These were bunkers in the Vietnam War - now used as storage:
Flight to Saigon was uneventful and we arrived with just 5 hours to see it all before our evening activity at 18:00. Hotel is on the 16th floor and has great views:
No time to waste. First things first, time to get something to eat, and drink...
Saigon and Hanoi have a lot in common:
Our first stop was the War Remnant Museum detailing what happened in the Vietnam War albeit from a Vietnamese perspective.
I was very harrowing and there were people crying as they walked around. You are allowed to take photos but most are just to harrowing. This is one of the least awful photos showing the effects if Agent Orange.
After that it was to the Reunification Palace which was the state home of the president of South Vietnam. It has been left as it was when the South surrendered to the North.
So we are standing outside doing the obligatory selfie. David is setting up the photo when we hear people shouting but didn't know what was going on.
What we didn't realise is that the sprinklers had been switched back on and they move in a circular motion.
The people were shouting at us to get out of the way. We were soaked.
After that a whizz around the market before heading back to the hotel for a quick drink in the Sky Bar (which is not as good as it sounds)
Saigon is a city of 9 million people and 5 million motorbikes. Our guide told us, every day 40 people are killed in motorcycle accidents in Vietnam. This was not what we wanted to hear as our evening tour was on the back of motorbikes. To make matters worse, we encountered out first serious rain of the holiday so had to wear ponchos.
It was all very crazy but exciting at the same time.
We stopped at 4 different places to eat:
But believe it or not, the best was the frogs legs:
They were fantastic.
After that it was a trip to a sort of jazz clubs with songs in both Vietnamese and English.
Then to a rock club singing rock staples e.g. Aerosmith.
We would recommend it as long as you can cope with the madness when you are on the bikes. We were in a group of 6, the others were all Australian and they were a good group to be with as you ate all the meals with them.
Then back to the hotel for the journey home starting at 05:30 tomorrow morning. That means no time to visit the tunnels where people hid during the war which is a shame as it is one of the things I really wanted to see.
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