Ho Chi Minh City
Flying from Hong Kong to HCMC definitely illustrated the difference between US and Asian airlines. We were given dinner, even though the flight was only 2 and a half hours. Juliana had ordered us each a special meal, vegetarian for her and Kosher. for me, even though I don't keep Kosher any more. When you get a special meal, you get your meal first, and you don't have to worry about them running out of the stuff you like. With the Kosher meal, they brought it to me sealed, and had me unseal it, so that I could be certain of it staying Kosher.
Once we landed in HCMC, it only took us a few minutes to get through Customs and immigration. We didn't have to fill out any forms, either. It was all computerized, which is much more modern than we expected, since even the US makes us fill out forms still. Then I visited the ATM for some spending money, and took out a million dong. It made me feel very rich, until I did the math. At 20,000 dong to the dollar, a million is only $50.00. But everything is super cheap here. Most of our cab rides have been 20-30,000 dong, so all less then 2 bucks each. For an awesome lunch for both of us, we spend 220,000 dong, or $11 dollars. And that included a ton of food, plus the proprietress spoke English and explained what all the food was and how to eat it.
We went to see the Reunification Museum, which used to be the Presidential Palace for the president of South Viet Nam. We were able to join a tour being given by an English speaking tour-guide. Much like our White House, it acted as both residence and office. It was beautifully furnished, of course, in a mix of Eastern and Western items. And like a lot of Western museums, people can rent out parts for events. The living quarters included a movie theater, and a roof top party room with a bar, band platform and dance floor, as well as out door terraces.
The basement had the operations center from the war, with map room, offices (complete with 70's telephones and teletype machines). There was also a large room with photos and news clippings that outlined the country's history from the time the French colonized the area until the Reunification. It was very moving and disturbing at the same time. Two of the people in our tour group were US Navy veterans who had served in Viet Nam. There was no indication of any hard feelings toward them at all.
So now we are going to be picked up by the guide for our 3 day tour. It will be partly by car, and partly by boat up the Mekong River. I am so excited that I woke up at 5 am, so I figured I'd blog and be completely caught up. I'm not sure what Internet access I'll have for the next few days. The hotel we'll stay at Sunday night only says Internet access, so it probably doesn't have wifi in the rooms. The hotel in Beijing only had wifi in the lobby, and that was only intermittent. As in China, I can't get into Facebook. But in both places I can get CNN. In China, I could not get to the IMDB movie website, but I can get it here in VN. Not sure what that was about!
Once we landed in HCMC, it only took us a few minutes to get through Customs and immigration. We didn't have to fill out any forms, either. It was all computerized, which is much more modern than we expected, since even the US makes us fill out forms still. Then I visited the ATM for some spending money, and took out a million dong. It made me feel very rich, until I did the math. At 20,000 dong to the dollar, a million is only $50.00. But everything is super cheap here. Most of our cab rides have been 20-30,000 dong, so all less then 2 bucks each. For an awesome lunch for both of us, we spend 220,000 dong, or $11 dollars. And that included a ton of food, plus the proprietress spoke English and explained what all the food was and how to eat it.
We went to see the Reunification Museum, which used to be the Presidential Palace for the president of South Viet Nam. We were able to join a tour being given by an English speaking tour-guide. Much like our White House, it acted as both residence and office. It was beautifully furnished, of course, in a mix of Eastern and Western items. And like a lot of Western museums, people can rent out parts for events. The living quarters included a movie theater, and a roof top party room with a bar, band platform and dance floor, as well as out door terraces.
The basement had the operations center from the war, with map room, offices (complete with 70's telephones and teletype machines). There was also a large room with photos and news clippings that outlined the country's history from the time the French colonized the area until the Reunification. It was very moving and disturbing at the same time. Two of the people in our tour group were US Navy veterans who had served in Viet Nam. There was no indication of any hard feelings toward them at all.
So now we are going to be picked up by the guide for our 3 day tour. It will be partly by car, and partly by boat up the Mekong River. I am so excited that I woke up at 5 am, so I figured I'd blog and be completely caught up. I'm not sure what Internet access I'll have for the next few days. The hotel we'll stay at Sunday night only says Internet access, so it probably doesn't have wifi in the rooms. The hotel in Beijing only had wifi in the lobby, and that was only intermittent. As in China, I can't get into Facebook. But in both places I can get CNN. In China, I could not get to the IMDB movie website, but I can get it here in VN. Not sure what that was about!