I always intend to but never do a final day so I'm just putting it out there that even though I have a day of travel tomorrow this is the last daily blog!
We are a full 12 hrs time difference now as they don’t recognize daylight savings.
I woke up to use the bathroom at just before 6am for the first time last night and then dozed until I heard Mom moving around at 7am. We slept in this morning and went to breakfast just after 8am. I wanted to make sure that the tour to the tunnels had left the lobby before we went down lest we be herded onto the bus.
Before we went down I FaceTimed with Jay, he was finishing up some work in his office and we chatted for maybe 10 mins. Breakfast was a nice buffet, I had a croissant with jam, fruit and a fried tomato, which I'm really enjoying here but would never make at home. And a decaf cappuccino because the coffee is so good.
We asked at reception if we can get late check out tomorrow and unfortunately we can't. We check out at noon and don't depart for the airport until 4pm. We can use the pool so may do that if it's not too hot, we'll definitely go for lunch tomorrow to Mad Roosta before we leave.
I looked up the first hop on hop off and it starts at the Opera House which is right outside our hotel at 9am so after breakfast we used the lobby bathroom quickly and then went to get our tickets. We waited maybe 10 mins on the top of the bus before it took off promptly at 9am. While we waited there was some kind of concert happening on the steps of the Opera House with singing and dancers.
I had told Mom at 8am when we got dressed for this that it was 26 feels like 26. Very reasonable! But before we left the room (her in her long sleeve shirt) I did look at the hourly for a few more hours and by even 9am it felt like 30. (Now it's 11am and is 31 feels like 36), so we adjusted accordingly and took our fans and visors.
A statue of President Ho Chi Minh, who they also refer to as "Uncle Ho". He started his career as a kitchen helper on a French ship and that began his journey of revolution. We didn't get a tonne of info on this audio tour so I googled it.
Here is the timeline of key milestones in the life of Hồ Chí Minh and the history associated with
Hồ Chí Minh City (formerly
Saigon):
Early Life and Revolutionary Beginnings (1890–1940)
- May 19, 1890: Born as Nguyễn Sinh Cung in Nghệ An Province, central Vietnam, during French colonial rule.
- June 5, 1911: Leaving under the name Văn Ba, he departs from Nhà Rồng Harbor in Saigon on a French steamer to travel the world and seek independence for Vietnam.
- 1919: Working in France under the name Nguyễn Tất Thành / Nguyễn Ái Quốc, he petitions world leaders at the Versailles Peace Conference for Vietnamese self-determination.
- 1925: Founds the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth Association in Guangzhou, China, to train early communist cadres.
- 1931–1933: Arrested and imprisoned by British authorities in Hong Kong.
World War II and Independence (1941–1945)
- 1941: Returns to Vietnam after 30 years abroad and founds the Việt Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) to fight both French colonialists and Japanese occupation forces.
- August 1945: Leads the August Revolution, taking advantage of Japan's surrender to seize power across Vietnam.
- September 2, 1945: In Hanoi, he reads the Declaration of Independence, establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and becoming its first president and prime minister.
Wars of Resistance and Reunification (1946–1976)
- December 1946: The First Indochina War breaks out between the Việt Minh and France after peace talks collapse.
- 1954: Việt Minh forces defeat the French at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, leading to the Geneva Accords, which temporarily partition Vietnam at the 17th parallel.
- 1955: The anti-communist Republic of Vietnam is proclaimed in the south with Saigon as its capital under Ngô Đình Diệm, following the defeat of local factions like the Bình Xuyên.
- September 2, 1969: Hồ Chí Minh dies in Hanoi at age 79 during the height of the Vietnam War.
- April 30, 1975: North Vietnamese forces and the Viet Cong capture Saigon, ending the Vietnam War.
- 1976: North and South Vietnam are officially reunified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and Saigon is formally renamed Hồ Chí Minh City in his honor.
The pedestrian walking area that was in the blog yesterday was originally a canal that was filled in in 1887. Every year they host a flower festival during the Lunar New Year.
The tour took us mostly the same route as last night with a few other stops, it wasn't the most informative City Sightseeing bus we've ever done but it was still nice, I preferred the night one last night with all the buildings lit up, we felt like we needed to do the day one because there was no audio tour on the night one.
We came back to the room very sticky from our tour because you HAVE to be on the top, rain or shine - maybe not rain but grey and windy (England) or shine (most places) to get good pictures and the best views. I've changed, but plan on putting these damp clothes on later for the afternoon excursion.
Mom is very flexible when it comes to me choosing meals, activities, restaurants, etc so I asked her if she would go to a Korean BBQ place for dinner while we're here and she said "sure!". I looked on Trip Advisor and there is one with really good reviews not far but wanted to check with Binh has well that it was ok to eat there and he said "yes it's very good, lots of food". Now that's a problem because we have a set lunch today with the group and they always feed us A LOT.
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| Close to the Hotel and highly rated. |
As we were walking into the lunch, around the corner from the hotel Jackie said she and Carol would like to sit with Mom and I for the Farewell lunch.
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Crispy Featherback Fish Cakes
(Good, not too fishy, good sauce and nice and crispy) |
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| Grilled chicken salad |
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Grilled Shrimp and Pork Paste wrapped
in sugar cane (basically ground shrimp and
pork sausages in lettuce with cucumber and pineapple)
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I forgot to take a photo of the rest - and now realize I should have labelled all the other set meals! Oh well, I may or may not go back and do that (likely I will since I took a picture of the menu each time). I have said to Mom though that I'm glad I enjoy the food so much here because now I can go to a Vietnamese restaurant and not only order Lunch Special 2 . After lunch we gave hugs to Carol and Jackie as it's quite possible we won't see them again and they said if we ever go to Nashville we should let them know because they'll make the trip from Kentucky! (We were talking about its a place in the States I hadn't been but would like to go to).
Before we went to go to the Jeep tour we changed back into our damp tour clothes and went to the lobby bathroom one more time and I was just thinking of Carol and Jackie and that I didn't get their numbers or a picture with them and we saw Carol in the bathroom!
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Us, Jackie on the left and Carol between me and Mom,
I don't know why I'm standing like that, I really did like them! |
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| Jeep Tour around Saigon |
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| Taken by Cheryl and sent to me later |
First stop was a North Vietnamese spy house. He dug a secret weapon bunker under his home in 1968 that was used during the Tet Offensive. The Owner was a contractor for the Independence Palace and made a lot of connections but he was really a spy for the North Vietnamese. His job for the NV was to dig a tunnel to hide weapons to attack the SV when the time was right. It took him 2 years from 1966 to 1968 to dig the bunker. The Tet Offensive, as I mentioned yesterday I think, was the first day of Lunar New Year and was a coordinated attack on the US Embassy, Police Station, Radio Station, among others. The NV didn't keep control of anything very long before it was taken back by the SV.
The Owner had 2 wives, one to keep up appearances as a successful business man and the other to help dig the bunker.
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| Can you spot the bunker? |
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The Bunker was built to contain
2 tonnes of weapons, the round holes were
to be able to break the concrete and escape
through a water pipe and some for ventilation |
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| Mom zippity zipped down |
Back in the car to drive to the next stop.
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The way they drive is actually very efficient and makes you realize why Asian drivers at home don't seem like they're very good drivers - in fact they're excellent drivers they're just not used to our rules (and their way of driving the traffic never stops, you just go - slowly, but left, right, u-turn, you just go and people move out of the way.
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We passed this statue and I said "Oh, that's a nice garden and statue". Then we stopped there to learn about it.
Well the monument actually has a very sad story, but it's beautiful.
The monument is a tribute to a Buddhist Monk who set himself on fire to protest religious discrimination and persecution of Buddhists. He had mustered support to restore 31 Pagodas after they were destroyed in the 1960's. He sat in protest for religious freedom in the intersection in front of the monument, entered a meditation and sat quietly while a fellow monk poured gasoline on him and he was set alight silently in June 1963. The photos, below, spread through media across the globe and forced a change in the mindset of the SV government (which was now under scrutiny).
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Our next stop is a walk through the Flower Market, the largest in Saigon, also referred to as the "Sorry Market", its open 24 hours. Flowers are common in daily life of the Vietnamese people. They use it as an offering to their ancestors at home because they believe that their physical body is gone but they honour their spirit. They also leave a daily cup of coffee or cigarette to keep them happy. Flowers are also used for celebrations as they are at home.
There is no national flower in Vietnam but the Lotus Flower is a common representation of beautification in Buddhism because it is planted in the mud and dirt and so represents character in overcoming difficulty.
When we got into the restaurant Jackie and Carol were eating at a table for 2 and there was a table next to them available so we sat next to them, had a 'last supper'. Carol was done with her fries so Mom and I polished them off because I said that we should order fries with our pizza and she said she was done, then said she was done again and then insisted she was done, lol
The pizza was excellent, and even though we weren't hungry we ate it all - I had 3 pc and Mom had 5! But she did stop eating the end crust after the 2nd one. We had the burrata pizza with a pesto on it and I forgot to take a picture until we had each eaten 2 slices so you get a close up of what's left.
Tomorrow I'm unlikely to post so this will be the last one.
Tomorrow we pack up and check out around 12pm and our transfer leaves for the airport at 4pm and takes about 45 mins. Between 12-4pm we'll likely go for lunch back to Mad Roosta and then sit in the lobby until it's time to leave. We can leave our luggage with reception for the 4 hours and if we wanted we could use the pool, showers and change room but I don't think that we will.
Our flight leaves from Saigon to Hong Kong at 7:45pm and arrives at 11:25pm. We have an overnight here so I booked the airport hotel and our flight from Hong Kong to Toronto leaves at 11:00am and arrives the same day in Toronto at 12:30pm (we lose the 11 hrs), it's a 14h 30m flight.
As far as 50th birthday trips go it was pretty incredible. We already have another trip together booked for next year in September - Amsterdam to Switzerland by river with Avalon.
Signing off the blog until my next adventure!
