write-ups telling the story of each one. Powerful.
154) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - We bused back to the hotel where Jonna and I sent some dirty clothes out to he laundered and then rested in the room for a couple of hours. At 5:30pm we headed back out for a special tour we had booked independently - a three hour food tour of Ho Chi Minh City done via scooter by Top Notch Motorbike Street Food Tours. We had two riders, both very energetic twenty-somethings who spoke great English and that were confident, skilled riders. Daniel and Rachel picked us up in front of the hotel and after a quick introduction we were off into rush hour traffic. It is hard to articulate what riding a scooter in a town of 13 million people is like. It is analogous to jumping into a river - just being submerged and completely surrounded by a steady, unstoppable flow. We literally brushed knees and elbows with the other riders around us and when our riders needed to turn they just turned. Whether it was crossing oncoming traffic or merging with traffic going the same direction. The other traffic just makes room - people rarely stop - and there is no ego or drama. Space is needed and space appears. Everyone adjusts and the river keeps flowing. It is just amazing to see in person.
155) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - Our first stop on our food tour was just a block from our hotel where a man from the Mekong Delta was selling fresh coconut water drinks. He had dried pineapple and dried kumquat. His drink consisted of some dried fruit, some coconut flesh, coconut water and ice. Very refreshing! Next up we got to surprise our guides. They brought us to the park across from our hotel to get papaya salad from a small food cart run by a family that had been operating this cart for five generations. They were shocked when Jonna said she’d just had that salad for lunch and asked her how she’d found out about it. Jonna obviously loves it and it gave me a chance to try it so stop #2 was another success.
156) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - What was also successful, as a lesson we learned after our food tour in Hanoi, was not to finish the food. Instead to share one portion or just eat half. The food is super cheap (maybe $1 per dish) and the vendors collect uneaten food to give/sell to farmers for animal feed so leftovers aren’t wasted. We took off for a much longer ride to our next stop. While Rachel and Jonna went straight to the next street food vendor Daniel veered us over to a street corner where four women were cooking sticky rice on a big rolling grill. From the seat of his scooter, with me sitting on the back, he ordered two which the ladies popped straight off the grill and into a to-go box which they handed us and off we went. Probably took about 20 seconds total.
157) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - We caught back up to Rachel and Jonna then sat down at a table behind a busy food cart. The specialty here is beef stew. While Daniel ordered for Jonna, Rachel took off for a neighboring cart that makes a vegetarian version using tofu instead of beef. This stew was both Daniel and Rachel’s favorite dish so they ordered bowls for themselves as well. This meant we lingered and started a very enjoyable conversation with them both and over the following couple of hours had the opportunity to get beyond pleasantries and to learn about them both. On top of that, the stews were delicious! The broth is made with cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, spring onion, carrots, and more. Fresh green herbs, bean sprouts and hot chilies are added to taste. I stuck to the plan to just eat half but it was very hard to push the soup away.
158) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - To go with the soup we had chilled unsweetened jasmine tea. Again very refreshing. One sad bit that will be a lasting memory was a super cute orange tabby kitten that was sleeping next to our table. The kitten had been hit by a scooter last night and apparently had a broken leg. It had a little homemade neck "cone" on so hopefully that meant it had been seen by a vet but no cast or visible sign of treatment. I wanted to cradle the little cutie and protect it from the chaotic world it must survive in. After the stew Daniel pulled out the sticky rice he’d bought. It turned out to be chunks of banana, encased in sticky rice and then grilled over a wood fire. A sauce was then made from coconut milk thickened with tapioca powder. The cooked rice, the banana and the coconut mill combined to give it a rich, sweet flavor. Very nice!
159) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - With this course done it was back on the scooters for a 5 mile drive to Cholon - Ho Chi Minh City’s Chinatown and at 3 million residents possibly the largest "Chinatown" outside of actual China. We visited an actual sit down restaurant that specializes in a rice pancake that is made in a wok. It usually contains pork and shrimp but we decided to split a vegetarian version made with mushrooms, bean sprouts and green onion. The pancake is eaten by tearing of a bite sized chunk then wrapping that up in a stack of greens including lettuce, purple herb, fish mint, spearmint, basil, and a couple of others I’ve already forgotten. Then resulting tightly wrapped "cigar" of greens and pancake is dipped in a sauce - normally based on fish sauce but in this case based on soy sauce with various herbs and spices. We again took our time and enjoyed a fun conversation.
160) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - Next we had a quick stop at another street vendor. This family makes Banh Mi sandwiches and what makes them unique is they have a portable oven they set up on the sidewalk each day to make their on fresh baguettes. We each had half a sandwich - mine with egg omelette and Jonna’s with pork. Very tasty but also simple flavors (especially compared to the gourmet vegan banh mi I’d had for lunch.) I didn't get a photo of the sandwhich but I did take a photo of Rachel and Jonna as we were leaving.
161) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - Our next stop was our final one. However, we would be trying dishes from multiple vendors so there was still plenty of food to go. We rode to the flower market which operates 24 hours a day. As a result there are lots of food vendors here selling to all the people working and visiting the market. We found a little table - really a knee high crate with tiny plastic stools for chairs. More of a squat than a sit. Our first dish here was split: I had fried quail eggs with cheese, spring onion and crunchy fried shallots, dipped into a tamarind sauce. Very rich and creamy!
162) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - Jonna the meat eater had little rolls made from grilled beef and peanuts wrapped in wild betel leaves served with a citrus dipping sauce.
163) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - After that round was a relatively new addition to Vietnamese street food - a Vietnamese Pizza. This is a piece of rice paper covered with fried egg then topped with chopped green onions, mayonnaise, chili sauce and (for Jonna) tiny shrimp. The whole thing is grilled giving it a smoky flavor. To go with these two courses I had a big glass of sugar cane juice that was also very tasty.
164) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - Finally, it was time for desert. This was a dish with some heavy French influence. A caramel custard (aka flan) covered with a sauce made from coffee, coconut milk and crushed ice. Another delicious dish and since it was the last one of the tour I went ahead and ate the whole thing.
165) Scooter Food Tour, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 26, 2025 - After a walk through the flower market Daniel and Rachel delivered us back to the hotel - stuffed with great food but also very pleased with the great time we’d had getting to know them. It you are ever in Ho Chi Minh City I would say this is a "must do". By this point of the trip I was starting to feel disappointed that during the past two weeks in Vietnam our guide had not brought us to visit the rock quarry where they chip out their mattresses. Based on the beds we have encountered they are clearly quite proud of just how durable these mattresses are so I suspect some of them must date back to the times of Chinese rule. Needless to say, I had another night of rolling around on a mattress that was just as hard as the tile floor in our hotel room.
166) Bến Tre Islands Tour, Bình Đức, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - I was pretty sleepy when Jonna prodded me out of bed for breakfast. We had a simple breakfast at the hotel that was a cross-cultural mix of eggs and noodles. We then checked out of our room and dropped off our luggage to be stored in the luggage storage area while we boarded our bus for an overnight excursion. The traffic was again jaw dropping and it took is an hour to get out of Ho Chi Minh City and into the rural area to the south. Our destination was the Mekong River Delta. It was another hour drive to the city of Mŷ Tho. From there we boarded a tourist boat over the Tien Giang branch of the Mekong River to Unicorn Island. While we waited for our boat, our guide Menh modeled the hats for sale in the ticket office.
167) Thoi Son (Unicorn Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - I was excited to see this part of Vietnam but honestly I was once again thrown into a complicated experience, one we have encountered a few other times in our travels. Rural villages are usually quite fascinating to visit so as a traveler I try to do that. However, I also acknowledge that the people living in villages aren’t interested in being gawked at by foreigners and that their daily lives aren’t a show for tourists. So a balance has to be struck where the rural people get compensated and I pay for my immense privilege of getting to travel there. So the problem for a tour company is to decide how they strike that balance. When it isn’t done well (in my opinion) I end up feeling like a walking ATM with each person I meet just trying to figure out how to withdraw their piece. When the tour places too much focus on the tourist I assume the villages feel like they are being taken advantage to display their way of life with nothing to gain. With that background I will say that our tour today mostly felt like the former to me. Unicorn island is primarily small villages growing fruit and coconuts. However, they have set up a tourist path where the ferry drops visitors off at a pier and then there is a series of stops - each providing a little information but then each one also trying to sell something.
