Tour of Saigon

On the first day in Saigon, I decided to take it easy. The night before, I had bought some filled croissants, and there was coffee in the room, allowing me to have a leisurely breakfast in bed while starting the day with Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill on TV...

At around 9:30 AM, I finally sneaked off for my planned day tour. There aren't many (historical) sights to see in the city for three full days, which meant I could take it easy overall. Despite that, the city had a certain charm. My accommodation is centrally located in District 1, so I can reach almost everything by foot with just a few kilometers. First, I headed to the Reunification Palace. On the way there, I stumbled upon a nice sculpture park that hadn’t been on my radar. I strolled past the sculptures and also watched the somewhat athletic activities of the locals. Google then directed me to a side entrance of the Reunification Palace, where a friendly guard informed me I was in the wrong place. So I walked around the entire grounds, and after nearly 15 minutes, I arrived at the entrance. Once again, for a few (tens of thousands) Dong, I got a German audio guide, perfect. This palace was the seat of the President of South Vietnam (after the end of French colonial rule, the destruction of the previous palace at the same location by two defector pilots from the South Vietnamese Air Force, and the new construction of the palace; that’s the short version). Major decisions during the Vietnam War (referred to here as the 'American War') were made in this palace. The impressive historical four-story building with an underground bunker complex contains many conference rooms, meeting rooms, and offices of South Vietnam decision-makers and thus also served as the command center during the Vietnam War...

Next, I headed to the 'War Remnants Museum'. On the way there, a man with a shoe repair tool kit noticed that my sandals looked quite worn. At first, I thought, due to the wild, frantic gesturing, that I had unwittingly stepped into something in my shoe or had some unnoticed injury. But no. He quickly had my first sandal in repair, looking, gluing, cleaning, and pouring some stuff on it. A second colleague rushed over and eagerly worked on the second sandal. I briefly watched the scene with amusement. The second colleague laughed as he shook sand out of a crevice of the shoe (probably still from the beach in Koh Rong) and wanted to sole my shoes with new soles made from cut-out old tires. That didn't seem practical to me anymore. I handed both colleagues a few tens of thousands for the show act, slipped back into my sandals, and moved on. There wasn’t a significant improvement in comfort from the action...

From there, I only had about 100 meters left to the 'War Remnants Museum'; an unusual name, I thought. Here, an array of American military technology of all kinds is initially displayed. Inside, however, there is a particularly interesting exhibition about the war events and their aftermath. Various topics are not necessarily portrayed or discovered in the Western American spheres. The individual exhibitions on the floors showcase, among other things, thematically and visually powerful 'American war crimes', long-term consequences of the use of chemical weapons (including Agent Orange), or representations of various anti-war movements against the Vietnam War in different countries around the world. (The photo exhibition also shows very drastic images and some numbers were previously unknown to me; particularly the amount of bombs and war materials used by the USA)...

Continuing on my round, I next visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which I was familiar with from many pictures. Currently, it is undergoing extensive renovations, so much is only perceivable under the scaffolding. Just a few meters away is the 'Old Post Office'. A large building in colonial style that still serves its old function. You can still send postcards and letters, which I did too, and sent messages in analog form... Then I strolled over to the nearby 'Booking Street', first to the old opera and town hall. Both are not open for interior visits. They are impressive buildings in French colonial style. Lastly, I also planned a visit to Ben Thanh Market. Darkness was slowly setting in. The market has a certain - also historical - significance for the city. Covered over a huge area, you can acquire all sorts of useful and less useful things. There are narrow passages everywhere filled with people; a great many tourists as well. Thus, it is very much catered to tourists, so I couldn’t discern any particular charm for myself and quickly withdrew from the throngs of people, without taking any trinkets with me... That was quite a packed program in warm, sultry temperatures over 30 degrees, and so I first went on a search for a delicious local restaurant, which I found after strolling around for a while. There, and later at my accommodation, I relaxed and ended the day comfortably because the next day the alarm was set for 6:00 AM...