The day dawned hot and what else, humid. How did our soldiers, in fatigues and full gear, stand this weather when they fought the war? Today’s tour is coordinated by Cliff, and it is a large group. He has 2 buses with about 36 in each. But each bus is to go there separate ways throughout the city. So all Cliff has to do is keep track of his 36 little chick-a-dees.
Today we are in docking in Phu My, the port for Saigon/Ho Chi Ming City, we have a good 2 hour drive over bad roads with lots of traffic. Our guide is Mrs. Thi (Mrs. T). She is the owner of Smile Tours She said she rarely takes tours anymore but in light of the size of this one, decided we needed special handling. Thanks Cliff!! Her English is excellent and knowledge unsurpassed. On the drive into the city, she had a lot of time to talk about the tour. She was very prepared with booklets, a copy of our itinerary (nice touch), bottles of water and fresh, cold, towels when returning from a tour. But the 2 hour drive turned from a tour into indoctrination. As you might imagine, it was very slanted to “Uncle Ho’s” point of view. We had been warned about this in a port lecture - our job was to smile and keep our mouths closed.
Our first stop – the Jade Emperor pagoda. This is an active temple with many worshipers. So Mrs T talked about the pagoda before arriving and did not talk during our walk through. There are various rooms here, one dedicated to the emperor, which represented heaven. The next housed “hell” and the third had 9 mother statures lined on both sides. Here is where a couple goes to worship when they cannot conceive.
Off to the Presidential Palace. Many Pulitzer photos were taken here when the city fell and tanks rolled in breaking down the iron fence. The palace is large with many narrow corridors in the basement level. I was told there was a lot of war propaganda, but I really did not find any.
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| View from balcony of Presidential Palace |
We then went to a water puppet show. This turned out to be the “find” of the tour. I absolutely loved it and even though I could not understand what was being said, a little imagination went a long way. Great time!!
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| Dragon spitting fire at Water Puppet Show |
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| Very talented puppeteers |
We had a drive by of the very old Notre Dame Cathedral (it was closed), the post office and the famous Rex Hotel where war correspondents held their nightly broadcasts from. Lunch was in the Pho 2000 restaurant, so named for the year Bill Clinton visited the restaurant. It was a typical Vietnamese restaurant and very busy.
We ended up with some free time to shop in the Ben Thanh market. I did not have a lot on my agenda, and just wandered through for 15 minutes and then back to wait for the bus.
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| Carlos shopping. Doesn't he look like he is enjoying this? |
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| Aisle in Ben Thanh Market |
All in all, a day for the record books – weather records, that is. I am glad to have made the journey into the town, but would not return because I fell in love with Nha Trang. I will discuss that in my next chapter. Joe & Gretchen did a Princess trip to the Mekong Delta. They said it was a wonderful day, but hot, humid and a tough trip getting in and out of dug-outs.
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