168) Thoi Son (Unicorn Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - For example, our first stop was a pavilion with fruit sampling. We didn’t learn much about the methods of growing fruit. Nor did we see much fruit being grown. Instead there were plates with five different fruits (pineapple, guava, jackfruit, Vietnamese kiwi and pomelo) we could taste and then a plate of deep fried bananas were brought out that we could purchase. Then we walked on to the next station while I was thinking "Hey, wait, can I see how these fruits are farmed?". Station number 2 was the water coconut with a quick demonstration of what it looks like. Then we were offered the opportunity to buy some iced coconut water.
169) Thoi Son (Unicorn Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - Then on to station #3 which was bee-keeping. A frame of bees was brought out for a photo op and we were offered a small cup of honey tea. As we sipped, out came the selection of honey products and a sales pitch.
170) Thoi Son (Unicorn Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - Across the street was a chocolate shop. Another quick description, a free sampler and then the chocolate bars were for sale. ...and then we were back on the ferry boat to go to Coconut island. I was very disappointed. I get that, through a tour like this, the villagers are being directly financially compensated for showing us their farming and cultural history. But in this case I’d rather have skipped the trip rather than feel like I am on a forced sales pitch. But is there another way that guarantees both sides get what they want? Complicated all around.
171) Con Phung (Phoenix Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - Anyway, after Unicorn Island it was a short ferry down river to Coconut Island. This is a larger island which is accessible via bridge so there is a largish town. Where the ferry drops off there is a market with a demonstration area showing the manufacture of coconut candy. A quick presentation on de-husking, harvesting the flesh and then cooking the flesh to make a sweet treat. Next was the now predicable free sampler and then the table with bags of candy for sale.
172) Con Phung (Phoenix Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - The final stop in the market was the rice wine (basically moonshine) area where cobra snakes are pickled in rice wine then shots are sold to provide men with "vitality". A version for women is made with bananas in place of the dead reptile. It felt gimmicky to me but then again no culture has ever failed to find a market for something that convinced old men they are still young so maybe it is common in back alleys and smokey bars.
173) Con Phung (Phoenix Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - Next up we boarded wooden canoes and had a paddle through the water coconut groves. This was actually quite pleasant but unfortunately didn’t last very long. Again, just a sampler. The canoe dropped us off at a set of pavilions used to serve lunch to tourists doing the tour path.
174) Con Phung (Phoenix Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - The meal was nice - fish spring rolls for the meat eaters, tofu for us vegetarians. Sides were soup, veggies with a nice sauce, banana flower fritters and steamed rice. They had hammocks and friendly puppies to entertain us after we finished eating.
175) Con Phung (Phoenix Islet), Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - There were three vegetarians in our tour group so we often got platters of food just for us. Here are the vegetarian spring rolls and the banana flower fritters. At least I got my recommended daily serving of fried food!
176) Thanh Tân, Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - Our plan for lodging was a homestay with a family a couple of miles away. For the journey from the market to the homestay we loaded into two tuk-tuk trucks and bounced down a very rough road into town. Rough on the kidneys! Once we got to town and into a proper paved road the tuk-tuk ride wasn’t as uncomfortable but we only went a few blocks before it was time to unload. Then we walked about a 1/4 mile on a little paved path out to a smaller branch of the Mekong. Our homestay is a beautiful compound with a covered wooden deck built out over the river and a house with separate private rooms for us. The beds are rock hard but otherwise it is a nice place. We rested for about an hour, then met up at 5pm for an hour guided walk through the neighborhood. We got to see how each of the houses here has its own small canal that is used to water whatever they choose to grow and to hold whatever fish they want to raise. There were beautiful flower gardens, coconut farms, miniature fruit orchards, small animal farms for chicken or geese, and others filled in to house a business.
177) Thanh Tân, Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 27, 2025 - Our tour then went back into town where we visited the fruit market and walked to a bridge over a different canal. Then we turned back and took a different route back to the homestay. This was a much more enjoyable way of seeing life in this area than the tour this morning...but I also didn’t spend any money so in that sense I was just another gawker so I was just shifting the balance I mention earlier in my favor. Back at the homestay we had s brief waiting period where we went out on the deck to watch the bats emerging to zip around (hopefully eating mosquitoes!) I didn’t explicitly say it but this whole area is a marsh so there is standing water everywhere. We were all slathered in bug spray and even then we each had a few bites. As the sunset we started dropping the mosquito nets over our beds and reapplying the deet. Dinner was outside in a breezy courtyard beside the house. It was another expansive affair with about eight different dishes served by the very cheerful hostess. After dinner I grabbed a quick shower and headed straight to bed hoping many hours of rolling around on the hard mattress might equal a shorter amount of quality sleep. One possible complication to that plan is a Communist Party building just upriver from us that was blasting patriotic songs from some outdoor speakers. Thankfully, the shut down whatever wass being celebrated soon after we hit the bed.
