I first learned about Saigon through the hugely popular musical which
incidentally, we also performed back in third year high school. Miss Saigon was set in the 1970's and is primarily the love
story of a young Vietnamese bar girl (Kim) and an American G.I. (Chris).
With the Vietnam War as its backdrop, their story had many complications
and eventually they both became victims of fate and circumstance. War
stories have always fascinated me, and for this reason alone I’ve
always wanted to set foot in Saigon.
Saigon used to be called Gia
Định (no wonder my name kept appearing everywhere), and was renamed by
the French during their occupation. Presently known as Ho Chi Minh City, what
used to be Saigon is now a thriving and busy city with an incessant
buzzing of motorcycles as its background music. It’s a city where you
can find cheap goods, sumptuous culinary finds, and
backpackers from all over the world. With all its international flights, Ho Chi Minh City can be seen as an entry point to
the rest of Vietnam and other countries in mainland Asia.
Featuring: “Paper doll girl”
Our
first look at Saigon was when we arrived from Manila, but from there we
boarded the bus directly to Siem Reap and we only got to see snippets
of it through the windows. The only time we really got to experience Saigon was during our
first night back from
Siem Reap. We checked in at the Hong Han Hotel, which
is located in Saigon’s backpacker district. It’s in a street parallel to
Pham Ngu Lao, where we were frantically searching for bus tickets to
Cambodia and where most buses stop.
 |
| Our first taste of Vietnamese phở |
From the hotel we took a taxi to
the Benh Thanh market, mainly because we wanted to eat phở. Phở 2000 was already
closed though, so we ended up eating at one of the food stalls in the
night market. The phở was still good, and eating on the
street made the experience far more authentic.
 |
| The charming girl selling paper dolls |
While we were having our dinner, a girl who had some goods to sell approached us. She was so charming and actually quite good in selling, so we
ended up buying 5 paper dolls from her. We asked her if she went to
school and she said yes, but it’s a Saturday and there’s no school during
Saturdays. Of course by then we had no concept of time and we forgot
that it was a weekend.
 |
| Some stalls in the night market |
After our late dinner we went to buy some
souvenirs in the night market stalls, which were just about to close.
We then headed back to the hotel because we had an early-morning bus
ride to Mui Ne the following day.
C I T Y T O U R
 |
| Walking around a city of motorcycles |
After one whole day in
Mui Ne, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh at around 6:30AM. We slept for a bit, ate breakfast, checked out, left our bags in the hotel, and decided to go on our Ho Chi Minh do-it-yourself city tour. We started by taking a taxi to Ben Thanh market,
but we found it a little too chaotic so we decided to postpone Ben Thanh to later.
 |
| The park in front of the Opera House |
From
here we walked in search of malls, partly because we wanted to check
what was inside and also because it provided much-needed
air-conditioning, a respite from the hot weather. We walked many
blocks and went inside many malls, and in one stop we went inside the
supermarket and bought foodstuff as pasalubong.
 |
| Saigon Opera House |
With our map in hand,
we realized we were so near some of the tourist attractions already, so
we ended up passing by and taking pictures of the Saigon Opera House and
the City Hall (People’s Committee Building).
 |
| People's Committee Building |
The architecture of these
buildings were so evidently French-looking, and it was nice to see in a
city that is predominantly oriental. We looked at our map again and
saw that we were so near our target lunch place (Quan An Ngon), so we
walked further.
 |
| Notre Dame Cathedral |
After lunch we walked again to see the Notre
Dame Cathedral, another evidence of French colonialism. It was a very
pretty cathedral made of red bricks, and it had two spires in front. This
Gothic and Romanesque-style architecture is again a welcome sight in the
city and a thumbprint left by the French. Adjacent to it was the Post Office, which is another famous city landmark.
 |
| Reunification Palace |
From here we found ourselves in front of the
Reunification Palace. However, by this time we were already so tired so we decided not to go in anymore. The War Remnants Museum was a few blocks away, so we decided to just continue walking.
Now, walking
in Ho Chi Minh City is not as easy as it sounds. I’ve already mentioned
that Ho Chi Minh is a place buzzing with the sound of motorcycles.
This is not an exaggeration, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen so
many moving motorcycles in one place, and not just in one street but
EVERYWHERE. Crossing the streets of Ho Chi Minh City is definitely an adventure in itself. We’re probably more used to crazy drivers than other
tourists though, so we braved the streets all the same.
