Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 3/18/18

Quick post, Saigon was a bustling city.

FACEBOOK Post Our port was Cai Mep International Terminal, Vietnam where we were docked overnight. We traveled 83-miles to Ho Chi Minh City which took about two hours. Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is a bustling place. The streets are abuzz with scooters and all scooters are called Hondas. 

We stopped at a Lacquer Workshop to see skilled artisans crafting their wares. In the downtown area, we passed the Notre Dame Cathedral which was built entirely of materials imported from France. Across the street, we went to the Central Post Office a combination of Gothic, Renaissance and French styles. We walked to a nearby restaurant and enjoyed an excellent lunch that included shrimp, duck, pork and beef. We had a short time to shop and walk around. An impressive stop was at the Reunification Palace, the home of the President of South Vietnam during the war. We toured the richly ornamented Thien Hau Pagoda that honors Budda and a Chinese sea goddess, Thien Hau Thanh Mau. Our last stop was BinhTay Market. 

About the picture - The building in front of the tall glass building is the location where the helicopter was evacuating the last people in 1975. It is not the embassy as I had believed. This was an apartment building which housed many embassy employees. The building's address 22 Gia Long St. and the US Embassy's address was 18 Gia Long St. The choppers were taking off from the parking lot of the Embassy and the roof of this building. Eighty-one helicopters evacuated 5595 Vietnamese and 1373 Americans in nineteen hours. It was the largest helicopter evacuation. Many helicopters were overloaded and people had to leave their bags behind. The smaller helicopters took people to the airbase that had been bombed, thus stopping plane evacuations. From there, larger helicopters took people to waiting ships. There were forty US ships and twenty-seven South Vietnamese Navy ships. The South Vietnamese Navy headed to the Phillipines accompanied by people in fishing boats, barges, homemade rafts, sampans, etc. None of these people had adequate supplies and some set fire to their crafts in order to be rescued. The US ships took people to the Phillippines and Guam. This was the end of the “American War” which is what the Vietnamese people called the conflict. There is no effort to maintain this building as a piece of history. There is interesting reading about Vietnamese immigration to the US. God bless the US military men and women who were in South Vietnam.

Glimpses of Daily Life in Old Saigon.  Saw combinations of Vietnamese traditions, Chinese influence and French colonial architecture.  Scooters and bicycles abound on the streets.  All scooters are called Hondas.  Started our day at the lacquer workshop.  Visited the Reunification Palace, home of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.   Interesting furnishing and posted descriptions throughout.   Stopped to see the outside of Notre Dame Cathedral with its two bell towers.  All materials for this cathedral were imported from France.  Went into the elegant Central Post Office, a combination of Gothic, Renaissance and French styles.  We also saw the rooftop of the building where the last Americans boarded a helicopter to escape Saigon in 1975.  We walked to a restaurant and enjoyed a lovely lunch with chicken stir fry, chicken soup, beef stir fry, green vegetables, rice,  etc and fruit for dessert.  Briefly visited Binh Tay Market.  In Chinatown, we stopped at the richly ornamented Thien Hau Pagoda, the most important temple in the city, to honor Buddha and a Chinese sea goddess, Thien Hau Thanh Mau. 

They call all scooters are called "Hondas" no matter what make they are.  Our guide said the masks are more about protecting the skin from the sun than about air pollution filtering.    

Reunification Palace

Reunification Palace

There was always a hum of scooters.

Second tallest building in HCMC.  

Notre Dame Cathedral in HCMC.

Interior of Central Post Office

Interior of Central Post Office

This guy can carry a lot on his scooter.  

Central Post Office in Ho Chi Minh City

The building in front of the tall glass building in the back is the location where the helicopter was evacuating people  in the 1975.  It is not the embassy.  This was an apartment building which housed many embassy employees.  The building's address 22 Gia Long St.  The The US Embassy's address was 18 Gia Long St.  The choppers were taking off from the parking lot of the Embassy.  Eight-one helicopters evacuated 5595 Vietnamese and 1373 Americans in nineteen hours.  It was the largest helicopter evacuation.  Many helicopters were overloaded.  The smaller helicopters took people to the airbase that had been bombed, then larger helicopters took those people to waiting ships.  There were forty US ships and twenty-seven South Vietnamese Navy ships.   The South Vietnamese Navy headed to the Phillippines accompanied by people in fishing boats, barges, homemade rafts, sampans, etc.  There is no effort to maintain this structure.  

Thien Hau Pagoda in Chinatown.

Amazing how much these people can cary on these scooters.  

Saw many groups having graduation pictures taken.