178) Mekongstay Bén Tre Homestay, Thanh Tân, Bến Tre, Vietnam, February 28, 2025 - I am not gonna lie, my night on the rock hard bed at the homestay was as bad as I expected. The homestay, Mekongstay Bén Tre, really was a lovely place and the hostess, Trì Văn Nghiêp, was very sweet so I don’t want so say anything disparaging about them. But the bed - Ooof. I ended up getting up a few times during the night and tried to give my shoulder and hip a break but I didn’t want to spend too much time out from under the mosquito netting. I was fried by the time 5:30am rolled around which was when our guide had recommended as the wake up time for those who wanted to watch sunrise over the Mekong. The sunrise wasn’t particularly spectacular this day but the homestay family did put out coffee and tea for those who got up early. I had two cups of dark, sweet Vietnamese coffee and that just about kept me awake. Breakfast was eventually served - omelettes, fresh watermelon, warm baguettes and deep fried banana fritters - and then it was time to pack up for the two hour bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh City. We again walked the 1/4 mile to the edge of town and boarded the bus. After an hour I was nodding off but we stopped for a bathroom and coffee/tea break so I was able to top the blood-caffeine level back up with an iced tea. Another hour and we were back at our hotel in HCMC.
179) Ho Chi Minh City Book Street, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 28, 2025 - When Jonna and I checked in we saw we had a different room than before. When we opened the door to our new room and I saw the big, squishy bed I nearly burst into tears of happiness. However, I also knew that if I laid down then I would be out for the day and we had some tasks to take care of. First was sorting out the laundry we had dropped off two days ago. Next was getting lunch - we made a loop around the block where we purchased the same things we’d gotten our first day here. A papaya salad for Jonna and a veggie banh mi for me. Creativity isn’t my strong point when my brain has shut down to essential processes only. After lunch we had to prepare our final gift for our guide Minh. The tour we booked with Intrepid was both Vietnam and Cambodia. However, in reality it is two separate tours back-to-back with separate guides. So this night was the Farewell Dinner for the Vietnam tour and our final time with Minh. The next day we would move to another hotel and start the new tour with our Cambodian tour guide. Anyway, we got a card and a farewell gift for Minh but still needed to get some Vietnamese Dong (cash) as a tip so it was back out the door to find a bank. We had also bought Vietnamese stamps for four postcards so we needed to find those as well so after the bank we went to Book Store Street to peruse the postcard options. Jonna found some she liked so check that item off the todo list.
180) Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 28, 2025 - As long as we were out and as long as we were in this part of town we might as well walk over to the Fine Arts Museum and check it out. It is in a old French Colonial building (with one of the oldest elevators in the city) and the collection contains only works made by Vietnamese artists. It had three floors: the top floor was Modern and Contemporary Art. The middle floor was art made before 1975 (the year of Vietnamese Independence) and the bottom floor was art made after 1975. Being a government project much of the art is telling very specific stories about the people of Vietnam - whether it is an idealization of the rural lifestyle or the hero struggle for liberation. Sadly, Vietnam cannot yet acknowledge the different viewpoints that have existed in the country so there isn’t any art showing the French colonial period, nor is there any art by South Vietnamese artists who were sympathetic to the South Vietnamese government during the war. Still, even with those limitations there was some interesting art and like the Fine Arts Museum we visited in Hanoi it was great to learn more about Vietnamese artists. Maybe one day the propaganda aspect will be lessened and the voices of some counter viewpoints can be shown as well.
181) Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts Museum, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 28, 2025 - One of our favorite pieces was this huge painting with curving lines which, at a distance, looked like either a topographical map of the country or a thick section of jungle foliage.
182) Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 28, 2025 - We were both pretty tired once we finished at the museum and with the afternoon temperature in the upper 80s (with the ever present high humidity) we decided that a ride share was a much better idea than the long walk back to the hotel. Even with it being afternoon rush hour the traffic wasn’t too bad and we made it back around 4:15pm. Plenty of time to shower, change into clean clothes, stuff the Thank You envelope with our freshly withdrawn cash and get down to the lobby by 6:15pm to meet our tour group for the final time. We made a 1 mile walk into the fancy shopping district where we found a nice rooftop Vietnamese Fusion restaurant for our Farewell Dinner. Memories of the last two weeks were shared, jokes were told, appreciation speeches were given and a good time was had by all. The food and drinks were all good but the service was terrible so a bit of a mixed bag.
183) Bưu Điện Trung Tâm Sài Gòn (Saigon Central Post Office), Sài Gòn, Vietnam, February 28, 2025 - The group was gung-ho to head out for cocktails and karaoke after dinner but my fuel meter was firmly on "E" at that point so we said our goodbyes and made the walk back to the hotel. Friday evening is a very lively time in Ho Chi Minh City so it was cool to see all the people out and feel the buzz of energy. I was pretty single-minded already imagining that soft bed waiting for me in the hotel room. This officially ended our Vietnam tour and tomorrow we start our next tour with a Welcome Dinner in the evening.
184) Sông Sài Gòn Waterbus, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, March 1, 2025 - The first day of our new tour was primarily about logistics so not a lot to share. We got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. Then we packed up our luggage and checked out of our room. We stored our bags in the hotel luggage room to be picked up in the afternoon. Then we were off to do one sightseeing activity before our tour schedule dominated the rest of the day. The weather is Saigon is always warm and even at 9am that was true. We knew the temperature would be going up as the sun got higher in the sky so doing our outing in the morning would spare us the worst of the heat. It was a thirty minute walk, at a brisk pace, to go the 1 1/2 miles from our hotel to the Saigon River. There are fancy sightseeing boat trips you can do on the river but a traveler’s tip we read in a travel book is the Saigon Waterbus. The government introduced this about 10 years ago to try to ease traffic. It is a commuter ferry that travels along the Saigon River with a dozen stops along the way. A one-way ticket costs 15,000 Dong ($.60) and the trip takes about an hour with boats leaving the main pier every 90 minutes. As a bonus there is a Starbucks at the pier so we could get some decent tea while we waited for the 9:30am boat. The ride was mellow with some nice views of the city skyline and it was interesting to see the other river traffic as freighters and barges sailed past.
185) Sông Sài Gòn Waterbus, Sài Gòn, Vietnam, March 1, 2025 - While we plugged away going upstream Jonna got online to plot our return trip. We had a noon lunch commitment so we decided taking the waterbus back wasn’t going to work. Once we realized that a 35 minute ride share from the next-to-last waterbus stop would only cost $6 we decided that was definitely the right move. This turned out to be an excellent choice because we got an awesome ride share driver. A young man who had learned English from Hollywood movies. In the privacy of his car we were able to discuss some challenging topics like the fate of South Vietnamese soldiers after the war, the economics of the Communist government, Vietnamese people’s view of "The American Dream", the current US President, how Vietnamese view their Asian neighbors, etc. Jonna and I were completely enthralled the entire time and I think we both thought it was one of the highlights of our time in Vietnam. The privacy of a car and someone whose occupation doesn’t require him to present a certain view of the country provided us with an unfiltered conversation that was exactly what we could feel we were missing on this trip. We got back to downtown a little early for our lunch so we walked 4 blocks to an air conditioned market we had seen on the walking tour when we first arrived in HCMC. We did some searching and eventually found a lady selling umbrellas - something we had been casually looking for since arriving in Saigon over two weeks ago. Jonna wasn’t worried about rain protection, we have good rain jackets for that, but the sun in Cambodia is supposedly brutal and there are plenty of archeological sites with no tree cover so Jonna wanted easily portable shade. With a little pop-out travel umbrella secured for $8 we back-tracked to the restaurant and went in early to enjoy the air conditioning and some cold drinks. Jonna has a long time friend from California whose brother moved to Vietnam 30 years ago and has lived here until just recently when he moved back to the US. He happened to be back in Vietnam finishing up some business dealings and he had generously agreed to give us some of his time. We met Curt at a great little Mediterranean Restaurant called Au Parc and proceeded to have a delightful 1 1/2 hour lunch with him. We were able to get his view on a number of our experiences as well as to hear about his 30 years of living and working in Ho Chi Minh City. Another very interesting discussion and another broadening of our understanding of this country.
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