Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City

Is this a cool ceiling or what?

We were greeted at the airport in Saigon (the name was changed to Ho Chi Minh City 

after the government in North Vietnam took over) and we were taken to our hotel, 

The Myst, to stay for a couple of nights.

Lobby ceiling of The Myst

Vintage furnishings decorated the rooms and the goal was to capture Saigon in the 1980's. 

Next morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast from a lovely buffet.

The Christmas decorations were still up and were so cool.

Our cute little guide, Fi (not a nickname for Fiona, but a Vietnamese name) had a fun personality and she had a hard time pronouncing Roger's name.
She called him, "Mr. Ro-ger " as in grrr, and Rick's family thought that was hilarious. 
I have a feeling that we haven't heard the last of that name!

She picked us up after our breakfast and away we went out of the city to the Mekong River Delta 

for some cultural, native experience. 

We heard so much about the Mekong Delta during the Vietnamese War 

where there was much ambush fighting in the jungle.

We passed many rice fields, some almost ready to harvest
and some were bare in a different part of the rotation of the crop. 

We crossed over the Mekong River, which has major useage to transport goods.

We were first taken to a bamboo factory, where they demonstrated different fabrics made for many uses, 

then we were taken to board a boat on the river. 

We saw boatloads of harvested coconuts being transported.

We stopped to see a primitive brick-making factory, still in operation.

We stood inside the kiln, which they heat up to temperatures of 1700 to 1900 degrees
to fire the clay bricks. Not while we were in it, thank goodness!

 This is the finished product. The laborers just earn pennies per brick.

Here I must explain my major concern I had about going on this trip to the tropics.

From here on out, we were traveling in temperatures from low to upward nineties and the humidity was the same!

That is a YIKES!! for me! 

It is actually the coolest time of year in these countries. 

Hanoi was far up north and our cruise was on a bay off of the East China Sea 

and that was by far the coolest part of the trip. 

Mornings for the rest of the trip, especially in the shade, were tolerable for me, 

but afternoons in the sun, and even evenings had my thick Norwegian blood pretty challenged. 

I know, wa wa or boo hoo for me, right? 

I didn't ever hesitate to want to go, because I knew it would be so worth it, 
and was it ever!

 While I am on the topic, I credit my sister, Kay, for saving my life!

Two reasons - she gave me a little hand-held fan that I charged every night as I did my cell phone 

and it lasted all of the next day. 

It had five speeds (I always had it on five!) and it took the edge off the panicky feeling I get 

when I get way overheated. 

The other thing that saved me was the collapsible three-legged stool that she loaned me. 

We did lots of walking and if I could just sit on that little stool a minute 

while the guide explained something 

or after I had walked too much for me 

or I had just climbed and needed a breather.

And, I had lots of help carrying it around. 

Without saying a word, each member of our little party took turns carrying it. 

Oh, how I love my family, for so many reasons!

The coconut water tasted refreshing after we got back out of the hot sun.

Note that Fi has a little jacket on - there really is a difference in each human's make-up!

Gorgeous trio of sisters

We next headed to a coconut candy-making operation.

They also had it set up for us to sample some of the tropical fruits including lychee, pomelo, rose apple and lanzones. We liked them all, especially the pomelo.

They took us to a restaurant in a pretty spot out in the middle of nowhere for lunch. 

They presented this whole fish.

We watched as our server removed the outer scales that were coated with salt and whatever else and then she portioned it to individual servings.

After lunch, everyone else walked and I was taken on this motorcycle back to the river.

I told the driver, "Go slow!"

He did and it was fun!

We boarded these flat boats and continued on the river.

Next we got on this larger boat together.

Our driver couldn't get the boat to start, 

so he took off his shirt and shoes and jumped in the water to untangle the props from water debris.

Then off we went again!
Note my treasured, life-saving fan!

When there was a low hanging wire or bridge across the river, our canopy was lowered until we passed through.

On the bus on the way back, Roger took pics of the floating homes of people living on the Mekong River.

We walked from our hotel that evening to a spring roll restaurant.

Vietnamese eat spring rolls kind of like Americans eat burgers.

That limeade was to die for!

Josh took a pic of the different Vietnamese money bills.

Next morning our guide took us to see Notre Dame Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City.

This Vietnamese Post Office was designed by Eiffel, the famous architect who designed the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

As we entered, this lovely Vietnamese woman was being photographed.

Inside the post office, note Ho Chi Min's portrait on the wall. 

The architectural design is lovely.

Duong Van Ngo is the only remaining public writer. 

He would translate and pen love letters for others from this grand 19th century post office, 

built when Vietnam was still a part of Indochina. 

They said he doesn't come in very often anymore, but he was there.

Intricately fold-out cut-out greeting cards were sold by vendors everywhere. 

We purchased this lit-up fold-up Nativity - its detail is so lovely.

Roger took a pic of this school class who were also visiting this famous post offce.

The war museum was next. 

Roger flew a couple of the planes when he was in the Air Force that were on display out front.

This is the F-5, a fighter version of the T-38, the plane in which Roger was an instructor pilot.

This is the plane he would have flown as a forward air controller, which was low flying 

and was used to look for the enemy. 

That is the assignment he turned down when he got out of the Air Force. 

As the war went on, the enemy's capabilities and equipment had improved, 

and about 80% of the pilots who flew these were shot out of the sky.

Many sad stories about the War in Vietnam were told inside and we also walked 

through some of the dark and depressing prison cells.

In order to combat better-supplied South Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War, 

Communist guerilla troops known as Viet Cong (Cong comes from the word communist) 

dug tens of thousands of miles of tunnels, including an extensive network running under the Cu Chi district, 

which is where we visited.

The enemy would get into these tunnel entrances and cover it up with a top 

and you would never know anyone was there.

The opening became invisible.

Here is an entrance to the tunnels. 

There were three levels where they lived, slept, cooked 

and there was a hospital of sorts.

This is one of the several different booby traps, 

which were placed throughout the fighting fields.

Our guide took us to another lovely spot for our lunch.

We actually had delicious food everywhere we went.

As we were leaving the restaurant, Rog took this pic of us on the bridge.

We boarded our bus and drove to the airport to catch our flight to Phnom Penh.

Vietnam was an amazing country to visit!

Truthfully, it was far more beautiful and more interesting than I had anticipated. 

We experienced such a variety of sights, tastes and sounds!

Now, on to Cambodia!