Day 121 – Ho Chi Minh City
Exploring Ho Chi Minh City
Today we went to check out the War Remnant Museum, which is tiny compared to the Korean War Museum in Seoul (Day 70 & Day 71). The museum in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is multi-storied with military hardware like planes and helicopters outside. It was interesting to see how the war is portrayed from a Vietnamese perspective. One of the things that stuck with me is the first exhibit, which starts with a quote from the USA’s declaration of independence. After this quote, cue all the photos showing what the opposition (primarily the United States) did to the Vietnamese during the war, which wasn’t pretty.
There was also an exhibit, that showed photos taken by USA photographers mainly. There were many shots including children being burnt by Napalm after an air strike. It gut wrenching stuff.
After the War Remnant Museum, we walked to the Independence Palace. The palace was an impressive and large building, with decent rooms for the time, including a cinema, bunker and helicopter pad. The most interesting part in the palace for me, was the documentary near the exit. The documentary is the story about the history of Vietnam including the French and US invasions, the division between North and South Vietnam and how Saigon (renamed as HCMC) fell. All of which was news to me. The documentary was extremely interesting, but long. As we left the Imperial Palace we could see staff setting up for a wedding outside. It looked very grand and a nice location for anyone looking for a destination wedding.
After the palace, we walked to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception (aka Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon). The building itself was closed off to tourists and there appeared to be some restoration work being performed on the building. The cathedral was built by the French when they had occupied South East Asia.
Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon Post Office
Across the road from the cathedral was another French built building, which was a massive Post Office. The post office looked very similar to the post office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Day 118).
As night fell we walked to the Bui Vien Walking Street, as we had heard that there are several artists working here. We were surprised to find the walking street full of traffic. There might be certain times when cars are banned, but it definitely wasn’t tonight. The street is similar to the Pub Street in Siem Reap (Day 97), mainly catering for tourists. We managed to find a decently priced restaurant near the fringe of the street, before heading back to our hostel.
The Bui Vien…um…Walking Street…
