I woke up just around 6am today and helped Paige with a paper. She was at dinner when I texted and asked her how she made out with her revisions from yesterday and she wanted a little more help so she came back early from getting ready for going out for Halloween tonight - and Sophie was visiting!!
We packed up the rest of our stuff and put our bags out in the hallway, all but what we are going to carry with us on the bus. We went for a quick breakfast and I came back again to help Paige a little more. The paper is due today so she needed to do a final read through and fix anything that needed a little bit more clarity.
At 8:30am we disembarked the ship and walked a quick 2 minutes to the busses. While we were on the bus I did some work putting together a CMA for when I'm home and sent Cindy some notes to review it but programmed them not to go until 8am her time because it was after 9pm home time.
We stopped, as always, for a quick bathroom break and then back on the bus and for the next 40 minutes or so I finished off the blog from yesterday and then posted it.
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| I always wonder what necessitated this poster. |
Once we were in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) Nam started giving us information on the city. Saigon is one of the largest cities in Asia with a population of 18 million people (and between 16-17 million scooters) and the largest city in Vietnam. During a general meeting of leaders last year they decided to merge Saigon with 2 other cities which is what made it so large, before that it was 13 million people and 12 main districts.
They're widening the highway here and buying probably the first 30' of land from the owner. They're taking the front part of these buildings down and refacing them as the fronts. The price of the land is based on the sq m that will be obtained by the Government and is negotiated between the Government and the Community. A big change from before 1992 when the land would just have been confiscated.
Saigon has a lot of opportunity because it's growing very fast. Most of the people call it Saigon but the name Ho Chi Minh City is interchangeable. Saigon Centre refers to the central area, Districts 3 and 5, it's a safe and charming area that was developed mostly by the French and before the French was Chinese and before Chinese was Vietnamese.
Today is Saturday so schools and offices are closed but many factories would be open. People like to work extra to make money for living expenses. The factories run 24 hours a day and are split into three 8 hour shifts. If you work nights or overtime then extra pay is negotiated between the employee and employer. As mentioned before Vietnam is a Market Communist country, being a business owner is welcomed and a lot of people open businesses to make a living.
School is free up until Grade 5, considered Primary School. Middle school, Gr 6 - 9, is subsidized as is high school, (Gr 10-12) but its' still expensive. University (4 yrs) and College (2.5 yrs) are not subsidized at all. The Government is considering making education free up until the end of high school but until now it has not been. If you want a better education you can send your children to one of the private, international schools which might be $10,000USD per year. All government subsidized schools the students wear a uniform of a white top and navy bottoms. We saw another school with blue tops and black bottoms so the private schools likely wear something different so they're identified easily as "not government subsidized".
As we drove through District 6, population 300,000, and District 8 Nam explained that they were big slum areas but now they have high rises and car dealerships. 15 years ago in the slums there weren't even really streets, they were paths with makeshift homes. This is 10 miles away from the downtown area, rent here now for a 2 bedroom 18' x 27' apartment would be between $250-300USD per month. The same size in the city centre would be several times higher (still reasonable). Standard buildings here with a shop on the bottom and living on top might be 3-4 stories and 12' wise and 30' deep and house multiple generations. Stairways are winding and only 80cm wide with no elevators. Electrical power is accessible throughout the city and most homes have access also to municipal water.
As we were driving through these 2 districts we drove along a river which had so much garbage piled up along the banks, all bagged but probably 30-50 bags piled up on the bank and down into the river in each pile.
When we arrived to the centre of the city we noticed the trees are numbered. Every tree in the city has a number so that the equivalent of the Parks Department knows where it is. If someone calls in and says that tree 180 needs maintenance they have a map and can go and take care of it.
As we were driving Nam said that Saigon has very good security, that it's safe to walk around. During Binh's talk last night he just warned us not to get on a rickshaw, that even if a price is negotiated in advance the driver could demand you pay extra when you get to your destination. Also to avoid 'fake taxis' to only get in an official taxi because in the fake ones "the meter goes faster than the wheels" and they may take the long way around. I checked the Grab app and they do have Grab cars here, like Uber. When we were in Hanoi we used one for a 20 min ride and it cost $2.
We drove through District 5 and he said this is the largest China Town in Vietnam, there are approximately 1 million Chinese living there.
Nam pointed out the window and there were about 5 loaded down scooters sitting at the side of the road. He said "see that one? They're waiting - see, there is a police up ahead. The scooters are overloaded, they have too much for a scooter - see that, he has 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 50lb bags which is too much, he'll be fined 60,000 dong so he's waiting". 10 seconds later the police were leaving and the scooters were on the move. (60,000 is about $2.50)
We arrived at Independence Palace, where the war historically ended April 30, 1975. The South Vietnamese President declared the end of the war here. Today the building is one of the largest tourist attractions in South Vietnam. In 1962 the original building, built in 1880 was damaged by a bomb explosion and it was rebuilt in 1966. In 1973 President Nixon withdrew US troops from Saigon and South Vietnam, then from 1973 to April 1975 there was a bloody civil war that continued between North and South Vietnam.
The gate on the right is the one that the North Vietnamese Army crashed into.
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| This is a Russian Tank, there was also a Chinese Tank. |
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| These Bonsai were planted in 1966 |
The Ho Chi Minh Trail was the main transport route for soldiers, tanks and fuel during the war with thick jungle canopy to cover and shield their movement from US helicopters above. From the main trail that spanned from Laos down to South Vietnam there were thousands of jungle trails while the North Vietnamese continued to expand their forces. It made them very hard to spot from the air so in 1964 the US army forces used Dioxin "Agent Orange" to spray and kill the trees and jungle so that they could spot and kill the North Vietnamese, this also poisoned food sources. They defoliated an area the size of Massachusetts.
The Tet Offensive in 1969 is when the North Vietnamese launched a mass of attacks (on Tet, which is Vietnamese New Year) on towns and cities throughout South Vietnam. They attacked airports, prisons, palaces and Navy ports with a coordinated but sloppy attack as the Communists tried to "liberate" South Vietnam. Nam said that at one airport 550 North Vietnamese attacked and by the end of the day 80% of them were dead.
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Yesterday at the pool I told Jo that I was jealous of her Birks because I only brought 3 pairs of shoes - sandals with a sturdy sole and a strap at the back because Google said that we may be disembarking up river banks and it could be muddy this time of year; water proof runners for wearing in the rain and on rugged terrain and another pair of enclosed shoes that are a little more fashion but still very practical. She said "Well, I'll tell you, these Birks are so old they have zero tread so a few times I wished I'd brought something a little more practical". When we were at the pool I had on the provided slides from the ship (of course), and I had told her how much flack I got from the girls about the ugly Grandma sandals. Today she saw me out and about with the sturdy sandals on and said "I don't know what your girls are talking about, those sandals are great" (for Grandma sandals they're not bad actually - I wish the back strap came off because they totally could be an add on not a permanent fixture).
It's hot again today! No rain yet but it is grey.
Next we went to the Central Post office which was constructed in 1877 and is still used as a postal hub today. The address is #2 Paris Square which is in the centre of the city. The company that constructed the Eiffel tower completed the interior framework structure with the same materials.
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| This guy was outside.. |
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| can you imagine how hot |
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| this would be?? |
These maps were very cool. The one on the left is Saigon and it's Environment and you can see the Saigon river flowing form North to South. The dark are just to the right of centre is the palace and we're essentially next to it in the Post Office. All those streets are in a grid, this is from when the French came and architected it similar to Paris. The one on the right depicts the whole of South Vietnam and the Mekong Delta. Mekong translates to "the 9 dragon river" because it has 9 mouths that open up into the ocean.
This building was on the cover of a magazine just after the 1975 winning of the war. This was the CIA building and a helicopter landed on the roof and evacuated 4 guests by Huey and it was the last helicopter to leave Saigon.
Our last stop before heading to the hotel is to a Lacquer Factory and Showroom for another opportunity to support the local economy. It's very interesting how they do this and it's painstaking. They'll inlay the wood with either seashells, for iridescence or with duck egg shells which they get from a local hatchery. They get the shells after the ducklings hatch because the shells are thicker and stronger by then.
The Park Hyatt is on Street 1, the very central location beside the Opera House. We got there around 1pm and the rooms weren't ready so we could drop our bags in a meeting room with Binh and come back at 2:15pm to get our bags and our room keys. We heard someone ask about where to get a burger and Binh said across the street you'll see a Pharmacy and beside that is burgers. We saw a place beside the Pharmacy but it looked like it was fast food so I stood and looked up Trip Advisor and a place around the corner said Mad Roosta got 4.9 stars with over 150 reviews so we went there. Ultimately, I think that this is where Binh was sending people though I didn't see that group. Once we were seated we saw Annette, Vincente, Cheryl and Steve walk in and Mom went to wash her hands and saw Timi sitting at the bar on her own so invited her to join us as well.
But first we walked up a dark, painted black staircase where each level up got darker and less occupied looking and less likely that we were going to live. But it was cute in the end.
We decided to share a chicken sandwich and fries because they looked HUGE and we're so glad that we did. It was messy but delicious and ENORMOUS. Timi had the burger and said that it was very good. Everyone agreed that it hit the spot too.
And the rain ARRIVED while we were eating lunch, thankfully we're pretty much across the road and around the corner from the hotel so if it was still raining it wouldn't be a big deal but it stopped.
We went back to the hotel and Binh said that our room wasn't ready, I said to Mom "checking in online didn't do jack all for me" so he went down to reception and came back and said he was wrong, our room was ready he had just put it with the wrong Group so we got our room key, dropped our bags and went to the mall!
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| Obligatory photo before we mess the room up. |
I'm still on the hunt for something for the girls but this Coach also didn't have what they wanted - this mall was something else though! And a welcome reprieve from the heat.
On the way back I spotted the boulevard where there was a building we had passed in the bus. It's a Food Court building that's built up and all the restaurants advertise on the outside.
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| The pedestrian boulevard is so wide. |
On the way back I stopped in a LV and got a wallet for myself because the little wallet that I've been carrying is so handy. Upgrade. At home I have just a little card wallet with no space for cash or change or receipts that I need to keep for my taxes so now I have a couple little compartments. We saw Jo, Conrad, Suzie and Chris outside the hotel as we were coming in, they were heading to the market and Jo said "You should have seen me walking in these birks today I tell ya'". The tile sidewalks are a little slippery when wet and for a country where it rains 6 months of the year that's suprising.
I worked on the blog for about 2 hours and I'm to here and we are heading out for dinner in about 10 minutes with the group.
We had a daily briefing with Binh and he prepped everyone for tomorrow's excursion to the tunnel system. It's a 1hr 40 min drive there and you spend 90 mins there and then drive 1hr 40 mins back. He said it is really busy with big busses of tourists and bring your bug spray. I still want to go, I figure we came all this way. You can give or take going through the tunnel which is about waist high and 3' wide and 35m long which might take you 15-20 mins on hands and knees. Then we arrive back at 12:30pm and the group lunch is 12:45pm so no time to do a shower but time for a quick change. Lots of people decided to skip it right then and there..we didn't decide until just before bed, lol. It's a 7:30am departure to beat the majority of tours that leave from the city at 8am.
I have to remember to ask the reception for late check out tomorrow when we go down for breakfast!
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