W A R R E M N A N T S M U S E U M
 |
| War Remnants Museum |
The last stop of our walking tour was the War Remnants Museum. I've already mentioned that what drew me to Ho Chi Minh City was Miss
Saigon, which is essentially a love story set during a war. But this is a
romanticized story, and it doesn’t really speak of the atrocities and
the realities of the Vietnam War.
 |
| Remnants of the War |
Upon entering the gates of the museum, we saw fighter planes and helicopters on the grounds. These were the ones used during the war some thirty years ago. The museum itself is a
simple building with galleries that featured other war remnants like
banners, bullets, guns, grenade launchers, and the like. Aside from
this, the galleries mostly contained pictures of the victims of war
crimes, as well as the ones who had to suffer the long-term side effects
of war.
 |
| A victim of Agent Orange |
For instance, there was a gallery called “Agent Orange,” featuring the damaging effects of the chemical defoliant sprays
(containing dioxin) used during the war. The effects were mostly seen on the children whose fathers or mothers were
exposed to the said chemical. Most of the pictures were hard to swallow, and in fact some
of them were downright horrific.
 |
| Nguyen Minh Phu's drawings |
There was one picture of a girl though
that really struck me. Nguyen Minh Phu was a victim of Agent Orange, and because she was born without
hands she only used her feet to draw and write. In spite of this, her notebooks
contained wonderful drawings and writings, which only proves the
strength and determination of human beings.
The museum was
largely against the Vietnam War and the war crimes attributed mostly
to American soldiers. Some people could say it’s anti-American, but I
saw the museum as an eye-opening and at times heart-wrenching gallery of
what the Vietnamese had to go through during that war. The issue of whose fault
it was (whether the communists or the Americans) didn't matter as much
as the message that war benefits no one. In the end, everybody loses.
B E N T H A N H M A R K E T
 |
| Ben Thanh Market |
Physically
tired from walking around the city and emotionally/mentally tired from
the pictures in the museum, we decided to take a taxi to Ben Thanh market for our
last souvenir shopping. The Ben Thanh market is one of the most famous and recognizable icons of Ho Chi Minh City. It doesn't look that big outside, but once you enter the market you can easily get lost.
 |
| What a fixed-price stall looks like |
When it comes to shopping in the Ben Thanh market, the stores in the middle part are usually overpriced. These are the stores that allow you to haggle for the lowest price you can manage. On the other hand, located in the
outer edge of the market are the fixed-price stalls, which saves shoppers from the stress of haggling. We were able to purchase a few really cheap Kipling and North Face bags, “iPh
ở: Made in Vietnam” shirts, and
other usual souvenir items. By then, our poor feet couldn’t take it anymore so we went
to the nearby Pho24 to have our last taste of authentic Vietnamese Ph
ở.
P A C K I N G
 |
| Anh, our very warm host |
We
finished our early dinner and went back to the hotel, where we left our
luggage. Packing all the things we bought into our bags was a
challenge in itself. By this time we were also very sweaty and tired. It's a good thing our gracious host Anh kindly offered the use of
the hotel’s shower on the first floor, since we were no longer checked
in. The prospect of a nice shower after such a long day of
walking around the city was too tempting to resist. We headed towards the airport after freshening up, very much ready for our flight
back to Manila.
L E A V I N G S A I G O N
 |
| Our home in Saigon |
By the time we we were safely seated inside the airport, it started raining cats
and dogs. It was quite humid earlier and it was drizzling while we were eating lunch, but mostly our city tour was dry. The
four days we spent in Vietnam and Cambodia were all bright and
sunny as well.
This was a blessing because prior to this trip, the weather forecast actually said it was going to be a rainy four days.
We mostly slept on the flight,
and by 5AM Manila time we were back home. The end of any trip is always
hard, and it’s always tough to go back to reality. But traveling forces
us to pause our real lives and immerse ourselves in the experience,
learning and absorbing everything we can so that when we do go back to
our individual realities, we do so as much better people.
So
thank you Lord for creating such a beautiful world that’s only waiting
to be discovered. Thank you for perfectly orchestrating the elements of
the universe (the seat sale, the weather, our schedules) to make this
trip possible. Thank you also for guiding and protecting us throughout
this crazy 5-day-2-country adventure. Thank you for the people we met
along the way and the things we learned from them. And thank you for
blessing me with friends who are as crazy, as game, and as adventurous
as I am. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment