Ho Chi Minh City

Drew and I decided that this trip to Asia that we wanted to go to Vietnam as we had only heard good things about it and everything we heard was true. Despite an interesting situation at immigration (you have to be "invited" to the country ahead of time and then buy a visa on arrival in American dollars) we felt the energy of the city immediately. We arrived at around 10 PM at night, got our bags and checked into our hotel which the original room did not have a window which is common in Vietnam. We had paid for a room with a window so after changing rooms four times we eventually were put in the correct room with a view of a park where all the locals would hang out and play volleyball, tennis and racquetball but with out nets and also have group work out sessions. The city is always busy and lit up but people go to bed pretty early and we are used to staying up late here so we went to the "night market" which was closed around midnight which is usually when we get things started. We ate pho, checked out the Ben Thanh market and went to bed early so that we could pick up Jim from the airport in the morning. Here is our experience in HCMC told through photos.

Typical scooter traffic. We thought it was bad in Thailand and Bali but Vietnam takes the cake.

This is us picking Jim up from the Airport. You can see him in the background wearing the red hat.

This is the first photo we took with Jim. We bought hats they use typically in the rice fields but they come in handy for protecting yourself from the sun.

This is Jim with 10 million Vietnamese Dong. The currency is about 1 to 20,000 so its really hard as 1 Million Dong equates to 50 dollars in US money.

Us walking through the park that our hotel overlooks.

This is Ben Thanh market which is indoors during the day and moves to the streets at night.

The market sells a plethora of fruit, spices, shirts, dried fruit and just about anything you can find under the sun.

The market also has a lot of very beautiful flower stalls.

Here is Jim's first experience with asian cuisine. I am not sure he enjoyed it too much but we were in a pretty shoddy looking joint but the food was excellent.

Here is a picture of the reunification palace. This is where the president of the south of Vietnam used to live. After the equivalent of their civil war ended the country reunited.

We took a break from the palace to play on the play on the grounds and watch some locals play tennis.

Emily and Jim in the park.

A picture from the Reunification Palace roof looking down on the street where the first photo was taken of the front.

Drew in a chair in the palace where military operations were conducted. It said do not touch....we clearly broke that rule.

After the palace we went to the Vietnam War Museum. The museum was unlike anything I have ever seen before in my life. It is from the Vietnamese standpoint and I am going to not upload too many photos as it was mainly of things I hope my mind can forget. This is the only suitable photo for now and it is of me in front of a US war plane in from of the museum.

Here is our walk home and pictures of more traffic. This is the best one of the trip and shows the pure madness of driving here. There are no lights and its a free for all.

Fruit smoothies are one of our snacks here. This is Drew waiting for his mango smoothie. The old lady that made them for us insisted he sat in this chair he barely fit in. She had to be in her 80s.

Emily being handed her fruit smoothie. You can see all the fresh fruit in the background.

This is us at dinner at a famous restaurant in HCMC. Emily used to work for a company and the factory was based in Vietnam. The owner of the company picked us up and took us to an amazing dinner and showed us all over the city. His name was Jimmy and he was the best host. The restaurant name in Vietnamese I will not try to say but it translates to delicious food. Jimmy has been in Vietnam a few years but uses a driver because he thinks driving here is to chaotic.

Local Saigon beer. We drank this as well as Ba Ba Ba which translates to 333

The building was in an old colonial building. A lot of the architecture is inspired by French influence.

Us after the best dinner since we have been in Asia. The company was good, the shrimp, omelette, steak, and everything else was incredible and all for under 60 dollars for family style food for five. Thank you Jimmy!!

After dinner he took us to a roof top bar with an awesome view of HCMC. They had a band from cuba playing live music and in the background of this street you can see the Notre Dame Cathedral.

All of us on top of the building. That is Jimmy on the left.

Emily knocking over a Christmas tree in the hotel.

I love this photo because the scooters here truly are family cars. If you look closely there is a dog on the front of this scooter which is very common.

This photo is of Penguin Yogurt. I post it for my sister because we used to go to one near main and beach in Huntington as kids. It went out of business in the states but is still going strong in Vietnam.

The rest of the photos are not in order but we wanted to post them. Here is a poster we saw in the Vietnam War museum and this was the tamest we saw.

A view from our balcony.

The group after dinner and before Emily knocked over the tree. All and all HCMC was one of the best places we have ever been. Both Drew and I want to move here (sorry parents). We also did some other things while here but those are for another blog. It is late here and time for bed and Jim and Emily leave in a short few hours and we will not see them for nearly 6 months which makes us sad but we have had an incredible time and cannot wait for our next experience.