Last day in HCMC

With much of yesterday taken up with a rainstorm, a broken iPhone screen and essential shopping, we started early and walked hard to make the most of our last day here. 

Another humid run to explore the city streets at 5am. 

Either Thursday morning is the traditional time for wedding photos, or the photographers call up the happy couples in the early hours when the sun shining. 

Back for breakfast then we headed out to the Independence Palace. 

Built for the president at the start of South Vietnam's independence in the 1960s, the building is a curious mix of modernist concrete space and traditional Asian art and statecraft. 

The raised platform for the seat of the president reminded me of what Hamish and I saw in the shogun's palace from the early 1600s in Kyoto last year. 

Even Elijah was impressed by the cinema, games room and helipad. 

In particular the victorious communists delighted in pointing out how one of their fighters had infiltrated the south's air force in order to bomb the palace.

 The war room bunker was particularly interesting, including the original maps and communication equipment. 

The final act of the war was the storming of the palace by tanks like this in 1975. 

Heading off, a friendly coconut seller insisted we try carrying his load - at 40kg, far too heavy for me, no problem for Elijah. The sellers trick worked of course - we lightened his load by buying two coconuts.

Straight on to the War Remnants Museum about the American War. Two museums in a row was a bit much for Elijah, though he did like the audio guides and the recreated torture rooms.

The section about the prison on Phu Quoc sparked our interest. 

For me the overview of the war was excellent, even if it did understandably emphasise the excessive force America and it allies used to try to win, and failed. 

I found the pictures of the war by correspondents who  died on the field quite moving, but two sections actually moved me to tears:

The war crimes room, with pictures and first hand accounts of several massacres, as well as the effects of napalm and phosphorous bombs. 

And the section on the effects of agent orange - used to defoliate 1/4 of (mostly South) Vietnam but producing terrible diseases and birth defects still today - what were they thinking? And still no compensation from the US government or the chemical companies. 

Overall I think this was as powerful and moving as the holocaust museum in Jerusalem. 

How do you recover from this and reward your son for spending the whole morning at 2 museums? Back to our favourite french style patisserie 'tous les jours', which was turning out to be true for our days in HCMC.

Then across the city to Chinatown for two temples, fuelled by soft drinks and Pokemon Go. Standing outside the national security building for a few minutes, the guard told us we had to keep moving - perhaps he misunderstood Pokemon Go raids?

Cao Dai is Vietnam's homegrown syncretistic religion, fusing various eastern religions with catholicism. 

Somehow Victor Hugo (shown writing in French) even gets included because of his concern for Les Miserables.

Not sure how the Olympic rings 

And the swastika fit in. 

Elijah headed to Jollibee to watch the Socceroos on his phone while I headed for the Tue Thanh Assembly Hall. On the way I was stopped by a particularly challenging street crossing. Thankfully an elderly couple was feeling the same, so they adopted me and through the power and reassurance of numbers the three of us managed to cross. No high fives on the other side; just  grins and thumbs up to each other. 

Fascinating carvings, offerings and incense rings.

 Curious how Ho Chi Minh keeps being shown at each religious site. 

I stumbled across a service at another temple just around the corner. Lots of chanting led by the chief monk and accompanied by the sound system. Food offerings for the gods/ancestors. 

Elijah and I met back at Jollibee, then we finished the day with some real food at a Vietnamese place near our hotel. 

We certainly made the most of our last day!

We've loved the sights and sounds and 9 million scooters of Saigon, but we're both ready for something quieter. Phu Quoc, here we come. 

Disaster averted

Awake early so I went for a run just after 5am. The city is quiet then except for some street sellers getting ready for the day, including this man grinding meat. 

It was already 25° and very humid but it was great to get out and see more of the city. I tried running through the port area but two barking dogs and their owners made it pretty clear I should turn around. 

I did get to explore  a whole new area across the other side of the river I'd be curious about on the map. It seems to have been empty land before - or were some settlements moved elsewhere to make way for office blocks?

Interestingly the consulates of the two 'colonial' powers are next to each other - the French and American, with the walls of the American one touting the benefits of USAID. 

 Back to the hotel room and after repeated knocks on the door and messaging,  Elijah was awake and before too long we went down for breakfast. 

We split up for him to go shopping and me to go to the Jade Emperor Pagoda but 5 minutes later we were both interrupted by an unexpected rainstorm. I ducked into the old central post office and then settled in for a coconut coffee at the lovely cafe in Book Street. The ideal place to wait out a rainstorm.

Elijah eventually joined me, sopping wet - but he said it was worth it to get the shiny pokémon he proudly showed me. 

But maybe it wasn't worth it if threaten our holiday happiness. How? 

A water damaged screen on Elijah's phone - no chance of Pokémon Go then. (Brought  back memories of something similar on my trip with Isaac 7 years ago). We rapidly searched out the only authorised Apple repairer in Saigon and headed there as soon as the rain stopped. An hour later Elijah had a new screen. Holiday disaster averted. 

Time then to return to our original plan. Elijah went shopping and I headed for the Taoist pagoda. 

Not that impressive from the outside but on the inside quite extraordinary (though unfortunately photos weren't allowed). Four different shrines with scary and grotesque wooden statues and carvings. I was particularly struck by the depictions of women being tortured in a Taoist hell (not sure why the men were missing out). Local worshippers were buying josticks, candles and fruit to appease the deities and the ancestors, and a few of the western tourists were doing the same with their Vietnamese guides. All in the hope of having their prayers answered. 

What a joy that we have full and open access to our heavenly Father whenever we pray, without any need for a sacrifice other than the only sacrifice of Jesus for us. 

With Elijah headed for a Vietnamese-priced Big Mac meal deal, I was free to get some Vietnamese-priced street food. 

All this and a drink for $4 and it tasted better than McDonald's as well. 

Finally we met up to finish off Elijah's essential shopping at Uniqlo - at shopping centres the likes of which Chatswood has never seen. 

Yet more extraordinary contrasts in this communist country that the West tried so hard to prevent:

Ho chi minh pointing to the Times Square skyscraper. And just around the corner, the new car dealership for those who want to stand out from the city's 9 million scooters. 

Of course, not everything is gleaming but the capitalist spirit kept shining through. The apartments in this old block on the main  boulevarde have been turned into cafes,

this shoe-shiner insisted on cleaning my running shoes (and I was feeling too relaxed to stop him),

And this woman was maximising the economic output of her pedal power and eyesight

A city of contrasts

A good sleep - despite the air conditioner stopping in the middle of the night - sent the nausea away. 

Up at 5:00 a.m. for a morning walk along the river.

 Back for breakfast and then our travels together began. Mr Pokemon Go knew the streets already and led the way to Tao Dan Park. 

A nice surprise - a Jollibee restaurant which we remembered from the birthday party for the compassion sponsored kids in the Philippines. 

Then onto the Venerable Thich Quang Duc memorial.

 Back in 1963 the government of prime minister Diem - a Roman Catholic - was severely persecuting the Buddhist majority. To get world attention Thich invited some international journalists to this street corner to see an important protest. What did they see? After his fellow monk doused him with petrol, he sat down and set fire to himself. The photograph went around the world and caused a great outcry and pressure on the government.

A powerful memorial

- though now you can buy Ray-bans across the street.

Next a fabulous French bakery. We especially enjoyed the chocolate croissant and matcha cream bun. 

Then on to Mariamman hindu temple, built by Tamil immigrants in the late 19th century and rebuilt in the 1950s. We appreciated the informative signs in English but still found Hindu theology baffling.

Next Notre Dame cathedral. Unfortunately the scaffolding didn't really do it justice. 

A fabulous surprise was the HCMC Book Street, full of lovely English and Vietnamese bookshops, art shops and cafes. 

Then a long walk to a  great games shop where they wanted to take a photo of the visiting celebrity for their social media campaign.

Some down time in our hotel room (while the service man fixed the air conditioner) before dinner at Saigon's craziest nightlife street. I've never experienced anything like it. 

Banh mi for Elijah and pho for me - though it wasn't as good as yours Danielle. 

Our impressions of Ho Chi Minh City so far? Hot! Traffic! Scooters!

We've managed to cross the street safely; in fact there are some intersections where there's even a green man which most of the traffic stops for.

I love the extraordinary contrast between french colonial buildings, communist propaganda and statues 

and high-end shopping and skyscrapers 

A day of 35000 steps fuelled by Pokémon Go and multiple cheap soft drinks. 

Ho Chi Minh City

Much excitement as Elijah and I headed off early. Always keen to save money, we got the train to Wolli Creek then walked to the airport. Plenty of time hanging around at the airport and we made sure we didn't board the plane until the loudspeaker said 'final call'. 

The captain was hard to understand over the loudspeaker but I did pick up the word 'turbulence' and 'in about an hour and a half.' Unfortunately that was correct and though the turbulence was never really bad it did happen off and on for most of the flight, and it was the worst flight experience I can remember.  Never thought I'd throw up for the fourth time after we got off the plane in the immigration queue. To his credit Elijah didn't quietly move back in the queue to make out he wasn't in any way related to me.  Fortunately I'd brought one of the paper bags from the plane just in case. I felt quite a bit better after that until the car ride to the hotel. Our first experience of crazy stop-start HCMC traffic full of motor bikes. Very friendly and interesting driver who works 30 days a month and sees his family 20 days a year in Hoi An to earn $9k AUD a year so he can put his his daughters through university. 

I recovered in the hotel room while Elijah headed out to get some supplies for me and then went out again for pizza and to visit the markets.  

Looking forward to exploring tomorrow